Bankwest Stopped Accepting an Accountant’s Letter in Place of an NOA on 29 September. Granite’s Easy Refinance Now Wants 24 Months and a 750 Score From the Self-Employed

1. Four changes, one week

The round-up is the kind of item that gets skimmed between appointments. It is worth slowing down on, because each change alters either the document you must hold before submission or the client who is eligible at all.

Granite files submitted before the 4 October cut-off have until 2 January 2027 to settle under the round-up’s description, so the old criteria still matter for anything already in the pipeline.

2. Bankwest: the NOA moves to day one

From 29 September, Bankwest’s full verification requires the applicant’s most recent notice of assessment to come in with the initial submission. The accountant’s letter — the familiar bridge used when a return has been prepared or lodged but the ATO has not yet issued the assessment — is no longer accepted in its place.

The timing is what bites. Early October sits in the window where many self-employed clients have lodged, or are about to lodge, the latest year’s return through their tax agent, and the assessment has not yet landed. The accountant’s letter was how a broker kept that file moving. At Bankwest, it no longer does.

Two practical consequences. First, a self-employed client whose latest NOA has not issued either waits, or goes to a lender that still accepts alternative evidence under its own policy. Second, if you package for Bankwest using last year’s NOA, check that it really is the most recent one issued. The requirement is the most recent, not any recent.

3. Granite Easy Refinance: who is out

Granite’s Easy Refinance changed from 5 October in three ways. It is now for individuals only: companies and trusts are no longer eligible. Self-employed applicants need 24 months with their current lender and an Equifax score of at least 750. PAYG applicants keep the existing 600 minimum.

Read those together and the product has drawn a sharp line between employment types. A PAYG refinancer needs 600. A self-employed refinancer needs 750 and two years of conduct with the outgoing lender. That is a 150-point difference in score for the same product, plus a tenure test that only applies to one group.

For files already in motion, the round-up says applications submitted before the 4 October cut-off have until 2 January 2027 to settle. If you have a company or trust refinance under the old rules, diarise that date now.

4. The self-employed file, re-sequenced

Put Bankwest and Granite side by side and the self-employed client is squeezed from both ends. One lender will not start without the latest NOA. The other’s streamlined refinance will not help without two years of conduct and a high score. A client who is between returns and recently changed lenders could fit neither this month.

The response is sequencing, not scrambling. Collect to the strictest documented standard before you choose a lender, then choose. If the latest NOA is on the file at fact-find, Bankwest’s change costs nothing. If the Equifax score and loan tenure are checked at fact-find, Granite’s change costs nothing either. The cost only arrives when the lender is chosen first and the documents are chased afterwards.

1. Ask for the NOA status at first contact. Has the latest return been lodged? Has the assessment issued? Record the answer and the expected date.
2. Pull the credit score early. Note the Equifax figure specifically where Granite is in contemplation; the 750 threshold is an Equifax threshold.
3. Confirm time with the current lender. For a self-employed refinance, check whether the existing loan has run 24 months.
4. Confirm the borrowing entity. If the security or loan sits in a company or trust, Easy Refinance is out from 5 October.
5. Only then shortlist. Match the file to lenders whose current policy fits the documents you actually hold, and record why.

5. Ubank: a lighter PAYG path

Not every change in the round-up adds friction. Ubank now accepts payslips only for eligible applicants, and Illion bank statements are no longer compulsory. For a straightforward PAYG file that meets Ubank’s eligibility criteria, that removes a step from the document chase.

The word doing the work is “eligible”. The round-up does not set out the eligibility criteria in full, so check Ubank’s own policy before you tell a client they will not need statements. A lighter document list for the lender does not lighten your own obligation to verify the client’s financial situation; your licensee’s policy on what you collect still applies.

6. Firstmac: benefit income, capped

Firstmac now counts government benefits and pensions toward servicing, capped at 50 per cent of assessable income. For households where a pension or benefit forms part of the income, that is a servicing option that may not have been available before.

The cap matters. If benefit or pension income would make up more than half of assessable income, only the portion up to the cap counts. A household relying mostly on a pension is unlikely to clear servicing on that income alone. The change helps mixed-income households most: wage or business income plus a benefit stream.

As with any non-wage income, check how Firstmac’s policy treats the specific benefit type, and make sure the client understands that a lender counting the income for servicing is not the same as the loan being suitable for them.

7. A panel check for Monday

Treat the round-up as a work list. Pull any live self-employed file headed for Bankwest and confirm the latest NOA is held. Pull any Granite Easy Refinance file and check entity type, score and tenure against the 5 October criteria — and diarise 2 January 2027 for anything lodged under the old rules. Flag PAYG files where Ubank’s payslip-only path could save the client time, subject to eligibility. And look again at any declined or parked file where benefit or pension income was excluded, to see whether Firstmac’s 50 per cent cap brings it inside servicing.

Then write down why each file went where it went. Lender policy moved this week; the record of which version of policy you relied on is the thing that protects you if it moves again.