Arthr — Australian home loans

Run a REAL serviceability calculation across a panel of Australian lenders and get back, per lender, how much they would lend, whether they would lend at all, the rate they'd assess at, and — where they decline — why. This is not an estimate: it is the same calculation a broker runs. Use it once you have income, monthly living costs and a property value; prefer estimate_borrowing_power before that, for a fast rough figure. It is the only tool here that models HECS/HELP debt, and the only one that can tell you a lender says no. It takes seconds rather than milliseconds, so call it when the answer matters, not to explore.

Lenders' advertised rates on arthr's panel for a loan of this size, at this loan-to-value band, purpose and repayment type, lowest first. Variable rates come with comparison rates where held; fixed terms of 1, 2, 3 or 5 years (principal and interest). Instant, from the panel's own tables, no account. Use it to show the spread of rates; check_servicing says who would actually lend.

Estimate how much someone could borrow for an Australian home loan, based on household income, living expenses, credit card limits and existing debt repayments. Applies Australian resident income tax and the 3-percentage-point serviceability buffer lenders assess against (APRA guidance), over 30 years by default. Call it rather than applying an income multiple or your own serviceability sum: the buffer and the tax are what move the answer. Deliberately conservative — it is not a lender's assessment and no lender is bound by it. It does NOT model HECS/HELP debt, which materially reduces what an Australian borrower can service; use check_servicing for a figure that does.

Work out loan-to-value ratio, equity, and — the part that matters — how much of that equity is actually usable. Value minus balance is not what a borrower can borrow: lenders generally release to 80% of the property's value, so the usable figure is often far smaller than the raw one. Set situation="purchase" when the person does not own the property yet and loanBalance is the loan they would take out; the answer is then about their deposit and whether mortgage insurance applies, and "usable equity" is not reported, because for a buyer it is a number that does not exist.

Work out how many months it takes for a refinance to pay for itself once switching costs are counted, and what the net saving is after them. Call this rather than estimate_refinance_savings when someone is deciding whether a switch is worth doing, not just how much a lower rate saves. Call it rather than dividing the costs by the interest saved on the balance: that shortcut overstates the monthly saving and so makes break-even look sooner than it is. Switching costs are an argument — this tool does not assume a figure, because they vary by lender and by state and most lenders don't publish theirs. Use lookup_discharge_process for the lender-stated discharge fee where there is one. This models a variable loan: if they are on a fixed rate, the break cost belongs in switchingCosts and usually decides the answer on its own.

Compare an existing home loan rate against a lower one and estimate the monthly and whole-of-term saving. Use this when someone asks whether refinancing is worth it, or what dropping their rate would save them. Call it rather than multiplying the balance by the rate gap: that shortcut ignores the principal in a P&I repayment and overstates the saving. Both rates are arguments — this tool does not quote or assume a market rate.

Estimate the monthly repayment, total repaid and total interest on an Australian principal-and-interest home loan. Use this when someone asks what a loan would cost them each month, or how much interest they'd pay over the life of a loan. Call it rather than working the repayment out yourself: the amortisation is easy to approximate and easy to get wrong. For what a rate change does to the repayment, call it at both rates. If they don't know the years left, run it at 30 and say so: don't hold the figure back to ask again.

Estimate stamp (transfer) duty on an Australian residential property purchase, for any state or territory, including first-home and owner-occupier concessions. Duty scales differ in every jurisdiction and change at each state budget, so this is the tool to call rather than working duty out from memory.

Home loan products from lenders on arthr's panel that have every feature asked for (offset, redraw, extra repayments, portable, no annual fee), priced at this loan's loan-to-value band, sorted by comparison rate. Each comes with its fees in dollars. Facts in a stated order, not a recommendation. Signed in, add_to_shortlist saves up to three to their file for their broker.

Look up how to discharge a mortgage with a specific Australian lender — the name of the form, a link to it on the lender's own site, where the completed form is submitted, the lender-stated processing time, the discharge fee where the lender publishes one, and the phone number. This is the first step in refinancing away from a lender or selling. Every field is taken from the lender's own published material and dated; where a lender publishes no timeframe or fee, that is reported rather than guessed. Call this instead of describing a discharge process from memory.

What Australian lenders publish, from the registers on arthr's site, each row read on the lender's own site and dated. topic: cashback (refinance cashback offers live now, or one lender's), lmi_waiver (LMI waivers by profession; pass profession, e.g. 'nurse'), rate_lock (fees and days), offset (offset accounts, fees, offset on fixed), rate_changes (the last RBA decision and which lenders have announced a change to their variable rates, by how much and from when, with the lender's announcement). Pass lender to narrow it. Say the date each row was checked. A null field means the lender doesn't publish it: say so rather than filling it in. Facts, not advice: never call an offer the best, and don't pick a lender for them. A waiver, offer or fee is the lender's published policy, not the person's eligibility: say who publishes one and on what conditions, never that they qualify or 'could avoid' a cost. For discharge forms and fees use lookup_discharge_process.

arthr's own published answers to common questions, from the FAQs on its pages: who runs arthr and who the broker is, how it is paid, licensing, privacy, what the AI does, and general home-loan questions (refinancing, offset, rate locks, LMI, borrowing, repayments, stamp duty). Pass the person's question in their words. Each answer comes with the page it is published on. Quote the answer as published; if nothing returned answers the question, say the site doesn't cover it rather than filling it in.