Firstmac is one of those lenders most borrowers have never heard of. Yet there’s a good chance you’ve come across them without realising it. They’re the funder behind the online lender loans.com.au, one of Australia’s largest non-bank home loan lenders, and based right here in Brisbane, just like us. Below we break down what “non-bank” actually means for your loan, where Firstmac shines, where its policy gets fussy, and the self-insured LMI quirk most borrowers never hear about until it’s too late.
Firstmac can be excellent value for a clean, standard scenario with a solid deposit. It’s a poor fit the moment your file gets complicated. Its stand-out policies are 100% treatment of overtime/bonus/commission income, a negative-gearing add-back for investors, and no strict debt-to-income cap. Its pricing moves with wholesale funding conditions, so it’s sharp some months and middling others. It’s a poor match for small-deposit first home buyers, unclear self-employed income or anything outside standard criteria.
Note: this review is current as of 10 July 2026 and product/policy information is subject to change without notice. We don’t publish interest-rate figures here: they date quickly and Firstmac’s sharpest pricing is released to accredited brokers rather than advertised publicly. Firstmac loans are only available through accredited mortgage brokers; there is no branch or direct-to-customer application channel. Any credit application is subject to the lender’s criteria and final approval; we confirm current terms directly with Firstmac before you apply.
Who is Firstmac?
Firstmac is a privately owned, Brisbane-based non-bank lender that has been operating since 1979. It started as an equipment finance brokerage before expanding into home loans in 1990. Over that time it has grown into one of the largest non-bank mortgage lenders in the country, with well over $20 billion in mortgages currently under management and more than 150,000 home loans funded for Australian customers. It remains a family business, still run by founder Kim Cannon as Managing Director, and holds its own Australian Credit Licence (290600).
What “non-bank” actually means for you:Firstmac doesn’t hold an ADI (Authorised Deposit-taking Institution) licence, which means it doesn’t take customer deposits, doesn’t offer everyday transaction accounts, and has no branches. Instead of lending out depositors’ money like a bank does, it borrows the money it lends from wholesale investors: through warehouse funding lines and by packaging loans into residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) that it sells to institutional investors. Firstmac has issued more than $40 billion in RMBS since 2003, including a $2 billion issue completed in June 2026, and carries a high servicer rating from Standard & Poor’s. Day to day, your loan works the same as a bank loan. You still make repayments, still deal with a lending team, and Firstmac still services the loan itself (it doesn’t sell servicing off to a third party). The difference is entirely in how the money behind your loan is sourced.
Firstmac’s credit policy tends to be fairly conservative, because that funding comes from the capital markets rather than customer deposits. Every now and then, when its funding lines up well, it releases sharp pricing to brokers. Knowing when those windows open is exactly the sort of thing a broker who deals with them regularly can spot.
The top things Firstmac home loans are good at
- Sensible, common-sense assessment.Firstmac assesses a lot of applications on their merits rather than leaning entirely on a credit score. If your situation makes sense, they’ll often listen.
- 100% of consistent overtime, bonus and commission income. A lot of banks shade this income down to 80%. For nurses, police, tradies and salespeople with a variable pay component, that can meaningfully lift borrowing power.
- Lenient borrowing-power assessment and no strict debt-to-income cap. Where some banks now apply hard DTI limits, Firstmac has historically been more flexible, useful for borrowers who are strong on paper but bumping into another lender’s ceiling.
- No genuine savings requirement on many scenarios.If you haven’t saved your deposit in the “textbook” way, Firstmac can still work.
- Investor-friendly.Negative gearing is typically added back at the assessment rate, which helps investors’ serviceability.
- Reasonable pricing for larger deposits.The more equity you have, the better the rate tends to be. Borrowers at 80% LVR or below are Firstmac’s sweet spot.
- Lends to Australian expatsand offers construction loans and a “green” home loan for energy-efficient properties.
Where Firstmac home loans fall short
- Strict, box-ticking policy on anything unusual.Firstmac is a poor choice for complex loans or borrowers who fall outside standard criteria. If your scenario is messy, this isn’t your lender.
- Rates and fees aren’t always competitive.When their funding window is open they can be sharp; when it isn’t, they can sit well behind the market. This is very timing-dependent, which is exactly why we check current pricing rather than assume.
- Loyalty tax is real.Once you’re on their book, Firstmac is unlikely to proactively offer you a further discount, so their loans need reviewing periodically, which is something we do for our clients.
- No waived-LMI deals for professionals.Unlike several banks, Firstmac doesn’t offer LMI waivers for doctors, lawyers or accountants.
- Tough above 90% LVR. If you have a small deposit, first home buyers included, Firstmac is generally not the right fit.
- Self-employed borrowers who can’t fully prove incomestruggle here, and Firstmac doesn’t add back company net profits the way some lenders do.
- Unusual properties and securities are handled poorly. Standard, established homes in metro postcodes are what they like.
- No branches and limited broker accreditation. Not every mortgage broker is accredited with Firstmac, so you need one who is.
How does Firstmac’s funding model affect your loan?
It helps to understand who actually services your loan once it settles. With a bank, your everyday banker is also your lender. With Firstmac, the loan is funded through wholesale markets, but Firstmac itself still originates, assesses and services the loan It doesn’t hand you off to a third party. In practice that means:
- No branch, no deposits.You’ll deal with Firstmac by phone, online, and through your broker. There’s nowhere to walk in.
- Pricing tracks funding conditions, not a branch manager’s discretion. When wholesale funding is cheap, Firstmac can undercut the banks; when it tightens, its rates can lag. That’s the trade-off for accessing capital-markets pricing instead of deposit funding.
- Broker-only distribution for its sharpest deals. Products like the Basic 80 Broker Special exist specifically because Firstmac distributes its best pricing through accredited brokers rather than advertising it publicly.
Firstmac’s self-insured (LMI) policy explained
This is the part most borrowers never hear about, and it’s where a broker earns their keep. Normally, if you borrow more than 80% of a property’s value, you pay Lenders Mortgage Insurance to an insurer like Helia or QBE. Firstmac does something different on lower-risk loans: they self-insure rather than sending the loan to an LMI provider.
To qualify for Firstmac’s self-insured treatment, a loan generally needs to tick all of these boxes:
- The loan is between 80% and 90% of the property value (LVR);
- The property is in an accepted metro-style (“Category 1”) postcode; other locations aren’t accepted;
- The property is established (off-the-plan can be considered; construction is not);
- The loan amount is no more than $750,000; and
- The application passes Firstmac’s internal risk score.
Anything higher-risk than that gets sent to Firstmac’s external LMI provider, where the premium can be expensive. The takeaway: Firstmac can be excellent value for a standard established home in a metro postcode between 80–90% LVR, and comparatively poor value the moment your scenario falls outside those lines. We check the postcode category and LVR against this policy before we ever put a deal to them.
What home loan products does Firstmac offer?
Firstmac keeps its range relatively simple:
- VitalBasic variable
- No-frills, lower-rate variable loan
- Pricing varies by LVR: 80% prices sharper than 90%
- No ongoing or annual fees
- VIP PackageFull-feature
- 100% offset sub-account + Visa debit card
- Fixed-rate options (1, 2 or 3 years) available
- Unlimited redraw on variable
- ConstructionBuilding
- Progressive-drawdown construction lending
- Sits outside the self-insured LMI policy
- Basic 80Broker Special
- Sharply priced, broker-only loan at ≤80% LVR
- Sometimes a low introductory rate
- Not available walking in off the street
Firstmac home loan rates
Firstmac’s rates move around with its wholesale funding, and its most competitive pricing (including the Basic 80 Broker Special) is released to accredited brokers rather than advertised publicly. In practice that means the rate you’d find on a comparison site is often not the best rate actually available. Pricing also depends heavily on your LVR: Firstmac prices loans at 80% of the property value sharper than loans at 90%, and the fuller-featured VIP Package carries different pricing to the basic Vital loan.
Rather than chase a number that will be out of date next week, the honest answer is: it depends on your deposit size, whether you’re buying or refinancing, and what Firstmac’s funding looks like at the time. Book a free assessment or call 1300 088 065and we’ll check Firstmac’s current broker pricing against 30+ other lenders on our panel.
What documents does Firstmac need for a home loan?
Firstmac’s document checklist is fairly standard for a non-bank. For a typical PAYG applicant buying a home, expect to provide:
- Completed and signed application and privacy forms for all borrowers.
- Identification: driver licence, passport or Medicare card.
- Income evidence: your two most recent payslips and, in many cases, a recent PAYG payment summary.
- Bank statements showing your salary credits and, where required, your savings history.
- Liabilities: statements for any existing debts: credit cards, personal loans, other mortgages.
- Property documentation: the signed contract of sale and evidence of your deposit.
If you’re self-employed, Firstmac will want your last two years of individual (and usually company) tax returns and financials. They’re stricter than some lenders about how self-employed income is treated, since they don’t add back company net profits. Getting your document pack right the first time is one of the quickest ways to avoid delays, and it’s something we sort out with you before anything is lodged.
How much can I borrow from Firstmac?
Firstmac’s maximum LVR is generally 90% with LMI (borrowers also need to be living and working in Australia). Its borrowing-power assessment is relatively lenient. The 100% treatment of consistent overtime, bonus and commission income, plus the negative-gearing add-back for investors, means some borrowers can access materially more with Firstmac than with a stricter bank:
- Up to 90% LVR is possible with LMI, meaning as little as a 10% deposit in the right scenario, though Firstmac gets noticeably tougher above that.
- Overtime, bonus and commission counted at 100%, not the 80% many banks apply, which can materially lift the borrowing power of nurses, police, tradies and salespeople with variable pay.
- Negative gearing added back for investors at the assessment rate, which can widen the gap between what Firstmac and a bank will lend an investor on identical numbers.
Some illustrative scenarios (estimates only, not a quote or approval):
| Scenario | Details | Indicative outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Investor with two properties | Existing two-property investor with a small cash buffer, wanting to buy a third, relying on negative-gearing add-back and equity. | Same income and debts modelled at roughly $470K–$500K with two other lenders vs around $900K at Firstmac, enough to fund the purchase from existing equity alone. |
| PAYG nurse with overtime | Nurse earning a base salary plus consistent shift overtime, 15% deposit for an established metro home. | Overtime counted at 100% rather than the 80% some banks apply, lifting assessed income and borrowing capacity. |
| Self-employed, thin financials | Sole trader whose company net profit is strong but not fully drawn as personal income, 20% deposit. | Firstmac doesn’t add back company net profits the way some lenders do. Often better matched to a lender with a more flexible self-employed policy. |
Note: these are estimates only, based on de-identified scenarios from our files. For a tailored figure, speak to a broker who can run your numbers against Firstmac and the rest of the panel side by side.
How long does a Firstmac home loan take to approve?
As a non-bank, Firstmac’s process runs online and through the broker channel rather than a branch, but the real timing still depends on how complete and how well-matched your application is:
- Policy fit checkBefore lodging, we check your LVR, postcode category and income type against Firstmac’s self-insured LMI rules and credit policy. This is the step that most avoids a slow decline.
- Conditional approvalWith a complete, well-evidenced file, a straightforward scenario is often conditionally approved within a few business days.
- Formal approvalFollows once the valuation and any outstanding documents are in. Self-employed or unusual-security files take longer and get more scrutiny.
- Documents & settlementOnce approved, signing loan documents and settling typically adds one to two weeks.
Firstmac rewards clean, well-evidenced applications and gets fussy with messy ones. The single best way to keep it moving is lodging through a broker who’s accredited with them and packages the file correctly the first time.
What else does Firstmac offer?
- SMSF loans for self-managed super fund property purchases.
- Construction loans with progressive drawdown for borrowers building an established-style home.
- A “green” home loan for energy-efficient properties.
- Expat lending for eligible Australian expats with strong income.
- Secured caravan and leisure-vehicle finance, a newer addition to the range as of 2026.
- loans.com.au:Firstmac’s related direct-to-consumer online brand, a separate product range for borrowers who want to apply without a broker.
What are Firstmac home loan customers saying?
Like most lenders, Firstmac’s online reviews are mixed. Borrowers who fit its policy cleanly tend to report a smooth, well-priced experience, while those who fall outside the standard criteria can find the process rigid. Because there are no branches, service is delivered online and through the broker channel, so a lot of the experience comes down to whether the loan was matched to their policy correctly in the first place. That’s the difference a broker makes: we only put your application to Firstmac when we’re confident it fits.
Who Firstmac suits, and who it doesn’t
- Tends to suit
- Borrowers with a larger deposit (80% LVR or below) chasing sharp pricing
- PAYG borrowers with consistent overtime, bonus or commission income
- Standard established homes in metro postcodes
- Investors who benefit from negative-gearing add-backs
- Australian expats with strong, provable income
- Tends not to suit
- First home buyers with a small (5–10%) deposit
- Self-employed borrowers who can’t fully prove income
- Anyone with credit-file issues or bad credit
- Complex or non-standard scenarios and unusual properties
- Professionals wanting a waived-LMI deal
A client story from our desk
The flip side is worth knowing too: on another file, Firstmac declined an existing investor’s new loan and would only ever repeat five words: “it doesn’t meet credit criteria,” without saying whether the issue was servicing, security or something else. That vagueness is deliberate; it’s legal cover. It’s a good reminder that Firstmac can be rigid once you’re inside their credit engine, and why it’s worth making sure your scenario fits beforeyou’re committed to them.
How does Firstmac compare to other lenders?
Every lender has its own advantages and quirks, and the right one depends entirely on your situation. As a non-bank, Firstmac is best judged on its specific policies rather than its headline rate:
| What matters | Firstmac | Big Four banks | Other non-banks & digital lenders |
|---|---|---|---|
| Funding model | Wholesale/RMBS, no branches or deposits | Customer deposits + wholesale mix; branch network | Mostly wholesale-funded, online-only |
| Overtime/bonus/commission income | 100% counted | Often shaded to ~80% | Varies by lender |
| LMI approach | Self-insured 80–90% LVR, metro postcodes only | External LMI, some professional waivers | External LMI; waivers rare |
| Self-employed policy | Full-doc, no company profit add-back | Usually two years, some add-backs available | Some alt-doc / low-doc specialists |
| Pricing behaviour | Sharp when funding window is open, timing-dependent | More stable, rarely the cheapest | Often aggressive on clean, simple files |
| Broker’s take | Strong for a clean file with 10%+ deposit, poor for complex scenarios | Reliable, feature-rich, rarely cheapest | Worth comparing case by case |
For a first home buyer with a small deposit or a self-employed borrower with complex income, a specialist or a major bank via our first home buyer guide may be a better starting point than Firstmac; for a clean investor scenario chasing a refinance with negative-gearing add-back, Firstmac is well worth comparing against ANZ and the rest of our panel.
Broker tips for applying with Firstmac
- Time it.Firstmac’s pricing is funding-dependent. If you’re not in a rush, it’s worth knowing when their sharp windows open, something we watch across the panel.
- Check the postcode and LVR against their self-insured rules early. Landing inside the 80–90% LVR, Category-1 postcode, established-property, sub-$750k window can save you real money on LMI.
- Use an accredited broker. Not every broker is accredited with Firstmac, and the best pricing (like the Basic 80 Broker Special) only comes through the broker channel.
- Have your income documents tidy. Firstmac rewards clean, well-evidenced applications and gets fussy with messy ones.
- Plan to review it later.Because Firstmac won’t proactively re-discount your loan, diarise a review so you don’t quietly pay a loyalty tax.
Is a Firstmac home loan right for you?
Firstmac can be a good option for the right borrower (a clean, standard scenario with a decent deposit, provable income and a metro postcode), but “the right borrower” is a narrow, specific thing, and their best pricing only comes through the broker channel. As a Brisbane-based lender ourselves, we deal with Firstmac regularly and know exactly where its self-insured LMI policy and income treatment help, and where they don’t. We’ll compare Firstmac against 30+ lenders and tell you honestly whether it’s your best fit. Book a free assessment or call 1300 088 065 to get started.
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