Independent Australian borrowing journal

Est. North Perth

First Choice Loans

Independent Australian guides to home, personal and car finance

Topic hubs

Six desks, one journal. Each hub is a crawlable index of related long-form guides with descriptive links, not buttons.

National Australia Bank building in Wagin, Western Australia

What lenders actually assess

Borrowing power

How Australian lenders estimate borrowing capacity — income, HECS-HELP, living expenses, the APRA serviceability buffer, credit scores and the broker-versus-bank question.

Open the borrowing power hub

Pacific Highway in New South Wales

Yard finance, balloons and leases

Car loans

Australian car finance without the yard script — how car loans are structured, used-car lending, balloon payments and when a novated lease is a different product altogether.

Open the car loans hub

Hand holding house keys at a door lock

Deposit, duty and guarantees

First home buyers

A practical Australian first-home-buyer desk covering deposits, the 5 per cent deposit scheme, stamp duty concessions, grants and the paperwork lenders still expect.

Open the first home buyers hub

Suburban brick home in Adelaide, South Australia

Owner-occupier and investment

Home loans

How Australian home loans are priced and structured — comparison rates, variable versus fixed, offset accounts, LMI, construction loans and the quiet differences between owner-occupier and investor credit.

Open the home loans hub

Credit cards in a leather wallet

Unsecured credit, on a timetable

Personal loans

How personal loans work in Australia compared with credit cards, what secured versus unsecured actually pledges, and when consolidation lowers cost rather than hiding it.

Open the personal loans hub

For-sale signs in Madeley, Western Australia

Switching lenders with your eyes open

Refinancing

When refinancing a home loan in Australia is worth the break fees, discharge costs and a fresh serviceability test — and when it merely lengthens the debt.

Open the refinancing hub