Quick Summary
Founded
1997
Owned by:
Privately-owned
Funded by:
Institutional funding and wholesale capital markets
LMI Provider:
Genworth, QBE and Self-Insured
Lender type:
Non Banks, Specialist Lender
Liberty Financial wasn't the first specialist lender in Australia, but it was the first to rapidly grow through the use of mortgage brokers and became a market leader before the GFC.
Their founder Sherman Ma grew up in the USA, saw the success of specialist lending there and saw an opportunity in the Australian home loan market for people who couldn't get approved by the banks.
Liberty now offers home loans, car loans, commercial loans, SMSF loans and a range of other products to people who are good borrowers but don't fit with the banks. They're also expanding with short term unsecured business loans through their FinTech partner Moula.
How do Liberty Financial's home loans compare?
Pros
- First home buyers with a low deposit
- Home loans without genuine savings
- Loans for SMSFs
- Low doc loans and no doc loans
- People who have just started a business
and investment loans - They can lend up to 95% of the property value
- Lenient when assessing your borrowing power
- Special solutions for borrowers with a bad credit history
- Specialist commercial lending and low doc commercial loans
- Assessing loans using common sense instead of credit scoring
- Working with mortgage brokers
- Easy to get hold of the team and BDM
- They accept most types of incomes
- Jobseeker, Jobkeeper, Family Payments, pensions etc.
- Refinance and debt consolidation
Cons
- Interest ratesare not always competitive in comparison to other specialist lenders or banks
- No LMI refunds are available
- No branch access
- They don't do construction loans
- Miscommunication from BDMs sometimes
- Foreign income is not acceptable
What are Liberty's interest rates?
Liberty has a range of home loans which includes the Liberty Free, Liberty Sharp, Liberty Star, Liberty Nova as well as some niche products such as a No Doc Loan.
The pricing of these loans is a bit confusing for most people as it varies depending on whether your credit history is clear or if it’s less than perfect, what income evidence you can provide and how big your deposit is.
What this means is that in most cases we use a large table or software to calculate your interest rate with Liberty. That’s why you won’t see many interest rates published on their website.
Talk to one of our expert mortgage brokers and we can give you an interest rate quote for Liberty as well as other specialist lenders. Call us on 1300 889 743 or complete our free assessment form online.
But that wasn't the rate I applied for!
Time and time again we confirm the interest rate that a customer is eligible for, we submit the application and then Liberty sends us an approval with a higher interest rate!
What they don’t tell customers and mortgage brokers is that there are many hidden conditions in their policy which cause people to be moved to another home loan product or to have a higher rate applied.
If your mortgage broker has a good relationship manager then they can negotiate with Liberty to get the original rate that was applied for.
Compare Liberty to other lenders
Not sure which lender is right for you? Our Home Loan Experts can help!
Talk to one of our mortgage brokers by calling us on 1300 889 743 or complete our free assessment form.
Liberty Financial Client Story
Steve, QLD
Goal
Situation
Purchasing a business, refinance, no proof of income.
Background
Self-employed accountant Glenda decided it was time to expand her investment portfolio and put her money to work in a business.
She came across a courier business with strong cash flow and a solid management team and decided to take the leap.
She certainly had enough equity in her home to finance the business purchase and was going to be buying the business in her company name.
The problem was that her financials weren't in order and she couldn't write her own accountants declaration in order to even qualify for a low doc option.
Solution
Commercial loans actually fall outside of National Consumer Credit Protection Act (NCCP) regulations and La Trobe is one of a few lenders that will approve a no doc business loan.
In order to qualify though, the cash out loan amount had to be more than the existing mortgage so that the majority of the loan was for commercial purposes.
Glenda was refinancing around $680,000 so she actually needed to cash out $350,000 even though she only needed around $100,000 to buy the courier business.
This meant that $350,000 was for business purposes and the remaining $330,000 was still tied up with her residential property, so La Trobe was able to approve the deal so she could buy the business.
Because she was borrowing less than 45% of the value of her property, she even qualified for a 6.65% interest rate, which is quite low for a non-conforming lender.
With the remaining cash out, she was even able to go on an overseas holiday with her children.
Find out if you are qualified to apply with this lender
GET A FREE ASSESSMENTQuick tip when applying with this lender
Use Liberty's Cover Notes & Checklist to prepare for your home loan application.
Note: This is the latest home loan checklist as of December 2020. Please refer to Liberty for their most up-to-date document requirements.