How to Choose a Mortgage Broker in Australia (2026)

What a mortgage broker actually does

A mortgage broker is a licensed credit professional who shops your home-loan application across multiple lenders and recommends the loan that best suits your situation. Done well, this saves you time (one application, many lenders), money (better rates and fit), and rejected applications (the broker filters out lenders whose policies don’t match your situation before you apply).

A typical broker engagement includes:

• Discovery: discussing your goals, income, existing debts, deposit, credit history, and timeline.
• Borrowing capacity assessment: a realistic range of what each lender on their panel would lend you.
• Loan recommendation: top two or three lenders, with reasoning, rate quotes, and feature comparison.
• Application preparation and submission: collecting documents, packaging the application, addressing lender-specific quirks.
• Lender liaison: chasing the lender during assessment, handling any conditions, organising valuation, getting to formal approval.
• Settlement coordination: working with your conveyancer and the lender to settle on the contract date.
• Post-settlement: an annual loan review, rate-check, and refinance recommendation if a better option emerges.

How brokers are paid

Brokers are paid by the lender, not by you. Two payment streams:

• Upfront commission: typically around 0.65% of the loan amount (with GST), paid once the loan settles. On a $600,000 loan, that’s ~$3,900.
• Trail commission: typically around 0.15% per year of the outstanding loan balance, paid monthly while the loan is active. On a $600,000 loan that’s ~$900 in the first year, declining over time as the loan amortises.

These rates vary by lender and by aggregator but the structure is consistent across the industry. Importantly, brokers do not receive volume bonuses based on writing more loans to a specific lender (that practice was banned in 2019). Best Interests Duty also requires brokers to disclose their commission structure to you in the credit proposal document.

Some specialist brokers (commercial property, SMSF lending, very small residential loans) charge a fee for service on top of, or instead of, lender commission. This must be disclosed upfront.

Best Interests Duty explained

Best Interests Duty (BID) is the legal obligation, in force since 1 January 2021, that mortgage brokers must act in your best interest when recommending a loan. It came out of the 2018 Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, which found that broker commissions had been skewing recommendations toward lenders who paid more rather than lenders who fit the borrower.

In practice, BID means a broker must:

• Consider multiple loan options before recommending one.
• Compare those options on the criteria that matter to you (rate, features, fees, settlement speed, etc.).
• Recommend the option that best meets your needs — not the one paying highest commission.
• Document the reasoning in a credit proposal document you receive in writing.
• Avoid conflicts of interest and disclose any that exist.

Ask any broker you interview to explain BID in their own words and walk you through how they apply it. A confident, specific answer is a strong signal. A vague answer or one that conflates BID with general "customer service" is a yellow flag.

Broker vs going direct to the bank

The choice matters more than people think. Going direct to one lender locks you into that lender’s rate, that lender’s credit policy, and that lender’s appetite for your specific circumstances. Going via a broker, you compare 30+ lenders simultaneously and find the one whose policy says yes and whose rate is competitive.

Where the broker advantage is biggest:

• Self-employed: lenders treat business income very differently. The right broker knows which lender will accept your tax returns vs which will need two years vs which will accept BAS-only.
• First home buyer: schemes (FHBG, FHOG state grants, Help to Buy) interact with specific lenders. A broker who specialises in first-home buyers will know which lenders process scheme applications smoothly and which delay them.
• Refinance: every lender has different cashback offers, different waivers on application fees, different switch incentives. A broker compares them simultaneously.
• Investment / SMSF / construction: niche credit policies vary widely. Going direct to your existing bank for an SMSF loan is almost always more expensive than going via a broker who specialises in SMSF.
• Complex situations: divorce, recent bankruptcy, blended employment, casual income, non-resident income, large deposits from gifts. Broker territory.

Going direct to a bank still works for: someone with vanilla income, a long-standing relationship with their bank, and an existing relationship discount they’re happy with. Even then, the broker route is usually at least neutral and often slightly better.

How to shortlist brokers

Three good sources for finding brokers:

• Referrals from people whose financial judgement you trust. Friends, family, your accountant, your conveyancer. The single best source.
• MFAA and FBAA "find a broker" directories. Both industry associations list accredited members. Filter by suburb and specialisation.
• Vetted-broker matching services. Services that screen brokers on track record, lender panel, and complaints history before referring you. Faster than DIY-sourcing if you don’t have a personal referral. (We run one — see Find an expert.)

Avoid: brokers who cold-call you, brokers from comparison-site forms that promise "the best home loan rate" without first understanding your circumstances, and brokers whose only credential is the lender they work for.

Whatever source you use, verify each broker’s licence on the ASIC public register or via MFAA’s find-a-broker tool before your first meeting. Confirm: current ACL or Credit Representative status, MFAA or FBAA membership, no current disciplinary action.

What to ask in the meeting

First meeting with any broker is typically 30–60 minutes, free, and no obligation. Specific questions to ask:

Their business

• How long have you been a broker, and how many loans do you typically settle per year?
• How many lenders are on your panel? Can I see the list?
• Which aggregator group are you part of?
• What’s your typical settlement timeframe from application to settlement?

Best Interests Duty

• Walk me through how you apply BID when recommending a loan.
• What does your credit proposal document look like? Can I see a sample?
• How do you document the reasoning for your recommendation?

Specialisation

• What kinds of borrowers do you most commonly work with?
• Do you handle [my situation: first-home / self-employed / investment / construction / SMSF / etc.] regularly?
• Roughly what proportion of your settlements end up with the big four banks vs. mid-tier vs. non-bank lenders?

Process and communication

• What documents will you need from me to give a real borrowing-capacity range?
• How will we communicate during the application — email, phone, app?
• If a lender comes back with conditions or queries, how quickly will I hear?
• Do you handle the lender follow-up or do I?

Costs

• What commission will you receive on my loan?
• Are there any fees I’ll be charged?
• What happens if the loan doesn’t settle — does anything come back to me?

A confident, specific broker gives you clean answers to all of these in 30–45 minutes. If they’re evasive or push back on the questions, walk away.

Red flags worth walking away from

• Tiny lender panel (under 20): suggests either inexperience or limited aggregator support.
• Pushes one specific lender every time: BID violation. They’re working for the lender, not for you.
• Can’t explain BID clearly: either ignorant or hoping you don’t know what it is.
• Pressures you to sign before you’ve compared options: classic sales tactic, never urgent in legitimate broking.
• Vague on commission structure: by law they must tell you in writing. Verbal vagueness up front is a tell.
• Negative reviews or AFCA complaints history: search AFCA’s decisions database for the broker’s name and the licensee’s name.
• Promises a specific rate before seeing your situation: not possible to do honestly. The rate depends on your situation, the lender’s current pricing, and the application strength.
• Doesn’t ask about your existing debts, expenses, or future plans: skipping discovery means they can’t meet BID, and the recommendation will be generic.

What documents to bring

A productive first meeting needs three things from you:

• Two recent payslips (or two years of tax returns + last BAS for self-employed).
• Three months of bank statements from your everyday account and any savings.
• Photo ID (driver’s licence or passport).

Plus a one-page summary of your situation: existing debts (credit cards, personal loans, HELP debt), monthly expenses estimate, deposit available, target property price range, timeline. A good broker gives you a realistic borrowing-capacity range within an hour of having these documents.

When to use a specialist broker

Most residential property borrowers are well-served by an experienced generalist broker. Specialist brokers earn their place in specific situations:

• Construction and renovation lending: drawdown loans, progress payments, builder solvency checks. Different application process and different lender appetite.
• SMSF property lending: limited recourse borrowing arrangements (LRBAs) have a narrow lender panel and very specific compliance requirements.
• Commercial property and business lending: completely different lender set, different criteria, much wider rate range.
• Non-resident lending: foreign income, FIRB requirements, foreign buyer stamp duty, narrow lender panel.
• Adverse credit: bankruptcy, defaults, late payments. Non-bank specialists exist and can place loans where mainstream lenders won’t.
• Bridging finance: short-term loans to buy a new property before selling the existing one. Specialised products, specialised pricing.

After settlement — staying in touch

A good broker doesn’t disappear after the loan settles. The trail commission they receive is partly compensation for ongoing service:

• Annual loan review: confirm your rate is still competitive against current market offers.
• Rate-cut tracking: when the RBA cuts the cash rate, did your lender pass it on?
• Fixed-rate roll-off: 30 to 60 days before any fixed-rate period ends, they should be in touch about reviewing options.
• Refinance recommendation: if a materially better deal exists elsewhere, they should tell you, even though that means losing the trail.
• Top-up and equity-release: for renovations, an investment property, or a second home.

If your broker goes silent after settlement, switch. There are too many good brokers in Australia to keep one who treats you like a single transaction.