Westpac lending policy affects both your client’s approval and your commission when a loan changes. A refinance can end existing trail and trigger an upfront clawback. Leave income and overseas earnings need their own supporting evidence, even when the client has an established repayment record.
For a Westpac refinance, classify the loan change before calculating remuneration. Then match the income evidence and security to the proposed lending. The lender-policy directory puts other lenders’ requirements beside this Westpac checklist.
Settlement Pay and Ongoing Trail
Westpac upfront and trail use different balance and eligibility rules. Connective’s published residential commission schedule lists 0.715% upfront and 0.165% annual trail, including GST. These are lender-to-aggregator figures under that schedule. Your broker agreement determines your share.
YBR Aggregation’s Westpac commission table calculates standard-loan upfront from outstanding debt less linked offset funds. Trail requires an outstanding balance at both ends of the commission period and an account within the permitted arrears limit.
Reconcile the eligible balance and payment period with the statement. A loan limit alone does not establish the upfront payment.
Early Payout and Refinance Clawbacks
Westpac clawback exposure depends on the discharge event and the loan’s settlement cohort. YBR Aggregation’s published residential table states 100% upfront recovery within 12 months and 50% after 12 months to 18 months. Apply the governing agreement to the loan’s original settlement.
| Loan Change | Commission Consequence | File Record |
|---|---|---|
| Refinance to another lender | The Westpac facility closes, ending its ongoing trail and exposing upfront to the applicable clawback | Discharge amount, settlement age and original upfront |
| Full early repayment | The repaid facility ceases to generate trail; apply the early repayment provision | Payout confirmation and commission adjustment |
| Internal refinance | Separate the discharged facility from the replacement and classify any product-switch exemption | Old and replacement loan numbers |
| Retention or repricing | Facility continuity and broker ownership determine whether the existing trail remains attached | Change confirmation and broker attribution |
The Connective Commission Guide’s Westpac section excludes a switch to another Westpac product from its early repayment clause. Its product-switch definition retains an existing loan number, including within a combination loan.
For retention, establish whether Westpac changes the existing facility or replaces it. A rate reduction alone is insufficient evidence that trail terminates. Record any replacement broker and account mapping before forecasting the next payment.
Track My Trail’s Clawback Risk lists loans inside their clawback periods, with days remaining and estimated upfront exposure under the applicable rules. Use that estimate alongside the loan’s actual discharge and commission adjustment.
Additional Lending and Split Changes
Westpac top-ups need a separate new-money calculation. YBR Aggregation’s table excludes upfront where a top-up or increase, net of linked offset funds, is below $50,000. It also allows a new broker to take over the original trail when their qualifying increase exceeds $50,000.
Connective’s guide calculates sequence splits settled within the same month on month-end balances net of offset. It also reduces commissionable replacement lending for balances used to pay out an existing commissioned loan.
In a hypothetical restructure, a client moves $400,000 of existing debt into new splits and adds $60,000 for renovations. Record the $400,000 as transferred debt. Assess the $60,000 separately under the top-up rules, including offset treatment.
Keep a reconciliation from each old account to each new split. This prevents counting the same transferred balance as new lending twice.
Parental Leave and Foreign Income
Westpac recognises paid parental leave and documented return-to-work income, subject to product eligibility. Separate what the client receives during leave from what their employer confirms they will earn after returning.
The parental-leave checklist requires an employer letter stating leave and return dates, returning employment conditions and gross and net income. The signed letter must carry the employer’s letterhead and ABN. Its maximum age is six weeks at formal application.
Show the household’s repayment funding through the leave period. Reduced hours after returning require the corresponding income in the assessment. Repayment relief on an existing loan is a separate request from approval of new lending.
For overseas salary, Westpac’s minimum documents checklist requires two consecutive payslips or one year-to-date payslip covering two pay cycles. It also requires at least three months of account evidence showing consistent salary credits and a completed Translation Checklist.
Identify the currency and the applicant’s residence before using overseas earnings. Include original documents and the translations required by that checklist. Match salary credits to the employer and pay periods, then apply the currency’s accepted treatment to the serviceability calculation.
Business Income Assessment
Westpac’s Fast Track route verifies self-employed income through two years of personal Australian Taxation Office notices of assessment. It uses assessed income instead of business financial statements.
Under Westpac’s self-employed guidance, the applicant needs two full financial years in the same business. The notices must support serviceability without extra business income. The general route is up to 80% loan-to-value ratio (LVR), with separate eligibility for approved medical-professional waivers.
Fast Track also requires no more than $200 in foreign income tax credits on either notice. Deduct capital gains from taxable income. Avoid separately adding rental income already captured in the notices.
A client needing business profit or addbacks moves to a fully verified assessment. Westpac’s standard checklist calls for two years of business financials and tax returns, plus personal tax returns and notices of assessment. Eligible applicants can use the separate one-year assessment route.
For the wider borrowing-capacity calculation, use the loan serviceability guide. The Westpac decision here is which evidence route supports the income entered.
Residency and Property Security
Westpac’s public broker policy excludes non-Australian-resident borrowers from residential lending. Overseas earnings do not establish that an applicant can borrow as a non-resident.
Record citizenship or visa status separately from where the applicant lives. Identify the property type and occupancy, then use Westpac’s valuation to calculate LVR. A purchase price alone does not establish an acceptable security value.
Westpac publishes construction limits of 95% LVR for owner-occupiers and 90% for investors, including lenders mortgage insurance (LMI). The published limit without LMI is 80%. These construction limits do not establish approval for every property type or location.
For a small apartment, unusual title or partly completed building, describe the security precisely in the credit enquiry. Pair the requested limit with the proposed valuation basis and the property’s actual condition.
Refinance, Construction and Repayment Purpose
An ordinary Westpac refinance requires an income and liability assessment as well as an acceptable repayment history. Its documents checklist uses comprehensive credit reporting for many applications, with up to 24 months of repayment history available.
Priority Refinance changes the payout sequence. Westpac’s Priority Refinance guide activates the new loan after payment reaches the outgoing lender. Final mortgage transfer follows later.
The guide still requires the normal application and approval process. It also requires the Priority Refinance forms, discharge authority and loan-balance evidence less than 24 hours old when completing the additional terms. The outgoing lender and both loans must qualify.
Record activation and final settlement separately. Recognise commission using the applicable remuneration terms and statement, without treating accelerated activation as proof of accelerated broker payment.
Construction applications need a signed building contract less than 12 months old, plans and specifications, a payment schedule and evidence of funds to complete. Reconcile staged lending with the approved security and construction purpose.
Westpac’s published investor policy permits interest-only lending up to 90% LVR, including LMI, subject to approval. Explain the interest-only purpose and repayment plan when principal repayments resume. Interest-only approval and construction eligibility each need their own assessment.
Credit Exceptions and File Completion
Give Westpac’s credit team a defined departure to decide. Its broker policy lists the credit-scenario hotline as 1300 130 928, option 1 then option 5.
For a refinance involving leave income or foreign earnings, prepare the enquiry in this order:
- State the requested loan amount and purpose, including any cash out.
- Explain the income issue. Separate current leave payments from confirmed returning income, or identify the foreign currency and employment arrangement.
- Describe the security and valuation, with proposed LVR and borrower residence.
- Identify the exact policy departure and supporting evidence.
- Ask for a decision on that departure and record any approval conditions against the application reference.
Keep the remuneration calculation beside the credit file, with transferred debt separated from new money. Record the expected trail treatment and any upfront exposure before the client proceeds.
Use the Westpac BrokerHub guide for lodgement and application tracking. Submit the refinance once the income route, security decision and outstanding conditions agree with the application.
