Guides & resources

Buying a home, refinancing, investing or running your own business — the questions never stop, and most of the advice online is either sales spin or bank jargon. These guides are different. Written by the LendQuest broking team, they answer the questions Australians actually ask a mortgage broker, in plain English, with no pressure to do anything.

Start with the fundamentals — how much you can borrow, how lenders assess your serviceability, and what your loan-to-value ratio (LVR) really means for your rate and your Lenders Mortgage Insurance. From there, follow the path that fits you: first-home buyers will find deposits, government schemes and stamp duty explained; refinancers can weigh the savings against break costs, cashback offers and the traps of switching; and anyone juggling debt can see how credit cards, car loans and buy now pay later quietly shape their borrowing power.

We cover the situations the big banks make hard work of, too. Self-employed, on casual income, on probation, back from parental leave, or relying on overtime and commission? There’s a guide for each — because the right lender often matters more than the numbers. Investors will find negative and positive gearing, offset versus redraw, interest-only lending, equity release and cross-collateralisation explained without the hype.

Every guide is drawn from real day-to-day broking experience, kept up to date, and linked to the related topics you’ll naturally want next — no generic filler, just the clear, honest information we’d give a client across the desk. Use the search below to jump straight to a topic, browse the most popular guides, or explore by category.