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Low Doc Loan Requirements: The Full Eligibility Guide

Every low doc lender has its own checklist, but most of the core requirements are consistent. Here's what you need before you apply, what's negotiable, and what's a deal-breaker.

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The core eligibility checklist

Across the lender panel we work with, the core low doc home loan requirements are reasonably consistent. Most lenders will want to see you meet all of the following before they assess your serviceability:

• Self-employment status — sole trader, partnership, company director, or trustee of a business-owning trust. PAYG salaried borrowers don’t qualify for low doc.
• Australian Business Number (ABN) registered for at least 12 months. Some lenders require 24 months. A handful of specialist lenders accept 6 months.
• GST registration — typically required for at least 12 months if your turnover exceeds the $75,000 GST threshold. Smaller businesses below this threshold are still eligible.
• Income evidence — one or more of: 6–12 months of BAS statements, an accountant’s letter declaring income, or 6–12 months of business bank statements.
• Clean credit history — most low doc lenders require no defaults, judgements or recent bankruptcies. Specialist lenders are more flexible — see bad credit home loans.
• Deposit / equity — typically 20% of the purchase price (plus stamp duty and costs) for an 80% LVR purchase. Less if using a guarantor.
• Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible visa holder — most lenders. Non-residents have very few low doc options.

ABN requirements — how long do you need to have been trading?

ABN age is one of the most variable requirements between lenders. The general spread:

• Major banks — usually require 24 months of ABN registration plus 24 months of GST registration (where GST applies).
• Tier-2 banks and mainstream non-banks — usually 12 months ABN, 12 months GST.
• Specialist non-bank lenders — many will accept 6 months ABN for borrowers transitioning from PAYG into the same industry (e.g. a tradesperson who worked as an employee for a builder and now contracts to the same builder).

GST requirements — when do you need to be registered?

GST registration is required if your annual business turnover exceeds $75,000 (the GST threshold). Below that, GST is optional. Lender GST requirements track the legal threshold:

• If your turnover is above $75,000 and you should be GST-registered, lenders expect to see at least 12 months of GST registration. Not registering when you should have is a red flag.
• If your turnover is below $75,000, GST registration is optional and not a barrier. Lenders will use other evidence (BAS / accountant letter / bank statements) to demonstrate income.
• If you registered for GST voluntarily before reaching the threshold (which many businesses do for tax-credit reasons), that’s fine — lenders treat voluntary GST registration the same as mandatory.

Income evidence requirements explained

Different lenders accept different evidence combinations. The three core paths:

• Path 1 — BAS statements. Typically 12 months (4 quarterly BAS) or 6 months for non-bank lenders. The lender extracts your reported revenue, applies an industry-appropriate net margin (often 20–40%), and uses the result as your assessed income.
• Path 2 — Accountant’s letter. A one-page declaration from your accountant stating your net income for the past 12 months. The accountant must be a member of CPA Australia, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ), or the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA). Some lenders specify a templated format the letter must follow.
• Path 3 — Business bank statements. 6–12 months of statements from your business trading account. The lender uses gross deposits as a turnover proxy and applies a margin. Personal accounts and mixed-purpose accounts are not accepted — the account has to be clearly a business trading account.

Credit history — what's acceptable?

Most mainstream low doc lenders require clean credit: no defaults, no judgements, no recent bankruptcies. “Clean” doesn’t mean “never had a missed payment” — it means no recorded defaults on your credit file.

If you do have credit issues, specialist non-bank lenders combine alt-doc and adverse-credit lending into a single product. Common scenarios that specialist lenders will accept:

• One or two paid defaults under $1,000, with the default paid more than 12 months ago — most specialist lenders are comfortable.
• Larger paid defaults ($1,000–$5,000) — accepted by fewer lenders, rate typically loaded by 0.50–1.00%.
• Discharged bankruptcy more than 12 months ago — accepted by a small group of specialist lenders, rate loaded further.
• Unpaid defaults / current judgements — generally not accepted under any low doc product. Must be resolved before application.

Deposit and LVR requirements

Standard low doc LVR is 80%, meaning you need a 20% deposit (plus stamp duty and legal costs) of the property purchase price.

• 80% LVR is the most common cap, available from a wide panel of lenders.
• 85% LVR is available from specialist lenders with Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI) applied — adds roughly $8,000–$15,000 to upfront costs.
• 90% LVR is available from a couple of mainstream lenders for borrowers with very strong credit history and substantial trading history. LMI applies and is steep.
• 100% LVR via a guarantor — a parent or family member with property equity can guarantee the high-LVR portion of your loan. Effectively allows you to borrow 100% of purchase plus costs without LMI. See our guarantor home loan page.

Property requirements

Low doc lenders are slightly more conservative on the security property than full doc lenders. Some things to be aware of:

• Standard residential property — houses, units, townhouses in metro / inner-regional postcodes. No issues with any low doc lender.
• Regional property — typically capped at 70% LVR even on low doc. Some lenders go to 80% in classified regional centres but reduce LVR in remote postcodes.
• Specialised security (rural / hobby farm / off-the-plan / serviced apartments) — limited low doc lender appetite. We narrow to lenders who genuinely take the security type.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related: Low Doc Home Loans (main page) · Self-Employed Borrowers · First Home Buyer Loans · Bad Credit Home Loans · Refinancing