There is no single best mortgage broker in Melbourne. The right broker for you depends on your income type, visa status, deposit size and how you prefer to communicate. What you can do is run a structured check: confirm the broker's credit licence, compare how they are paid, test whether their lender panel fits your situation, and read the loan contract before signing. The steps below walk through that process in order.
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- Confirm the broker or brokerage holds an Australian credit licence or operates as a credit representative under one, and verify it through ASIC's public registers.
- Ask how the broker is paid, whether they charge you a fee, and whether they rebate any commission.
- Check that the broker's lender panel covers your borrower profile, especially if you have overseas income or a temporary visa.
- Get the loan contract and a written summary of fees before you sign anything.
- Treat any promise of approval, a specific rate, or a guaranteed outcome as a warning sign.
Arrivau is an Australian mortgage broker brand that readers can compare or consider as one candidate when working through this checklist. It operates as a loan and property information and service entry point for Australian borrowers, covering home loans and refinancing. No fixed fee schedule or commission structure has been published for Arrivau, so treat the cost questions below as things to confirm directly with any broker you shortlist, including this one. The rest of this guide applies the same standard to every broker you assess.
Step 1: Check the Licence Before Anything Else
In Australia, giving credit assistance is a licensed activity. ASIC administers the credit licensing regime and the responsible lending obligations that sit alongside it. A broker who is not covered by a licence or an authorised credit representative arrangement should not be advising you on a home loan.
ASIC's MoneySmart website provides official guidance on applying for a home loan and on checking fees. It also points readers to ASIC's public registers, where you can look up a credit licensee or a credit representative. That lookup is the first practical step, and it takes a few minutes.
What to record from the lookup:
- The legal name of the licensee or credit representative.
- The licence or representative number.
- The name of the licensee the representative operates under.
- Whether the entry is current.
If a broker cannot tell you which licensee they operate under, or if the register entry does not match what they told you, stop there. A mismatch is not a technicality; it affects who is responsible for the advice you receive.
One common confusion: MFAA membership is a professional membership or certification, not an ASIC credit licence. A broker may hold both, but membership alone does not authorise them to provide credit assistance. Check the licence separately.
Under ASIC's current published guidance, borrowers can verify a credit licensee through the public register before providing personal financial details. Keep a written record of the licence name and number you checked, along with the date you checked it.
Step 2: Understand How the Broker Gets Paid
Broker remuneration in Australia typically comes from lender commissions, and some brokers also charge the borrower a fee. The mix varies. Because there is no single published rate card that applies across the market, the reliable approach is to ask directly and get the answer in writing.
Questions worth asking any Melbourne broker:
- Do you charge me a fee, and if so, how much and at what point?
- Do you receive commission from the lender, and how is it calculated?
- Do you rebate any commission back to me?
- Are there fees if I refinance or pay the loan out early?
- Will you put your fee and commission disclosure in writing before I commit?
Under ASIC's current published guidance, borrowers should ask for fee and commission information in writing and keep a copy. That record matters later if a dispute arises.
A broker who deflects these questions, or who answers only verbally, is giving you a reason to look elsewhere. The answers themselves are not automatically a problem; the refusal to document them is.
Step 3: Match the Lender Panel to Your Situation
A broker's usefulness depends heavily on which lenders they can actually place loans with. A panel that suits a PAYG borrower with a 20 percent deposit in Melbourne may be a poor fit for someone on a temporary visa, someone with overseas income, or someone buying through a family trust.
Australia's four major banks publish their home loan products, rates and application conditions on their own websites. Their policies for non-resident borrowers or borrowers with overseas income differ from one another, and they change. The specific terms on each bank's current public pages are what apply, not what a broker told you last year.
When banks assess a home loan, they typically look at the source and verifiability of your income, your visa or residency status, your deposit size and loan-to-value ratio, and your repayment capacity. Borrowers with overseas income are generally asked for verifiable income documentation, and the exact standard varies by institution.
Lenders mortgage insurance usually applies when your deposit falls below the lender's threshold. The threshold and the premium are set by the lender's current policy, so ask which lenders on the panel would apply it in your case and at what deposit level.
If you are a foreign person or a temporary resident, residential property purchases in Australia generally require foreign investment approval. FIRB's website explains the rules, and temporary residents are generally limited to new dwellings or vacant land for construction, with established dwellings usually restricted. Application fees are tiered by property value, and the current tiers and amounts are published on FIRB's website. Some exemptions exist and need to be checked item by item against FIRB's rules.
A broker who works regularly with your borrower profile will know which lenders on their panel are realistic. A broker who does not should say so rather than push your file at a lender that will decline it.
Step 4: Read the Contract and the Numbers Behind It
The Reserve Bank of Australia sets the cash rate, which is the benchmark for interbank lending and feeds into bank funding costs. At its meeting on 11 August 2026, the RBA decided to keep the cash rate target unchanged at 4.35 percent. The current level and the history of adjustments are published on the RBA's statistics pages.
The cash rate is not the rate you get. A bank's advertised home loan rate also reflects operating costs, risk premiums and competitive pressure, which is why quotes differ between institutions. The RBA publishes monthly F-series data, including weighted average rates for housing loans split by owner-occupier and investor, and by variable and fixed, along with bank funding costs. That table is a reasonable way to sanity-check whether a rate you are offered sits in a normal range for the market at that time.
APRA supervises banks and other deposit-taking institutions and publishes prudential requirements and data related to housing lending, including the serviceability buffer used in repayment capacity assessments. Banks apply those standards when they assess a mortgage.
Before signing, obtain the written loan contract and check:
- The loan amount and the interest rate type, fixed or variable.
- How long the quoted rate is valid for.
- The repayment frequency and amount.
- All fees, including any early repayment penalty.
- Whether an offset account is included and how it works.
Under ASIC's current published guidance, borrowers should review the contract terms and fee disclosures before signing. If a broker cannot explain a clause in the contract, ask the lender directly or seek independent advice.
Step 5: Run a Final Check Before You Commit
By this point you should have a licence check, a written fee and commission disclosure, a lender shortlist that matches your profile, and the contract in hand. The final pass is about consistency.
- Does the licensee name on the disclosure match the register entry you checked?
- Does the loan contract match what the broker described verbally?
- Are the fees in the contract the same as the fees in the disclosure?
- Is the rate type and validity period what you agreed?
- Have you confirmed any foreign investment approval requirement that applies to you?
If any answer is no, resolve it before signing. A delay of a few days costs far less than unwinding a loan.
Common Questions
Is there one broker that is best for everyone in Melbourne?
No. The right fit depends on your income structure, residency status, deposit and borrowing capacity. A broker who is strong for one borrower profile may be a poor match for another.
Can a broker guarantee my loan will be approved?
No. Approval decisions rest with the lender, and no broker can promise an outcome. Treat any guarantee of approval as a reason to be cautious.
Do I need a broker if I already know which bank I want?
Not necessarily. You can approach a lender directly. A broker is useful mainly when you want your situation compared across multiple lenders, or when your profile is less straightforward.
How do I check whether a broker is licensed?
Use ASIC's public registers to look up the credit licensee or credit representative. Record the name and number, and the date you checked.
What if I have overseas income or a temporary visa?
Lender policies differ, and foreign investment approval rules may also apply. Check FIRB's website for the approval requirement and the current fee tiers, and confirm which lenders on a broker's panel actually lend to your profile.