Can self-employed borrowers get bridging loans?

Potentially. Self-employed borrowers may qualify where there is acceptable property security, sufficient equity, a suitable loan purpose and a credible exit strategy. Assessment and documentation depend on whether the facility is consumer, business or investment purpose.

What is the maximum LVR?

Some bridging facilities may be available up to approximately 75% LVR, depending on the property, location, loan purpose, borrower circumstances and strength of the exit strategy. Lower limits may apply.

How fast can approval occur?

Some straightforward scenarios may receive an indicative assessment within 48 to 72 hours. Formal approval and settlement depend on valuation, documentation, legal work, borrower structure and lender requirements.

Is bad credit an issue?

Credit history is considered but may not automatically prevent approval. Defaults, arrears or judgments can affect lender choice, pricing and available LVR, and should be disclosed at the beginning of the application.

Low Doc Property Finance for Self-Employed Borrowers

Q: Do I need tax returns?

Not always. Some genuine business or investment-purpose facilities may be assessed without full tax returns. Consumer-purpose applications require assessment of the borrower's financial circumstances and may require income evidence.

Q: Can interest be capitalised?

Some lenders allow interest to be added to the loan balance and repaid at the exit rather than paid monthly. Capitalised interest increases the balance and must remain within the lender's approved LVR.

Being self-employed is not a credit problem. It is a documentation problem. Your income is real, your business is sound, and your accountant has done exactly what you asked by minimising your taxable income. Then a bank reads your tax return, sees a number that bears no relationship to what you actually earn, and declines you.

Low doc property finance exists for that gap. It assesses the property, the equity and how the loan gets repaid, rather than trying to force your earnings through a template built for someone on a salary.

In short: terms sit between 3 and 24 months, secured on property in your

name or your entity's. Total borrowing commonly reaches 65% to 75% of value. What you provide depends entirely on whether the purpose is personal or business, which is explained below. Interest can usually be capitalised so there is nothing payable during the term. Pricing starts from around 7.49% p.a. for residential purposes and 8.5% for business and investment purposes.

Low doc, alt doc and no doc: what each actually means

These three terms get used interchangeably by people selling them, which is unhelpful when the differences decide what you have to produce.

Full doc. Two years of tax returns, financial statements, an accountant's confirmation and a serviceability calculation. What a bank asks for, and where most self-employed applications fail.
Alt doc. Income is verified, just not from tax returns. Business activity statements, business bank statements or an accountant's declaration are used instead. This is what most self-employed borrowers actually need and it is the least understood of the three.
Low doc. A reduced verification set, generally sitting between alt doc and no doc depending on the lender and the purpose.
No doc. No income evidence at all. This effectively disappeared from regulated consumer lending in Australia when the National Consumer Credit Protection Act took effect in 2010. It still exists in a meaningful sense on genuine business and investment purpose lending, where income is not part of the assessment. Anyone offering you a no doc loan for a home purchase is either using the term loosely or is not doing it properly.

Which of those applies to you is not something you get to choose. It is decided by what the money is for.

The one thing that decides your documents

Everything downstream follows from one question: what is the money predominantly for? Your trade, your entity, the kind of property and whether you hold an ABN are all beside the point. That single answer sets your document list, your timeline and the lenders who are allowed to look at you.

Consumer purpose, regulated

Funds used predominantly for personal, domestic or household use. Buying or refinancing the home you live in is the common case. The National Consumer Credit Protection Act applies, so responsible lending obligations apply and the lender must take reasonable steps to verify your income. You cannot get a regulated home loan with no income evidence at all, and any page telling you otherwise is being careless with you.

What that means in practice is better than it sounds. Verification does not have to mean two years of tax returns. Depending on the lender, income can frequently be evidenced with:

Six to twelve months of business activity statements
Six to twelve months of business bank statements
A declaration from your accountant confirming your income
A recent year's return where the prior year is not yet lodged

That is what alt doc means, and it is the route most self-employed borrowers buying a home actually need. See residential bridging loans.

Business or investment purpose, unregulated

Funds used predominantly for a genuine business or investment purpose. Buying an investment property, releasing equity into your business, clearing a business obligation, or funding a development.

These facilities sit outside the NCCP Act, so there is no responsible lending obligation and no requirement to verify income. The assessment runs on the property, the equity and the exit. Financial statements are frequently not requested at all.

The trade is real. The protections that apply to consumer borrowers do not apply here, nobody assesses suitability on your behalf, and avenues for complaint are narrower. See commercial bridging loans.

One warning worth taking seriously. If your purpose is personal, it needs to be assessed as personal. Signing a business purpose declaration to reach a faster or lighter process, for a loan that is really for your home, is your exposure and not the lender's. Anyone encouraging you to do that is not acting in your interest.

What you actually need to provide

Three different files, depending on which path applies. A bank, full doc: two years of tax returns and notices of assessment, two years of financial statements, an accountant's letter, business activity statements, bank statements, and a serviceability calculation against your assessed taxable income.

Alt doc, consumer purpose: identification, the property details and a valuation, your existing loan position, and income evidenced through business activity statements, business bank statements or an accountant's declaration. No tax returns in many cases.

Business or investment purpose: identification, the property details and a valuation, your existing loan position, a written statement of purpose, and evidence of the exit. Income evidence frequently not required at all.

Notice that the property valuation and the exit appear in all three. Those two never go away, whichever route you take.

Worked example

A contractor operating through their own company has strong cash flow and low assessed taxable income. They have found the next home and their current one has not sold. Their bank wants a second full financial year that will not be lodged for four months, and settlement is in five weeks.

Current home value: $1,150,000
Existing mortgage: $340,000, an LVR of 29.6%
Facility required for deposit and purchase costs: $340,000
Total borrowing against the current home: $680,000, an LVR of 59.1%
Income verification: twelve months of business activity statements plus an accountant's declaration, in place of the two years of tax returns the bank required. This is a consumer purpose facility, so income was verified. It simply was not verified the way a bank insists on.
Term: 6 months, interest capitalised, nothing payable while the sale campaign runs.
Interest at 7.49% p.a. on $340,000 for 6 months: $12,733.
Establishment fee at 1.5%: $5,100. Legal and valuation: approximately $2,600.
Total cost of funds: $20,433. Balance at exit: $352,733, taking total borrowing to 60.2% of the current home's value.
Exit: the existing home sells and settlement clears both the mortgage and the facility.

Pricing, LVR, fees and what a lender will accept as income evidence all depend on the lender, the security and the strength of the exit.

Working to a deadline? Send through the property, what is owing on it, the amount you need and how it gets repaid. We will confirm which path applies, what evidence that path calls for, and whether your timeframe is realistic. Usually within the day. Request an assessment.

Why banks decline self-employed borrowers who are doing perfectly well

None of these are judgements about your business. They are template failures.

Legitimate tax minimisation. Your accountant reduced your assessed income, which is their job, and the bank then lends against that reduced figure.
Retained profits sitting in the company. Real money, in your business, that a personal serviceability calculation cannot see.
Trust distributions. Income routed through a structure that a bank's assessment model handles badly or not at all.
A recently registered ABN. Many lenders want two years. A profitable eighteen month old business fails a date check rather than a credit test.
Variable income. Seasonal or project-based earnings averaged in a way that punishes a good year following a quiet one.
Financials not yet lodged. Purely a timing problem, and the most frustrating decline of all.
An outstanding tax position. Covered in more detail on business owners.

If a bank has already declined you, declined by lenders explains what changes when the assessment starts from the asset.

How much you can borrow

Available funds = (property value multiplied by the maximum LVR) minus your current loan balance

On a home worth $1,150,000 with a $340,000 mortgage, a 75% ceiling gives $862,500 of total lending, leaving roughly $522,500 available before costs.

What moves the ceiling:

Security quality. Prime metropolitan residential reaches the top of the range. Regional, specialised or vacant land sits lower.
The exit. A signed contract of sale supports more than an intention to list.
The purpose. Consumer purpose facilities are generally more conservative, because responsible lending obligations apply.
Multiple properties. Where you hold more than one, the ceiling applies across the combined position.

Run your own position through the calculator.

When self-employed borrowers use this

Buying before selling. The most common scenario, and the one where a bank's timeline most often fails you. See buying before you sell.
Bidding at auction, where the contract is unconditional and no finance clause is available. See auction bridging.
Covering a settlement gap, where approval has slipped and a deadline has not. See settlement timing gaps.
Preparing a property for sale, funding works that lift the price. See renovating before selling.
Releasing equity for an investment purchase. See property investors.
Bridging to a refinance, holding a position until your financials are lodged and a mainstream lender can assess you properly.

That last one deserves emphasis. For many self-employed borrowers the whole strategy is to buy time until the paperwork catches up with reality. The facility is not the destination, it is what stops you losing the property while you wait.

What we do not offer

Worth being direct, because it saves you a phone call. We arrange short-term property-secured finance, generally 3 to 24 months. We do not arrange 30 year low doc term mortgages. If what you need is a long-term self-employed home loan rather than a facility to bridge a gap, that is a different product and a different lender panel, and we will say so rather than sell you something that does not fit.

Where a short-term facility is the right tool, it is usually because the timing is the problem and not the borrowing capacity. If your borrowing capacity is the problem, a short-term facility postpones the issue at a cost rather than solving it.

How fast can it settle?

Business and investment purpose files commonly reach settlement inside three to seven business days. Consumer files run longer, because verification and the suitability assessment are steps the lender is required to complete rather than optional ones.

What causes delay:

Waiting on your accountant. A declaration or a set of activity statements you have to request is the most common hold-up. Ask for them before you enquire, not after.
Existing lender consent, where the new facility ranks behind your current mortgage.
Valuation access, particularly on tenanted property.
Entity documents. Trust deeds and company constitutions nobody has needed in years.
A repayment plan you cannot document. Everything else on this list delays a file. This one sinks it.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get a loan if I am self-employed with low taxable income?

Usually yes, where you own property with meaningful equity. The assessment focuses on the security and how the loan is repaid rather than on your assessed taxable income. On business or investment purpose facilities, income is often not assessed at all. On consumer purpose facilities income must be verified, but frequently through business activity statements, business bank statements or an accountant's declaration rather than tax returns.

What is a low doc loan?

A facility assessed with reduced income documentation, relying instead on the property, the equity and the exit. It is used by self-employed borrowers, contractors and company directors whose earnings are genuine but do not present the way a bank's serviceability calculator expects. Reduced documentation does not mean reduced scrutiny, it means the scrutiny sits on the asset.

What is the difference between low doc, alt doc and no doc?

Alt doc means income is verified, just not from tax returns. Low doc means a reduced verification set. No doc means no income evidence at all, which effectively ended in regulated consumer lending when the National Consumer Credit Protection Act took effect in 2010, though it remains meaningful on genuine business and investment purpose facilities where income is not part of the assessment.

Do I need tax returns?

For a business or investment purpose facility, frequently not. For a consumer purpose facility, income must be verified, but many lenders will accept six to twelve months of business activity statements, business bank statements or an accountant's declaration in place of two years of returns. Anyone promising a regulated home loan with no income evidence at all is not describing the law accurately.

Can I get a loan with a new ABN?

Yes. Many banks want two years of trading and decline anything shorter as a matter of policy, which is a date check rather than a credit assessment. Property-secured lending is assessed on the security and the exit, so a recently registered ABN is not the obstacle it is at a bank.

What LVR can a self-employed borrower reach?

Most sit between 65% and 75% of value. The upper end opens up where the property is easily saleable, the term is short and the repayment date is already contracted. The arithmetic is simple: value, times the ceiling, less what you owe. A $1,150,000 home carrying $340,000 leaves roughly $522,500 at a 75% ceiling, before costs.

Does bad credit rule me out?

Rarely. A lender secured against real property is underwriting the asset and the repayment plan, so past defaults or arrears shift the terms rather than end the conversation. You will see a shorter list of willing lenders and a higher rate. Mention it at the outset: it appears in searches anyway, and a late surprise costs days you may not have.

Can I borrow through my company or trust?

Yes, and it is common. Expect the lender's solicitor to read your constitution or deed to satisfy themselves the entity is permitted to borrow and grant a mortgage, and expect to guarantee personally as a director or trustee. Arrangements that stall at a bank tend to move through here without comment.

Can interest be capitalised?

Usually, yes. Rolling the interest into the balance and clearing it at exit is what makes carrying two properties survivable when nothing is coming in yet. If your cash flow allows, paying it monthly instead will leave you with a smaller balance to repay.

How quickly can I get an answer?

Same day for an indicative position, once we know the property, what is owed on it, the amount, the purpose and the repayment plan. Getting to settlement takes three to seven business days where the purpose is business or investment, and longer where it is consumer, since verification steps cannot be compressed.

Is a short-term facility more expensive than a bank loan?

Per annum, yes. Over the actual term, frequently not, because you hold it for months rather than decades. The comparison that matters is the total cost of funds over your real term against what the alternative costs you, which is often losing the property or paying penalty interest. See costs and fees.

Speak with someone who reads self-employed income properly

The difference between an approval and a decline for a self-employed borrower is usually which lender sees the file, not whether the file is any good. Panels differ enormously on what they will accept as income evidence, how long an ABN has to have existed, and how they treat retained profits and trust distributions.

Give us the property, the current debt against it, the sum you are after and the plan for clearing it. We will come back with which of the two paths your file sits on, the evidence that path needs, and a total cost over the term you will actually hold it.

Request an assessment, or read further: bridging loans explained, how bridging loans work, loan types, second mortgage loans, use cases and our FAQs.

Trading through a company with property behind it? Business owners covers tax debt and working capital. Building or subdividing? Start at developers. For the eligibility picture across every borrower type, see who qualifies for a bridging loan. We lend nationally, including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. All locations.