Your business can be established enough to support a home loan while still looking different from the application a mainstream bank expects. Perhaps the latest accounts are not ready, or the clearest evidence sits in current trading records.
Brighten is one lender to investigate in that situation. Its residential alt-doc range has different routes for different borrower circumstances. The important step is to match your history and evidence to the appropriate product before comparing price.
Prime and Near Prime are different starting points
Brighten's Boss alt-doc page distinguishes Prime and Near Prime. It publishes a two-year active ABN requirement for Prime, compared with one year for Near Prime. Where turnover exceeds $75,000, the stated GST registration periods also differ: twelve months for Prime and one day for Near Prime.
Both routes require a borrower income declaration and supporting evidence. The listed alternatives are Brighten's accountant-letter template, the latest six months of BAS, or the latest three months of business bank statements.
The document period is not the business-history requirement. Having three months of bank statements does not mean a three-month-old business qualifies. Nor should a borrower assume the shorter-history route has the same pricing or conditions as Prime.
Use the evidence that explains the business
Think about what is missing from the conventional application. If completed tax records are available and support the proposed borrowing, ask about Brighten's Full Doc range as well. Alt doc should solve an evidence problem, rather than become the default because the business owner wants less paperwork.
Where recent bank statements are the starting point, make sure they show the business clearly. Transfers between your own accounts, loan proceeds and genuine customer receipts are different things. The records also need to make sense alongside expenses and existing debts.
An accountant letter should reflect what the accountant can properly support. It is not a substitute for supplying accurate information or a reason to describe turnover as personal income. Our business-income guide explains why those figures differ.
Keep the property and deposit in the discussion
A lender can accept the way you show income and still have concerns about the property or borrowing amount. Brighten advertises a maximum residential alt-doc loan-to-value ratio (LVR) of 80%, meaning the loan as a percentage of the lender's property valuation, but that is a ceiling for eligible applications, not a promise for every property or borrower.
Ask for the property to be checked alongside the income route. If the valuation comes in below the purchase price, your cash requirement can increase. Leave room for transaction costs as well as the deposit, rather than treating a headline percentage as the whole budget.
Brighten also offers commercial alt-doc finance. That is a separate product family. A rule for business premises should not be carried across to a home loan, or vice versa.
Compare the actual offer
Ask what you gain by using Brighten and what you give up. The answer might involve an acceptable evidence route, a particular property or a business-history requirement. Put that benefit beside the proposed rate, establishment costs, ongoing charges and the features you need.
For a purchase, compare the cash required at settlement. For a refinance, include the costs of leaving the current loan and the period you expect to keep the new one. A more flexible route can still be the wrong choice if it does not justify its cost.
Flexdoc works with Brighten as a broker. Bring your ABN and GST dates, available records and proposed property. The useful outcome is a confirmed product route and cost comparison, with any gaps identified before an application is lodged.
General information only. Your circumstances have not been assessed. Lending criteria, terms, fees and approval apply. Seek appropriate tax and legal advice.