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Effectively immediately, Firstmac has updated its lending policy for company and trust applicants in a move to ”improve transparency of borrower obligations and ensure accurate serviceability assessments”.
In a note to brokers, seen by Broker Daily, Firstmac said that, for company, trust, and self-managed super fund (SMSF) loans, home and SMSF loans will only be accepted where the trustee is a corporate entity.
New loans with individual trustees will not be considered.
However, Firstmac added that further advances for existing borrowers may be considered, excluding SMSF loans.
Importantly, the lender has also ruled out accepting an accountant’s letter for positively geared properties in trust.
Instead, it will now require all loans where the borrower or guarantor has provided a guarantee (whether for a person, company, or trust) to be disclosed and included in serviceability calculations.
This means brokers will need to obtain details of any guaranteed loans, including the relationship to borrower (e.g. parent/child, director, trustee), the purpose of the loan, and loan details.
Previously, the non-bank would accept an accountant’s letter for positively geared trusts, for example.
However, by removing the accountant’s letter policy, every debt will be included in servicing, regardless of whether there is positive gearing or not.
This could dramatically reduce servicing for the borrower.
Firstmac also warned that if a borrower or guarantor fails to disclose guaranteed loans, the application will be declined.
Other changes made by Firstmac include changes to interest addback and related rental income. For example, if the guaranteed loan is for an investment property owned by a company or trust with no unrelated third parties, the full rental income and investment loan interest addback can be included.
If there is an unrelated third party, brokers can include only the borrower’s share of rental and investment loan interest addback (based on shareholding of the company or number of trustees).
Firstmac’s policy changes are the latest in a string of lender moves that aim to tighten up scrutiny of trust lending, following a surge in borrowings through this means.
Macquarie led the charge in October 2025, closing its doors to new home loan applications where the borrower was in a trust or company. The bank cited rising application volumes, service pressures, growing promotion of trust-based lending strategies, and the additional verification requirements under AML Tranche 2 reforms.
Following Macquarie, other major banks have progressively limited access to trust lending, with Westpac, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), and – most recently – Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) tightening eligibility and reducing maximum loan-to-value ratios for company and trust borrowers.
However, Firstmac is believed to be the first non-bank to make a meaningful change to trust lending, showcasing that the cautious approach to lending to trusts has started to spread across the lending landscape.
It comes amid concerns that some investors may be looking to borrow through trusts as a means of circumventing servicing buffers, with several commentators noting the emergence of unlicensed advice strategies being flogged on social media by buyer’s agents.
You can find out more about the changes to trust lending and what brokers think about it in the Broker Daily Uncut podcast here:
[Related: Another major tightens trust lending]