You're comparing lenders and want to know which one to trust with your home loan. A score helps you narrow the options, but the highest number can still point you towards a lender that doesn't suit your situation.
I'd start with what you need the loan to do. If you're buying before you sell, that changes what matters. If you're self employed, the paperwork may be the bigger issue. Our reviews help you spot those differences before you commit to a lender.
What do we score?
We give a lender a mark out of 10 in each of these 6 areas. These are the questions behind the labels on our review scorecards.
| Question | What we check |
|---|---|
| Could you qualify? | The deposit you need, how you earn your income and the paperwork required. This is the credit policy fit score. |
| How much could you borrow? | How the lender counts your income, living costs and debts. This is the borrowing capacity score. |
| Would your property suit? | Restrictions on apartments, regional homes and unusual properties that could mean a bigger deposit. This is the property acceptance score. |
| Does the loan have useful features? | Offsets, split loans, extra repayments and who can use them. This is the product and offset features score. |
| How clear and quick is the application? | Approval times, pre-approval checks and extra steps that could slow you down. This is the application speed and certainty score. |
| What happens after settlement? | Ongoing rates, fees and support, including how you can ask for a better rate later. This is the ongoing pricing and service score. |
The 6 things we look at
Could you qualify?
- What we check
- The deposit you need, how you earn your income and the paperwork required. This is the credit policy fit score.
How much could you borrow?
- What we check
- How the lender counts your income, living costs and debts. This is the borrowing capacity score.
Would your property suit?
- What we check
- Restrictions on apartments, regional homes and unusual properties that could mean a bigger deposit. This is the property acceptance score.
Does the loan have useful features?
- What we check
- Offsets, split loans, extra repayments and who can use them. This is the product and offset features score.
How clear and quick is the application?
- What we check
- Approval times, pre-approval checks and extra steps that could slow you down. This is the application speed and certainty score.
What happens after settlement?
- What we check
- Ongoing rates, fees and support, including how you can ask for a better rate later. This is the ongoing pricing and service score.
How do we get the final score?
We add the 6 marks together and divide by 6. Each mark counts the same amount. We round the final answer to 1 decimal place.
| Example | Calculation |
|---|---|
| NAB scorecard | 8 + 7 + 6.5 + 8.5 + 8.5 + 6.5 = 45. Dividing that by 6 gives 7.5/10. |
A worked example from our NAB review
- Calculation
- 8 + 7 + 6.5 + 8.5 + 8.5 + 6.5 = 45. Dividing that by 6 gives 7.5/10.
Our brokers decide the individual marks from the lender's strengths and drawbacks. The final score is the average of those marks. We explain the reasons beside the scores so you can see how we reached them.
What does a good score mean?
We use whole and half marks, such as 7 or 7.5, for each area. This is how we describe them:
| Mark out of 10 | Our view |
|---|---|
| 9 to 10 | Excellent in this area. We rarely give marks this high. |
| 8 to 8.5 | Strong compared with many of the lenders we assess. |
| 7 to 7.5 | Good, with some limits worth checking. |
| 6 to 6.5 | A mix of useful options and drawbacks. |
| 5 to 5.5 | Limited for many borrowers. |
| Below 5 | Falls short in most of the situations we've assessed. |
What each mark means
9 to 10
- Our view
- Excellent in this area. We rarely give marks this high.
8 to 8.5
- Our view
- Strong compared with many of the lenders we assess.
7 to 7.5
- Our view
- Good, with some limits worth checking.
6 to 6.5
- Our view
- A mix of useful options and drawbacks.
5 to 5.5
- Our view
- Limited for many borrowers.
Below 5
- Our view
- Falls short in most of the situations we've assessed.
The final average can sit between these bands, such as 7.4 or 7.7. It's our view of the lender, based on the information checked for the review. It isn't a ranking of the whole Australian market.
We look at who can use a feature and what it costs. An option that helps only a small group needs that limitation explained. A specialist lender can still be useful if it solves a problem a standard loan can't.
The same benefit doesn't get counted twice. With a bridging loan, we look separately at who can use it and how much income they'd need to qualify.
Should you choose the lender with the highest score?
I'd use the score to narrow your choices, then check the parts that affect you. A lender with a slightly lower score may be the better option if it suits your income, deposit and property.
A tie can happen too. One lender may have better features and another may be easier to apply with. Different marks can produce the same average.
Tell us what you need from your loan
Where does the information come from?
- Lender information
Product pages and lending rules
We check official product information, fees and lending guidelines. Government and regulator sources help us verify scheme rules and broader lending requirements.
- Broker resources
The detail behind an application
We check each lender's policy documents and clarify the details with our contacts at the banks. This helps us understand rules the public pages don't cover. Each review lists the sources we used.
- Our experience
What happens with real applications
Where we've worked with a lender, our experience helps explain paperwork, delays and practical catches. Client stories show what happened in that application; results can differ.
Where we haven't worked with a lender, we rely on published information. We check factual claims against the source. A competitor's article or an online comment alone doesn't prove a lending rule. If we don't have enough information to assess all 6 areas, we leave the review unscored. That doesn't mean it scored poorly.
Our lender review directory includes lenders we work with and some whose loans we can't arrange. Being able to arrange a lender's loans doesn't earn it extra points. The directory also covers lenders that have stopped taking new applications.
A missing review says nothing about the lender's quality, and the order of the logos isn't a ranking.
Do rates or commissions affect the score?
Rates and fees matter
We consider the cost of the loan, including ongoing fees and pricing for existing customers. A low starting rate or cashback is only part of that cost.
Your offer can depend on your deposit or equity, loan size and purpose. Reviews give you the background; we'll compare current offers for your situation. Check the date and assumptions on any rate or dollar example.
Commissions don't add points
Lenders pay us upfront and ongoing commissions when we arrange eligible loans. The amounts can differ. They don't buy a higher score or a better write up.
The initial assessment is free. If we charge a fee for helping with your loan, we'll explain it before you proceed. Lender and other third party costs may still apply. Our Credit Guide explains fees, commissions and other benefits. Your credit documents set out the details for your loan.
For home loans covered by the best interests duty, we must put your interests first. ASIC's Moneysmart guide explains what to expect from a broker.
A few other questions
Experience and sources
How we checked this guide
We checked the scoring method against the reviews linked below and the fee wording against our Credit Guide. Scoring information checked on 10 September 2026.
Jayden works across residential, self employed, construction and commercial lending. His profile explains his experience and qualifications.
Sources
We'll check your circumstances and the lender's current requirements before recommending a loan.