Home Loans From Non-Bank Lenders

Non-bank home loans

While the big four banks still have the lion's share of Australia's mortgage market (about 74% according to the latest APRA data), there are more home loan options than ever before. New banking licenses are still being handed out, but a growing portion of Australian lenders are non-bank lenders.

So what exactly is a non-bank lender, and could one have the home loan you're looking for?

What is a non-bank lender?

A non-bank lender is a lender that doesn't fund loans using customer deposits.

Banks, whether retail or customer-owned, need to have an ADI (authorised deposit-taking institution) licence to hold customer's money in products like term deposits and savings accounts. An ADI is then allowed to use this money to fund its loans. Non-bank lenders, however, don't have an ADI licence, so can't accept customer deposits. Instead, non-bank lenders fund loans through other means, often by selling bonds to investors. That means the lender sells securities that are backed by its loan books, then uses the proceeds to fund new loans. The interest they then receive is used to give a return to investors.

Are non-bank lenders safe?

Non-bank lenders don't have an ADI licence but that doesn't mean they aren't trustworthy. Non-banks still must have an Australian Credit Licence (ACL) and have to comply with many of the same industry and legal codes as the banks, including the National Consumer Credit Protection Laws.

How do non-bank lender interest rates compare?

Non-bank lenders often offer home loans at competitive interest rates that can be much lower than those offered by some conventional banks.

Many non-bank lenders are branchless, with applications done completely online. This can mean less overheads on expenses like staff, which can translate to lower rates.

That's not to say you'll always save on interest by going with a non-bank though - the mortgage market in Australia remains competitive and lenders of all description are constantly trying to attract your business. Compare the full range of home loans in our database to see how non-bank rates stack up against their ADI counterparts right now.

Non-bank Lenders Australia

There are plenty of non-bank lenders in Australia with more popping up all the time.

Firstmac & loans.com.au

Firstmac and its retail brand loans.com.au make up one of Australia's largest non-bank lenders. Having been in business for 40 years, Firstmac has provided more than 130,000 home loans and currently manages $16 billion in mortgages. Firstmac only accepts 'prime' borrowers with clean credit histories.

In the interests of full disclosure, Savings.com.au and loans.com.au are both associates of Firstmac.

Resimac & homeloans.com.au

Resimac - with its wholly-owned subsidiaries homeloans.com.au and State Custodians - is another of Australia and New Zealand's largest non-bank lenders, claiming to have a loan book of $16 billion. Resimac has over 12,000 broking partners and offers loan solutions to a wide range of customers, including those with credit-impairments or the self-employed.

Resimac is also listed on the ASX.

Pepper Money

Established in 2000, Pepper Money has helped over 250,000 Australians with their home and car loans, many of whom are considered to be non-prime borrowers. It also has offices in Spain, South Korea, Ireland, and the UK.

Pepper could be another option for those struggling to put together a deposit or have some patches in their credit history.

Liberty

Liberty is another of Australia's major non-bank lenders, and is funded by some of the world's largest institutions such as Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse, not to mention NAB. Liberty has been around since 1997, and has provided loans to more than 850,000 customers.

Is a non-bank lender a credit union?

A credit union or building society are not the same as a non-bank lender. Credit unions are essentially licensed banks that are owned by customers instead of shareholders. Non-bank lenders operate differently since they don't fund loans using customer deposits given they do not hold a banking licence.

Non-bank home loan advantages

Choosing a non-bank lender for your home loan can have several advantages compared to borrowing from banks.

Less serviceability restrictions

As non-bank lenders aren't ADIs, they aren't governed by APRA which means they don't need to abide by the 3% serviceability buffer. While there are still responsible lending requirements, this can mean non-banks have lower 'stress tests'. For example, a 2% buffer rather than 3%.

This can significantly improve your borrowing power. Let's say you're in the market for a home loan with a $90,000 per year salary and $1,500 in monthly expenses. If you apply at a bank for a home loan of 6%, you'll be stress-tested using the 3% buffer, so the bank will use 9% p.a. to estimate your borrowing power to be around $372,500 on a 30 year loan term (calculated using the Savings borrowing power calculator). However, if you apply for a non-bank home loan that's also offering a 6% p.a. rate, you'll only be stress tested against a rate of 8% p.a., which might mean you could borrow up to $411,000, a bump of more than 10%.

Quick application processing

Another potential selling point of non-bank lenders is the application turnaround time tends to be quicker than normal banks. For example, Tiimely says its fastest submission to approval for a home loan on record is 58 minutes.

Competitive rates

The relatively lower operating costs for non-bank lenders often translates into lower rates compared to normal banks.

Disadvantages of non-bank lenders

Limited features

Some non-bank lenders can be limited in the features they can offer with their home loans. For example, since they do not hold an ADI licence, they can't offer offset accounts in the traditional sense. However, some offer products that operate similarly to offset accounts, like loans.com.au 's 'redraw offset facility'.

Fewer products

Non-bank lenders are typically streamlined, and usually only offer a couple of different products. Banks tend to have a much wider range of loans available, varying on things like features, rates and maximum Loan to Value Ratio (LVR).

May not have branches

For more old school borrowers, non-banks may not be ideal as they generally are branchless. Most contact is done online, so if you'd prefer to deal with someone in person, traditional banking might be more suitable for you.