Vet home loans: which lenders waive LMI, and how far each goes

Can a vet get an LMI waiver?

Yes. A registered vet can get an LMI waiver at five lender groups. NAB waives lenders mortgage insurance up to 95% of the price for a home to live in and 90% for an investment. ANZ and Westpac Group (Westpac, St.George, Bank of Melbourne and BankSA) waive it up to 90%, and Westpac Group asks for at least $90,000 of income from your qualification. CommBank waives it up to 89.99%, and Bankwest up to 89.99% on loans up to $2 million [1]. Money Brain checked each one against the lender's own policy.

LMI is the insurance a lender takes out, at your cost, when you borrow more than 80% of the price. LVR, the loan as a share of the property's value, is the number every waiver is written around. On a $760,000 loan at 95% LVR, LMI can run past $34,000 (part 8). The waiver means a vet doesn't pay it.

Is there a vet home loan program in Australia?

There's no single vet home loan program in Australia. A vet home loan is an ordinary home loan with one difference: the lender waives LMI because it treats your profession as low risk. The rate, the repayments and the credit checks are the same kind as any other home loan.

In Australia, the idea is each lender's professional LMI waiver, sometimes called a medico package. Each lender writes its own list of who qualifies, how far it lends and on what terms, and the lists don't agree. That's why this guide compares the lenders side by side.

Search results for "vet loans" often show American loans for military veterans. They're a different thing. This guide is about veterinarians buying in Australia; if you served in the Australian Defence Force, see Defence Force home loans.

Do vets get the same LMI waiver as doctors?

Vets get the same waiver as doctors at three of the five lenders, and a narrower one at the other two. NAB lists vets in the same medical practitioners group as GPs, specialists and dentists, so a vet gets NAB's full 95% for a home. CommBank and Bankwest list vets on their medical lists at the same 89.99% as their doctors [1].

ANZ and Westpac Group put vets in a second medical group, with allied health roles, and that group stops at 90%. Their first groups, for doctors and dentists, go to 95%. ANZ's policy says plainly that its vet group isn't eligible for 95%, and Westpac Group adds a $90,000 income floor that its doctors' group doesn't have [1].

What this means for you: if you've read that "medical professionals get 95% with no LMI", that's true for a vet at one lender, NAB. At Westpac Group a vet on less than $90,000 doesn't qualify, where a junior doctor would. See home loans for doctors for how the doctors' groups work.

Can a veterinary nurse get an LMI waiver?

Not under the terms written for vets. Every lender policy above names veterinarians, and none names veterinary nurses or technicians, so a vet's waiver doesn't carry over to them [1].

One wording is open. Westpac Group's second medical group names its roles and then adds other "allied" roles it doesn't list [1]. Whether that takes in a veterinary nurse isn't something we've confirmed, so it's a question to put to the lender before you rely on it. For most veterinary nurses, the small-deposit paths are the 5% Deposit Scheme or a family guarantee (part 28).

Is there a minimum income for a vet LMI waiver?

Only one of the five vet waivers has an income floor. Westpac Group asks for at least $90,000 gross from your eligible qualifications, added up across your jobs if you work more than one. A partner's income doesn't count toward it. ANZ sets no minimum income for its professional waivers, and the NAB, CommBank and Bankwest policies we hold state none for vets [1].

What this means for you: the floor matters most early in a career, or when you work part-time. A vet on less than $90,000 doesn't clear Westpac Group's floor, but can still meet the other four lenders' conditions, subject to their normal assessment. A vet who works in a clinic and does after-hours shifts at an emergency centre can add both jobs to reach Westpac Group's $90,000.

What the waiver is worth, in dollars

The waiver is worth the LMI you'd otherwise pay. Here's what LMI would cost on a home to live in, from one insurer's published rate card [4]. At any of the five lenders, a vet who meets its terms and borrows about 90% doesn't pay the 90% column. Only at NAB does a vet borrowing 95% skip the 95% column.

Illustrations only, from one rate card. None of these is a quote. The insurer, the loan and the lender all change what you pay.

What this means for you: on an $800,000 home, going from 90% to 95% adds about $15,500 of LMI without a waiver, for $40,000 more of borrowing. At NAB that step costs a vet nothing in LMI. At the other four it isn't on offer, so the real choice there is 10% down with no LMI, or 5% down and paying it.

5% or 10% deposit: which lenders fit a vet?

With a 5% deposit, one lender waives LMI for a vet buying a home: NAB. With 10%, five do. That matters because the lender with the waiver isn't always the lender that fits your income, your structure or your plans.

CommBank's and Bankwest's limit is 89.99%, not 90%, so a 10% deposit has to cover the price with a little to spare, before stamp duty and costs. A 10% deposit also lets you choose on the rest of the loan, such as the rate, the features and how the lender reads your pay, rather than on the waiver alone.

How large a loan will a vet waiver cover?

Each lender caps the loan its vet waiver covers, and the caps differ. A vet buying a $3 million home has fewer choices than one buying at $900,000.

What this means for you: above $2 million, Bankwest's limit drops to 84.99%, and it stops at a $3 million loan. NAB's waiver covers a property up to $4.5 million. ANZ's, Westpac Group's and CommBank's vet terms, as we hold them, set no loan size of their own, so for a larger purchase that's a question we put to the lender for you.

Employed, locum or practice owner: how lenders see you

An employed vet, a locum on an ABN and a practice owner are three different applications to a lender, even on the same income. The waiver depends on your registration. What you can borrow depends on how you're paid, and veterinary work uses all three.

What this means for you: two vets in the same clinic, seeing the same patients, can get different answers. The one on payroll shows payslips. The one locuming through their own ABN shows tax returns, and if the arrangement is new, there may not be enough of them yet.

Overtime and on-call pay

Westpac Group, NAB and ANZ each count 80% of a vet's overtime unless a special rule lifts it, because overtime can stop. Some lenders count 100% for workers in named essential services, and those lists are written around specific jobs. Westpac Group's, for example, names nurses, midwives, doctors, surgeons and specialists. We hold no lender rule that names vets in them, so plan on 80% unless the lender confirms otherwise [6].

What this means for you: if overtime or on-call pay is a real part of your income, the share counted changes what you can borrow. At 80%, $10,000 of overtime counts as $8,000. NAB averages it over the last 180 days, so a recent run of extra shifts won't count in full straight away.

Salary packaging: does it count?

Salary packaging follows your employer, not your profession. Employees of public and not-for-profit hospitals and public ambulance services can package up to $17,000 a year of their pay without fringe benefits tax. At public benevolent institutions and health promotion charities, the cap is $30,000. Both are grossed-up amounts, per employee [8]. So whether a vet gets these caps depends on who employs them; your employer can tell you whether it's one of these.

Where you do package, the same pay can leave you more to repay a loan with, and some lenders count the tax-free part as income in its own right. Lenders don't all treat it the same way:

What this means for you: if you package through an employer, bring your packaging statement with your payslips, because the lender you choose decides how much of it counts.

Locum and relief vets on an ABN

A locum or relief vet paid through their own ABN is usually read as self-employed. So lenders ask for tax returns and notices of assessment rather than payslips, usually two years of them [9][10]. The waiver itself still turns on your registration, not on how you're paid.

St.George's own page lists veterinary practitioners among the professions it lends to at up to 90% with no LMI, from $90,000 a year, and says this includes self-employed or casual professionals in those fields [5]. The Westpac Group policy document we hold doesn't spell out how it reads a self-employed vet's $90,000, and the NAB, ANZ, CommBank and Bankwest policies don't say how each treats a self-employed vet for the waiver. So it's settled with the lender before you rely on it.

A vet who has just moved from payroll to locuming can earn the same and borrow less for a while, because the lender now wants self-employed history. If a move like that is coming, it's worth knowing which order to do things in. The full rules are on self-employed home loans.

Can a self-employed vet borrow on one year of tax returns?

Yes, at some lenders, but often only at 80% of the value or less, which is a 20% deposit. Vets are on the short list of professions where one lender asks for less. One lender's credit guidelines let a self-employed veterinary practitioner registered with their state board use one year of figures instead of two, where the loan is 80% of the value or less and the business has traded for at least 12 months [9]. Its list of 11 professions leaves out physios, chiropractors, paramedics, nurses and dentists.

That same lender accepts a draft tax return if your accountant confirms in writing that it won't change [9]. NAB also considers a single year's financial statements at 80% or less [11].

What this means for you: the one-year routes sit at a 20% deposit, where there is no LMI to waive. A self-employed vet with one year of figures is usually choosing between a bigger deposit now and the waiver once a second year is lodged.

Lenders also set how old your figures can be. MyState doesn't accept tax returns or financials more than 18 months old when you apply, and doesn't take draft returns [12]. Late in a financial year, a vet whose newest return isn't lodged can fall outside a rule like that without noticing.

How add-backs change a practice owner's number

Add-backs can move a practice owner's assessed income by tens of thousands of dollars. An illustration, not a client file, using the rules in part 17. A vet practice shows a net profit of $250,000. It claimed $70,000 in depreciation on equipment and fit-out, a one-off legal bill of $6,000, $12,000 of super above the compulsory amount, and $5,000 on advertising.

Depreciation is capped at 20% of $250,000, so $50,000 is added back, not $70,000. The legal bill and the extra super are added back in full. Advertising isn't on either lender's list, so it isn't added back. The income a lender would start from is $318,000, not the $250,000 on the return. Each lender's own list differs, so the real figure depends on which lender you use.

If your income jumped, the year used matters too. At Firstmac, a vet who earned $110,000 one year and $160,000 the next would be assessed on $132,000, which is 120% of the earlier year [10].

Buying into a vet practice while buying a home

Buying into a practice and buying a home is one decision, not two. Any loan you're personally on for the practice, its equipment or its fit-out counts against what you can borrow for the home, and so does a guarantee you sign for the practice's company.

The order matters. Buy the home first and the business lender sees a larger personal debt. Buy into the practice first and the home lender may want to see a full year or more of your new income before it counts it. Work out both loans on one page before you sign either contract.

Business debt you're personally on also counts toward your debt-to-income ratio, which APRA watches closely (part 23).

New graduate vets, or a new job

A new graduate vet can get a home loan with a waiver, and the waiver turns first on registration. None of the five vet policies we hold sets a minimum time since registration. What usually matters is that you're registered with the board, and, at Westpac Group, whether your first year's pay clears the $90,000 floor [1].

ANZ, NAB, CommBank and Bankwest set no dollar floor for vets, so a new graduate's pay level doesn't bar the waiver itself there. Every lender still checks that your income carries the repayments.

Lenders also look at time in your current job. At Westpac, a loan without mortgage insurance needs you to have started and been paid at least once. A mortgage-insured loan needs 3 months in the job, or less than that with 12 months in the same occupation and no gap of more than 2 months between jobs [7]. Westpac's policy doesn't say whether a waiver loan counts as "without mortgage insurance" for this rule, so it's a question we put to the lender for you.

Part-time, or on parental leave

An employed vet can buy while working part-time or on parental leave. At Westpac, permanent part-time pay counts as base pay, using the lowest base rate and hours on your payslips unless there's a reason they vary. One-off unpaid leave can be counted back in if you confirm you're back to your normal hours [7].

On leave, Westpac can use your return-to-work pay, base pay only, with a letter from your employer giving your return date, your hours and your pay. Every child counts as a dependant, including one not yet born. If your first repayment falls before you return, you'll need savings that cover the gap, on top of the money for the purchase [7].

Part-time pay can also take you under Westpac Group's $90,000 floor, which is where the other four lenders' waivers matter more (part 7). A locum or practice owner on leave is read from their returns, so the timing of a leave year matters.

How much can a vet borrow?

How much a vet can borrow comes down to three things: what a lender counts of your income, your debts, and your living costs. Banks then check you could still make the repayments if rates were at least 3 percentage points higher, the buffer APRA expects [15].

Your debt-to-income ratio, or DTI, is your total debts as a multiple of your gross income. APRA limits each bank's new home lending to people whose debts are 6 or more times their income to 20% of that lending [15]. Practice loans you're personally on count toward it.

What this means for you: a vet earning $115,000 reaches 6 times at $690,000 of debt. That's why the same vet can get quite different answers from two lenders: one that counts your penalties, allowances and overtime more fully can lend noticeably more than one that counts part of each. See how much can I borrow.

Buying with a partner who isn't a vet

You can. At Westpac Group, the $90,000 test is on your own pay from your eligible qualifications, so your partner's income doesn't help you reach it [1]. Your partner's income does count toward what you can borrow together.

How NAB applies its main-income test on a joint loan isn't set out in the policy we hold, so it's one we confirm for you. At ANZ, if the loan has LMI and you're casual, you can't be the only or main earner [6].

Do vets get cheaper home loan rates?

Money Brain doesn't print a vet interest rate, because none of the waiver policies we hold sets one we could rely on. ANZ's policy for its vet group has referred to medico rate concessions, but the most recent card we read no longer states them [1]. The vet waivers set the deposit, the limits and who qualifies; the rate is priced loan by loan.

Rates change far more often than waiver policies. The useful comparison is the total cost of the loan, LMI included, at each lender that takes you, on your loan, at your LVR, on the day you apply.

Can a vet waiver loan be interest-only?

Only on terms. ANZ's, CommBank's and Bankwest's vet waivers are written on principal and interest. Westpac Group's is principal and interest too, though its policy allows interest-only that converts to principal and interest at the same 90% [1]. NAB's conditions, as we hold them, don't set a repayment type, so it's one to confirm.

Interest-only lowers repayments for a while and suits some investment plans. It also means the loan doesn't fall while you pay it. See interest only or principal and interest.

Buying an investment property as a vet

A vet waiver can carry over to an investment loan at most of the five. NAB goes to 90% on an investment, against 95% for a home. ANZ goes to 90% on principal and interest for either. Bankwest applies the same limits to an investment as to a home. Westpac Group's 90% policy doesn't split a home from an investment [1], and St.George's own page says its profession offer can apply whether you're buying to live in or to invest [5].

CommBank's medical group carries a separate limit for an investment purchase, but whether it reaches vets isn't clear from the terms we hold, so it's one to confirm. Bank First's waiver is for first home buyers only [3]. Equity in a home you own can fund the next purchase. See using equity to buy an investment property.

Vet first home buyer? The waiver, the 5% Deposit Scheme or Help to Buy

A vet buying a first home has two ways to buy with 5% and no LMI, and they suit different buyers. The waiver is a lender's own policy. The 5% Deposit Scheme is the government guaranteeing the lender in place of LMI, and it has no job test [13].

What this means for you: a vet buying under the area's price cap with 5% saved can use the scheme at any lender on its panel, not only NAB, and with no income floor. A vet buying above the cap, or planning to rent the home out later, may find the waiver the better fit.

Help to Buy, where the government takes a share of the home's value so you borrow less, needs a deposit of at least 2% and is open only on incomes up to $103,000 alone or $165,000 together. It can't be used with the 5% Deposit Scheme [13][14]. See the 5% Deposit Scheme, Help to Buy, guarantor home loans and the first home buyer grants in your state.

Overseas-trained vets and visa holders

If you're registered with the veterinary board in your state and working as a vet here, the same waiver terms apply; NAB's and CommBank's waivers name that registration [1]. What changes is your visa: many lenders treat permanent residents like citizens and ask more of temporary visa holders. See home loans for visa holders.

What does a broker cost you?

How a broker is paid, and the rule Money Brain holds against it, is set out in full on its own page: what a mortgage broker costs.

Your first move

You've read the rules. Now there's one question left: which of the five lenders, for the way you're paid, at the price you want? That depends on your registration, your pay, your structure and your deposit, and it's what Money Brain works out before anything goes to a lender.

When you're ready, the closing section below is the simplest way to start.