lowdoclenders.com.au

The ledger · opened 8 October 2026

Borrowing when the income is your own

Moneysmart describes a low doc loan as one that needs “less financial documentation” than a standard loan to prove income, assets and liabilities, and says self-employed people and small business owners typically use them. This ledger sets out, in six entries, what a lender must check, the papers it may ask for, what a comparison rate does and does not show, what a broker owes a borrower, and where to turn if repayments get hard.

A guide in plain words, published by Dotto from ASIC, Moneysmart, the ATO and the law itself, each linked where it is used.

General information, not financial advice. To check anything here, start with ASIC’s Moneysmart. A licensed financial adviser can advise on a particular situation, and a financial counsellor can help for free.

A line drawing of receipts pushed onto a desk spike, the top one torn along its lower edge.
Drawn for this guide: a receipt spike, one paper for each question.

The day bookSix entries

The six entries

Each entry answers one question from the official source named in its folio column. They can be read in any order.

Entries in this ledger
No.ParticularsFolio
01What a low doc loan is
Moneysmart’s definition, read line by line, and why the law sorts loans by purpose instead.		Moneysmart; the Act
02Responsible lending when the income is your own business’s
How ASIC says a lender reads irregular income, and the business purpose declaration.		ASIC RG 209; the Code
03Documents a lender may ask for
The papers ASIC lists for self-employed borrowers, and where each one comes from.		ASIC RG 209; ATO
04The comparison rate
When the law requires one, which loans it does not cover, and what it leaves out.		Moneysmart; the Code
05A mortgage broker’s duty, and the papers that show it
The best interests duty, the papers a broker must give, or give on request, and the lenders it can reach.		ASIC RG 273; the Act
06If repayments become hard
The hardship notice on a consumer loan, the Banking Code for a business loan, and free help for each.		The Code; Banking Code; helplines

A note in the marginMoneysmart · the Act

A phrase the law does not use

“Low doc” is a description, not a category in the credit law. We searched the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009, its regulations, and ASIC’s guides on responsible lending and on mortgage brokers, and none of them uses the phrase.

What the law sorts by is purpose. ASIC’s guidance tells lenders that what decides it is what the loan is for, not who is borrowing or what the loan is secured against, and a loan wholly or predominantly for a business purpose falls outside the responsible lending obligations, even when the borrower is a person and the loan is secured over their home. Most of this ledger turns on that line.

The indexOfficial sources

Where to check

Official places, and what each is for
WhereWhat it is for
MoneysmartASIC’s plain-language guidance on home loans, including choosing a loan, using a mortgage broker and problems paying a mortgage.
ASIC: responsible lendingThe obligations lenders and brokers work to, and Regulatory Guide 209, which sets out ASIC’s views on them.
Moneysmart: using a mortgage brokerHow to check a broker’s credit licence on ASIC’s Professional Registers Search, and the steps for a complaint.
Australian Financial Complaints AuthorityMoneysmart calls AFCA “an independent dispute resolution scheme” for disputes with financial firms and services, and says such schemes hear complaints for free.
National Debt HelplineFree financial counselling for personal debts.
Small Business Debt HelplineA free service for small business owners in financial difficulty, run by financial counsellors.