Lending scenarios, worked end to end
Guides explain the rules; scenarios show the rules colliding with real life. Each page below takes one realistic Australian lending situation, the kind that lands in a broker's inbox every week, and works it through honestly: the problem, what lenders assess, the considerations, and the realistic path. Every scenario is clearly labelled as an illustrative example: no invented clients, no named lenders, no promised approvals.
Buying your first home
5% deposit with a HECS debt
The scheme, the debt and the borrowing power, untangled for a couple on $155k.
Read the scenarioFirst home on casual income
Eighteen months casual at the hospital, told "casuals can't borrow". Not true.
Read the scenarioGuarantor with retired parents
Parents own their home outright but no longer work. Some lenders still say yes.
Read the scenarioA paid default on the file
A $2,400 telco default from four years ago meets automated credit scoring.
Read the scenarioIncome and structure
Self-employed, one year of financials
The bank said come back next year. Several lenders don't require the wait.
Read the scenarioSeparation buyout on one income
Keeping the family home: $310k buyout, one salary, child support that counts.
Read the scenarioBridging an auction purchase
Nineteen days to an unconditional bid, current home not yet sold.
Read the scenarioConstruction cost overruns
A knock-down-rebuild grows $95k mid-build. The buffer decides everything.
Read the scenarioDeclined by your own bank
Eleven years with the same lender, one servicing decline, four days of cooling-off left.
Read the scenarioA gifted deposit, no savings
$90,000 from family, six years of rent, and a lender asking for genuine savings.
Read the scenarioA registrar at 90%, no LMI
Ten per cent down on $1.1m, and a professional policy that removes the insurance.
Read the scenarioFive repayments into one
Nine years of equity, a stale rate, and $74k spread across four facilities.
Read the scenarioSix weeks into a new job
Probation, a pay rise, and the house that will not wait.
Read the scenarioThe deposit is in the house
Eleven years of equity, no cash savings, one investment purchase.
Read the scenarioThe income the bank ignored
A third of the pay arriving as penalties and overtime.
Read the scenarioOne clean file, one marked
A small paid default, and whether to apply alone.
Read the scenarioWhere to next
Every scenario on this page is an illustrative example, not a description of a specific client and not a testimonial. Figures are realistic but rounded, and no outcome is promised, lending is always subject to individual assessment. If your situation rhymes with one of these, that's exactly what the first conversation is for.
General information only, not credit or financial advice. Lender policies and government scheme criteria differ and change over time. All lending is subject to individual assessment and approval.
Your situation is a scenario too.
Twenty minutes with Charles: your version of the file, assessed properly, what lenders will see, what they'll ask, and the realistic path.
Prefer a callback?Charles calls back within one business day. No documents needed yet.
