Quick Policy Guide
Last updated: 10 Feb 2025
This quick reference guide is designed to help our brokers find the answers to common policy questions.
Pease note, the information here is designed to be used as a guide only and this is not a representation of our complete policy, for more information or to workshop a deal, please reach out to your local BDM.
1. Borrowers
Acceptable Borrowers & Guarantors
Individuals
- Australian citizen or permanent resident (appropriate VISA confirmation required if foreign document supplied).
- New Zealand citizen or permanent resident living in Australia.
- Other visas or in-flight PR applications are acceptable provided at least one borrower/guarantor is a citizen or Permanent Resident
- Maximum 4 borrowers per loan
Company Borrowers
- The company must have a valid ACN
- All directors must be guarantors of the borrowing entity
- Maximum of 4 directors
Trust Borrowers
- Loans to a trust must be in the name of the trustee in its/their own right and in its/their capacity as trustee.
- Discretionary, Unit, or family trusts permitted
2. Product parameters
| Loan Term | 10 to 40 years (calculate serviceability over 30 years) |
| Interest Only | Up to 5 years |
| Offset sub account | Yes (excludes LOC and SMSF) |
| Can access redraw | Yes (excludes SMSF) |
3. Income qualification and acceptable documentation
| Prime | Near Prime | Specialist | Specialist+ | |||
| PAYG | Full time | Qualification | >12 months continuous; ≤2 employers. | >3 months with current employer OR >12 months continuous employment. No more than 2 employers | >3 months with current employer OR >12 months continuous employment. | |
| Docs | 2 recent pay slips (one dated within 4 weeks). (YTD Income statement required for related employers) | |||||
| Contract | Qualification | Max 2 Employers in last 12 months. No Gap in employment | 12 months of continuous employment in the same industry | |||
| Docs | 2 recent pay slips, at least one dated within the last 4 weeks of submission showing a valid ABN, plus any of the following: Income Statement, Evidence of previous contracts, Tax returns.
Calculation: YTD Annualised over 48 weeks, compared to previous year’s earnings |
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| Part Time | Qualification | >6 months with current employer. | >3 months with current employer. | |||
| Docs | 2 recent pay slips (one dated within 4 weeks). | |||||
| Casual | Qualification | >6 months with current employer + 12 months continuous employment overall. | ||||
| Docs | 2 recent pay slips (one dated within 4 weeks) and if YTD doesn’t show 6 months of income, evidence showing with current employer for 6 months (Income statement or tax return)
Calculation:
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| Overtime/Allowances | Qualification | If regular for 6+ months | ||||
| Docs | Pay slips showing consistent overtime/shift penalties.
If Pay slip dated July to Dec – Income Statement or most recent Tax return with NOA to be provided If Pay slip dated Jan to June – YTD on pay slip with 6 months income. |
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| Commissions & bonuses | Qualification | 2 years averaged. | 12 months averaged. | |||
| Docs | 2 years tax returns OR pay slips with commission evidence. | 1 year tax returns OR pay slips. | ||||
| Parental Leave | Most recent Centrelink statement with matching income credits to personal bank statement(s). Letter from employer confirming parental leave arrangement including return to work date, status and salary.Evidence of sufficient savings to cover any servicing shortfall until the return date. |
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| SEMP | Full | Qualification | ABN >24 months; GST >12 months. | ABN >12 months, GST > 1 day | ABN >6 months, GST > 1 day | |
| Docs | Average of last 2 years tax returns (or the latest year if lower) & NOA |
1 years’ tax returns & NOA
Lodgement date requirements:
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| Full – Salaried Income only | Docs | Evidence 6 months credits/6mths YTD on pay slip or Income Statement Accountants’ letter to state has sufficient profits to meet its business commitments and has been trading profitably for the last 12 months. | ||||
| Alt Doc | Docs | 6 months BAS (incl most recently lodged) OR 6 months business bank statements OR accountant’s letter. | ||||
| For BAS use our BAS Calculator Standard cut-off dates apply for BAS lodgement as per ATO requirements | ||||||
| Rental | Existing Property | Qualification | 80% of gross rental income for existing and proposed residential investment, commercial and Airbnb/holiday let properties | |||
| Docs | 1 month agent/real estate statement OR 3 months private rental credits OR Executed tenancy agreement + evidence of bond payment | |||||
| Proposed Property | Docs | Valuation rental figure (if funded) OR agent appraisal (if unfunded). | ||||
| Other | Child Support | Qualification | Applies for payments made to dependent children under the age of 13 | Applies to payments made to dependent children of any age. | ||
| Docs | CSA assessment within 6 months & 3 months credits. | CSA assessment OR 3 months credits. | ||||
| Family Tax Benefit | Qualification | Accepted for children under the age of 13 (categories A & B only). | (categories A & B only). | |||
| Docs | Centrelink statement. | |||||
| Car Allowance | Evidenced on payslips | |||||
| Fully Maintained Car | Max $5,000 per annum – employer confirmation or payslip evidence | |||||
For other acceptable income types refer to BDM for further information. These include but not limited to:
- Trust Distributions
- Income Protection / Workers Compensation
- Scholarship Income
- Parenting Payments
- Foster / Carer Income
- Superannuation
4. Accepted credit impairment and refinance
| Prime | Near Prime | Specialist | Specialist+ | |
| Mortgage Conduct
(inc. conduct on rent being paid by the customer) |
<14 days 0 default fees or overlimit |
<1 month | <2 months | <3 months |
| Personal Loans and Credit Cards | 0 arrears >14 days, 0 default fees, overlimit <$500 |
Conduct exceptions accepted subject to reasonable explanation | ||
| Defaults/judgements | If paid up to $500 | <$2000 or >24 months considered | <$2000 or >12 months considered | All |
| Discharged Bankruptcy | Not accepted | Yes, if >2 years past | Yes, if >1 day past | |
| Repaying Part 9 and Part 10 agreements | Not accepted | Yes – provided the loan is being paid out and 6 months clear conduct is evident | ||
| Debt Consolidation | Unlimited (excludes ATO debt) Private loans – 6 months repayment history |
Unlimited ATO debt and private loans (interest capitalised) | ||
5. Maximum loan and LVR
| Prime | Near Prime | Specialist | Specialist+ | ||
| Metro | ≤90% | $1,500,000 | n/a | n/a | |
| ≤85% | $1,750,000 | $1,500,000 | n/a | ||
| ≤80% | $2,000,000 | $1,500,000 | $1,000,000 | ||
| ≤75% | $3,000,000 | $1,750,000 | $1,500,000 | ||
| ≤70% | $3,000,000 | $1,750,000 | $1,500,000 | ||
| ≤65% | $3,000,000 | $2,000,000 | $1,750,000 | ||
| ≤60% | $3,000,000 | $2,500,000 | $2,000,000 | ||
| Non Metro | ≤90% | n/a | n/a | n/a | |
| ≤85% | $1,500,000 | $1,500,000 | n/a | ||
| ≤80% | $2,000,000 | $1,500,000 | $1,000,000 | ||
| ≤75% | $2,000,000 | $1,750,000 | $1,500,000 | ||
| ≤70% | $2,000,000 | $1,750,000 | $1,500,000 | ||
| ≤65% | $2,000,000 | $2,000,000 | $1,750,000 | ||
| ≤60% | $2,000,000 | $2,000,000 | $2,000,000 | ||
*If the LVR is over 80%, reach out to your local BDM for personalised broker support here
To determine whether a security is located in Metro or Non-Metro you can use Bluestone’s Acceptable Security Locations can be found Here.
Please note:
- Min Loan Size = $100,000
- Aggregate Exposure Limits = $10,000,000
6. Serviceability
Bluestone’s serviceability calculator can be found here
Income
- All income is serviced at 100% except for rental income where 80% is used.
Expenses
- Higher of either Household Income based HEM or borrower’s declared living expense figure.
- Household Income based HEM = for each household member the Total Gross Income + Rent (shaded at 80%) – negative gearing benefit + other untaxed income
- Notional Rent, where the borrower is said to reside with family or friends either rent free or at an unusually low rent, a notional rent expense of $650 per month will be included as an existing commitment when determining serviceability
Liabilities
- Mortgage
- Stress repayments calculated on a rate of the higher of floor rate and actual rate + buffer
- Floor 5.25%
- Buffer 1.5% for LVR ≤70% AND Prime and Near Prime Products, otherwise buffer of 2.0% applied
- Personal Loans
- Assessed at actual monthly repayment amounts
- Credit Cards
- Monthly repayments calculated at 3.8% of relevant limit
- ATO Debts
- An existing ATO debt can remain without being paid out and cleared where the ATO has a formally agreed repayment plan which is being met in accordance with the agreement. The following criteria must be met;
- Eligible products are Near Prime, Specialist/+
- Maximum ATO debt cannot exceed $200,000
- The balloon payment (if applicable) must be pro-rated to the tenure of the debt agreement and split up accordingly and factored into servicing alongside the minimum monthly payment
7. Loan Purpose
| Acceptable | Unacceptable |
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8. Cash out
| Prime | Near Prime | Specialist | Specialist+ |
| Unlimited | Unlimited <= 80% LVR $200k >80% LVR |
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*The purpose of the cash out on an application must be deemed acceptable by an Underwriter with any cash out exceeding 50% of the valuation or $200k requiring evidence of the use of funds. Where evidence cannot be obtained, a statutory declaration from the applicants confirming the purpose is required.
9. Exit strategy and Independent Legal Advice
Exit strategy
- All borrowers seeking owner-occupied finance aged 50 or older at the time of assessment must provide an acceptable exit strategy. (Maximum retirement age considered is 70yo for earned income)
Independent legal advice
- Independent Legal advice (ILA) – must be from an independent solicitor and is required for any applicant:
- aged 60 years and older
- whom is a borrower of convenience (on loan, but not title)
- does not speak or have the ability to understand English (ILA with interpreter’s certificate).
10. Securities
| Acceptable | Unacceptable |
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| Vacant land |
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11. Approval
| Approval Type | Valid for | Reapproval request | Decline or Withdraw |
| Conditional Approval | 60 days | Submission date < 60 days – confirm no change to financial position. Submission date > 60 days – new consent, declaration, payslips & statements dated within 60 days of re-approval. |
Decline:
Withdrawn:
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| Unconditional Approval | 90 days | Unconditional Approval < 30 days – confirm no change to financial position. Uncon Approval > 30 days – new consent, declaration, payslip & statements dated within 30 days or re-approval. |
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| Valuation | Less than 90 days at Unconditional Approval | Less than 90 days at unconditional approval | |
| Requirements | Order to be completed via CoreLogic/Property Hub by a panel valuer. AVMs, Desktop or Fully Insured Valuation acceptable based on loan criteria. Minimum 3 comparable sales no older than 180 days. For full Valuation Criteria refer to your BDM. | ||
| Broker Mandates | Required upon submission. Must be loaded as a liability to be paid out as part of the loan. | ||
12. Variations and Increases
Bluestone can consider an increase of loan amount for an existing loan, provided the following guidelines are met:
- We must observe at least 3 months of loan repayments (i.e. loan is > 3 months in age).
- Minimum increase amount is $50,000
- Repayments on the Mortgage must be up to date across this period, with no arrears/hardship arrangements.
- For favourable purchases loans must be 12 months old prior to any increase.
- All increases are to be a paper application only. Do NOT lodge on AOL as this will create a new loan.
- All existing product features are to remain – if any changes are required (i.e. product) we will need a new application (excluding rate reviews and approved upgrade to product only).
- New valuation(s) would be required and paid for by the borrower, with the updated report used for LVR determination.
- If VOI has been completed within the last 2 years of the increase date, this won’t be required again.
- If ILA was a condition of the original loan, it will be required for the increase.
- Servicing is to be completed on the remaining loan term
- No structural changes (i.e. adding/removing borrowers – this would require a refinance).
1. Borrowers
Acceptable Borrowers & Guarantors
SMSF
- The Borrower is required to be the SMSF corporate Trustee (non-trading entity), which holds the beneficial interest in the security property.
2. Product parameters
| Loan Term | 10 to 30 years |
| Interest Only | 3 or 5 years |
| Max LVR | 80% |
| Min Loan | $100,000 |
| Max Loan (Metro) | $1,500,000 |
| Max Loan (Non metro) | $1,000,000 |
| Number of members | SMSF can have a maximum of 6 members |
| Investment/Owner Occupied | Investment Only |
| Purchase | Yes |
| Refinance | Yes |
| Debt Consolidation | No |
| Cash-out | No |
| Line of Credit/Offset | No |
| Can access redraw | No |
3. Acceptable Income Requirements
| Contribution Profile | Verification | |
| PAYG Option 1 |
Servicing met from super guarantee contributions (SGC) |
2 recent payslips with at least 1 dated within 4 weeks of the application date |
| PAYG Option 2 |
Servicing met from SGC and a minimum of 12 months of regular additional concessional contributions |
The above points PLUS 12 months of SMSF Cash Management Account statements or 12 months retail or industry superannuation fund statements. |
| PAYG Option 3 |
Service on Proposed Contributions | Provide following documents: Completed Member acknowledgment – Increasing superannuation contributions
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| Self Employed Option 1 |
Servicing met from historic annual contributions | Existing fund – 2 years SMSF Returns and Financial Statement (audited) reflecting super contributions. or Newly established SMSF – 2 years history retail superannuation fund statements. |
| Self Employed Option 2 |
Servicing from proposed contributions (No history) | See PAYG Option 3 |
4. Document Requirements
| Requirement | ||
| SMSF Documents Required |
SMSF Trust Deed | Full deed – Dated and fully executed |
| Security Trust Deed | Full deed – Dated and fully executed | |
| Financials | • 2 years audited SMSF returns and financial statements • Last 6 months Cash management Account statements • For newly established SMSFs – Most recent retail superannuation fund statements |
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| Purchase Document Requirement | Property purchase contract | Property purchase contract executed in the name of the Corporate Trustee of the Security (Bare) Trust |
| Funds to complete purchase | • Funds already held by SMSF – evidence sufficient funds held by SMSF to complete the purchase (can be same statements obtained to evidence member contributions) • Funds to be paid into SMSF – evidence that the deposit moneys to be paid are allowable contributions (e.g. rollover from another superannuation fund, acceptable lump sum contributions to the SMSF) |
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| Rental Income | Real estate agent’s appraisal or Valuation amount | |
| Refinancing Document Requirements |
Existing loan statements | 6 months loan statements |
| Rental Income | 1 month most recent rental credits via bank statements or managing agent statements | |
| Independent legal advice | Evidence of past advice if received |
5. Serviceability
Bluestone’s SMSF serviceability calculator can be found here
SMSFs must be able to service the loan from proposed rental, member concessional contributions (current and proposed additional), and existing SMSF income and assets.
| Acceptable Income | Shading Applied in calculator | |
| Income | Super Guarantee Contributions (SGC) | 100% |
| Concessional contributions may be considered to support serviceability, provided they are regular and evidenced. Maximum concessional contribution cap |
100% | |
| Rental income from residential investment properties held by SMSF, including proposed rental income where the loan is for a purchase | 80% (use unshaded amount in serviceability calculator) | |
| Existing rental income from commercial investment properties held by the SMSF. | 80% | |
| Expenses | Annual expenses of SMSF used (minimum of $1,500) | |
| Liabilities | Stress repayments calculated on a rate of the higher of floor rate and actual rate + buffer
Floor = 5.25%, Buffer = 2.0% |
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| Assets | Deeming rate of 3.5% used on liquid assets (cash, term deposits, listed management funds and listed shares). | |
| The SMSF should hold minimum net assets of $200,000 prior to the purchase/refinance (Net assets=Total fund assets less any existing borrowings) | ||
| No minimum liquid asset balance is required post-settlement. |
6. Independent Legal Advice (ILA)
Purchase
- SMSF borrowers and guarantors are to obtain independent legal advice. A declaration will be provided in the loan documentation pack.
Refinance
- Not required if evidence can be provided that independent legal advice has previously been obtained for the loan being refinanced
7. Securities
| Acceptable | Unacceptable |
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8. Approval
| Approval Type | Valid for | Reapproval request | Decline or Withdraw |
| Conditional Approval | 60 days | Submission date < 60 days – confirm no change to financial position. Submission date > 60 days – new consent, declaration, payslips & statements dated within 60 days of re-approval. |
Decline:
Withdrawn:
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| Unconditional Approval | 90 days | Unconditional Approval < 30 days – confirm no change to financial position. Uncon Approval > 30 days – new consent, declaration, payslip & statements dated within 30 days or re-approval. |
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| Valuation | Less than 90 days at Unconditional Approval | Less than 90 days at unconditional approval | |
| Requirements | Order to be completed via CoreLogic/Property Hub by a panel valuer. AVMs, Desktop or Fully Insured Valuation acceptable based on loan criteria. Minimum 3 comparable sales no older than 180 days. For full Valuation Criteria refer to your BDM. | ||
| Broker Mandates | Required upon submission. Must be loaded as a liability to be paid out as part of the loan. | ||
9. Variations and Increases
| Variation Type | Acceptable |
| Partial Discharge | No |
| Substitution of security | No |
| Subdivision | No |
| Extend IO Period | Maybe considered |
| Further advances | No |
| Offset/Redraw | No |