What Happens After Your Eligibility Check?

What the eligibility check is, and what it is not

The check takes a couple of minutes and asks about your work, your region, your rough income and deposit position, and your timing. It is not an application for finance, not an application to a government scheme, and not an approval of anything.

What it produces is a starting point: an indication of whether a discounted purchase looks realistic for your household, and what would need to be true for it to work. EWH is a private service, separate from government programs.

The two paths that follow

Based on what you tell us, one of two things usually happens.

A finance-first path. Where your income, deposit and employment position suggest you could borrow now, we introduce you to a mortgage broker who works through your borrowing capacity, deposit, any government support you may be eligible for, and lender options. From there the sequence is typically: your details are received, you are introduced to the broker, you meet, pre-approval is sought, you search for a property, and you settle. Each of those stages takes as long as the lender and your circumstances require, and pre-approval is never a guarantee of a loan.

A preparation path. Where something needs to change first, we say so plainly and stay in contact. That might be a deposit that needs another year, a credit file that needs attention, a casual income history that needs to lengthen, or simply no suitable home in your area yet. In that case the sequence is: your details are received, we make contact, we agree a follow-up point, we re-check your position, and you move forward when it is genuinely ready. Sometimes the honest answer is to re-check in six months.

Neither path obliges you to proceed, and neither costs you anything to enter.

What we actually look at

• Your occupation and employment basis. Permanent, contract, casual and part-time all work differently for lenders, and some professions appear on lenders' published LMI waiver lists while others do not.
• Your income and how it is made up. Base pay, loadings, overtime and any second job are assessed differently. Evidence matters more than the figure.
• Your deposit and where it comes from. Genuine savings, a gift, a guarantor and superannuation released under the First Home Super Saver scheme are treated differently.
• Your region and timing. Availability of discounted homes varies by area, and a purchase that is two years away needs a different answer from one that is three months away.
• Any government support you may be able to use, so that the plan does not double-count benefits that cannot be combined.

What to have ready

You do not need any of this to complete the initial check, but having it makes the next conversation much shorter:

1. Recent payslips showing base pay, loadings and overtime separately, or two years of tax returns if you are self-employed.
2. A letter from your employer confirming your role, employment basis and ordinary earnings.
3. Your registration or qualification evidence if your occupation requires it.
4. A current statement for each savings account and any loan or credit card.
5. A rough figure for what you could put towards a deposit, and where it came from.
6. Your best estimate of when you would want to buy.

What happens to your information

We use it to assess your enquiry and to contact you about it. We do not sell it. If you want it removed, ask us and we will deal with that request.

If the answer is not yet

A "not yet" is usually specific rather than permanent. The most common reasons are a deposit shortfall, a thin income history, an existing debt that reduces borrowing capacity, or no suitable stock in the area you need. Each of those has a route forward, and knowing which one applies is more useful than being told to try again later.

If you are not sure whether it is worth starting, understanding whether you qualify for Key Worker housing covers the questions that sit before the check.