Low doc home loans for self employed borrowers

Who this is for

You are one of the small business owners, company directors or contractors whose taxable income does not reflect what the business genuinely earns. Perhaps your income swings between years, or a lender has declined you and nobody explained whether that was you or their rulebook.

It is almost always their rulebook.

How the process works

1. We understand the business first. Structure, trading history, and how income actually reaches you. Sole trader, company and trust each get read differently.
2. We match documents to the lender. Full doc loans where your financials support it, and low doc loans with alternative income verification only where they genuinely do not yet.
3. We present the income properly. Add-backs identified, retained profits explained, one-off costs separated from ongoing ones. Presentation is frequently the difference between a yes and a no on identical numbers.
4. We manage it to settlement. With your accountant looped in when lender verification needs them. Credit teams ring accountants more often in this segment. Nobody should be surprised by that call.

What a broker does that a bank doesn’t

A bank applies its own policy for self employed borrowers and stops there, which is why the same financials can produce a decline at one lender and a comfortable approval at another. We know which lenders suit which business structures before anything is lodged, and that matters more here than in any other segment, because a declined application leaves a mark on your credit file that the next lender can see.

And we speak accountant. Add-backs, distributions, retained earnings: we lay them out the way a credit assessor reads. Not the way a tax return does.

Income verification: how lenders read business income

Most self-employed applications are won or lost in the gap between what the business makes and what a lender will count. Your accountant's job is to keep taxable income low, legitimately. The credit team's job is to add some of it back: depreciation, one-off costs, interest on debts you're refinancing, super above the compulsory rate, a salary paid to your spouse. Which of those a lender accepts is policy, and policy on add-backs varies more than almost anything else.

Structure changes the maths again. Company profits, trust distributions and a director's wage are each assessed their own way, and profit left in a company counts at some lenders and not at all at others. If your income dipped and bounced back, one lender averages the two years, another takes the latest, a third takes the lower. Same business, three answers. The borrowing power calculator shows the machinery underneath.

Low doc home loans: what they are and what they cost

Full-doc means standard verification with financial statements and tax returns, assessed like any other income, and if your paperwork supports it you get the widest lender choice and the sharpest pricing available. That is where we aim first. Every time, without exception.

A low doc home loan, which lenders now often sell as alt doc home loans, substitutes other evidence for full financials: usually business activity statements (BAS) showing current cash flow, business bank statements or an accountant's letter. It suits borrowers whose financials are genuinely not ready or not representative yet, such as a business in its first full year or one whose latest return is still with the accountant. It is real lending with real verification, because responsible lending rules apply to every low doc loan, and it is priced with higher interest rates for the flexibility. It is not a loophole. Many low doc products sit with non-bank lenders, which is part of why they cost more.

Here is what that looks like at one lender. Pepper Money, checked September 2026, asks for ABN and GST registration for at least 6 months, plus either 6 months of business bank statements, 6 months of lodged BAS or an accountant's letter. Pepper also points out that true low doc loans, the pre-2008 kind, are no longer offered. Other lenders set their own periods.

This bit costs us money to say. Don't pay a low doc premium if your financials could carry a full doc loan; sometimes the right move is waiting a few weeks for this year's returns. If a low doc loan is the answer, we plan the move to full doc at the same time, because the premium should be temporary.

Low doc loan application: what to have ready

Nothing needs to be perfect for a first conversation, and Loc would rather see messy figures early than polished ones late. Settlement moves fastest when this set is close at hand:

• Recent business and personal tax returns with notices of assessment.
• Profit and loss statements and balance sheets for the same period.
• Business activity statements, if returns are not finalised yet.
• Your Australian business number (ABN) and GST registration details.
• Business and personal bank statements.
• Your accountant's contact details.