Arthr — Australian home loans

Run a REAL serviceability calculation across a panel of Australian lenders and get back, per lender, how much they would lend, whether they would lend at all, the rate they'd assess at, and — where they decline — why. This is not an estimate: it is the same calculation a broker runs. Use it once you have income, monthly living costs and a property value; prefer estimate_borrowing_power before that, for a fast rough figure. It is the only tool here that models HECS/HELP debt, and the only one that can tell you a lender says no. It takes seconds rather than milliseconds, so call it when the answer matters, not to explore.

Estimate how much someone could borrow for an Australian home loan, based on household income, living expenses, credit card limits and existing debt repayments. Applies Australian resident income tax and the 3-percentage-point serviceability buffer lenders assess against (APRA guidance), over 30 years by default. Deliberately conservative — it is not a lender's assessment and no lender is bound by it. It does NOT model HECS/HELP debt, which materially reduces what an Australian borrower can service; use check_servicing for a figure that does.

Work out loan-to-value ratio, equity, and — the part that matters — how much of that equity is actually usable. Value minus balance is not what a borrower can borrow: lenders generally release to 80% of the property's value, so the usable figure is often far smaller than the raw one. Set situation="purchase" when the person does not own the property yet and loanBalance is the loan they would take out; the answer is then about their deposit and whether mortgage insurance applies, and "usable equity" is not reported, because for a buyer it is a number that does not exist.

Work out how many months it takes for a refinance to pay for itself once switching costs are counted, and what the net saving is after them. Call this rather than estimate_refinance_savings when someone is deciding whether a switch is worth doing, not just how much a lower rate saves. Switching costs are an argument — this tool does not assume a figure, because they vary by lender and by state and most lenders don't publish theirs. Use lookup_discharge_process for the lender-stated discharge fee where there is one. This models a variable loan: if they are on a fixed rate, the break cost belongs in switchingCosts and usually decides the answer on its own.

Compare an existing home loan rate against a lower one and estimate the monthly and whole-of-term saving. Use this when someone asks whether refinancing is worth it, or what dropping their rate would save them. Both rates are arguments — this tool does not quote or assume a market rate.

Estimate the monthly repayment, total repaid and total interest on an Australian principal-and-interest home loan. Use this when someone asks what a loan would cost them each month, or how much interest they'd pay over the life of a loan.

Estimate stamp (transfer) duty on an Australian residential property purchase, for any state or territory, including first-home and owner-occupier concessions. Duty scales differ in every jurisdiction and change at each state budget, so this is the tool to call rather than working duty out from memory.

Look up how to discharge a mortgage with a specific Australian lender — the name of the form, a link to it on the lender's own site, where the completed form is submitted, the lender-stated processing time, the discharge fee where the lender publishes one, and the phone number. This is the first step in refinancing away from a lender or selling. Every field is taken from the lender's own published material and dated; where a lender publishes no timeframe or fee, that is reported rather than guessed. Call this instead of describing a discharge process from memory.