Inputting applicant and loan details into the Macquarie Serviceability Calculator

Once you’ve input all applicants’ names in the calculator, input their status and let us know their relationship to each other. Here are some examples:

• Two independent people (e.g. siblings) – Under both Applicant 1 and Applicant 2, their status will be ‘single’ as they aren’t considered to have shared living expenses, even if they currently reside together.
• Couples (both spousal and de facto) – Under Applicant 1 and Applicant 2, their status will be ‘couple’. This ensures they’re captured under the same household for living expenses.
• Parents (spousal or de facto) applying with an adult child – Under Applicant 1 and Applicant 2, their status will be ‘couple’, however the adult child will be applicant 3 and ‘single’.
• Common debt policy for spousal couples – Enter as a ‘single’ in the serviceability calculator, but as a ‘couple’ in ApplyOnline. For more information see Understanding common debt reducer policy.
• Trust or Company borrower – Input directors (i.e. guarantors) as Applicants.

The ‘Couple with other applicant?’ field in the calculator determines which applicants are in the same household, and is important to determine household expenditure measure (HEM).

• For couples (e.g. spousal or de facto), select from the dropdown which applicant is their partner
• For singles or independent applicants not considered as sharing living expenses as a household, select ‘N/A’.

Take care when inputting dependants in the calculator to ensure each dependant is only included once and aligned to the appropriate applicant.

Here are some examples of how to include dependants:

• Dependants of couples should only be entered once (e.g. If a couple has 2 dependants, ‘2’ should be entered under Applicant 1 only. Applicant 2 should be left blank or ‘0’).
• Dependants related to different applicants occur when each applicant has their own dependants. Enter the relevant number related to each applicant into this field.
• Dependants of couples and additional dependants occur when a couple shares dependants, but one applicant also has additional dependants. Enter the additional dependants under the applicant who has them, and shared number under the other applicant. 

If an account will have a fixed interest rate, input the higher of our current fixed or variable interest rate (i.e. the account’s revert rate) in the calculator.

For example, if our 2 year fixed interest rate was 5% and our variable interest rate was 5.5% for the same LVR and repayment type (e.g. P&I), you’d input 5.5%.

Our construction loan starts with an interest only period, so for this loan account you’ll need to enter in the calculator:

• an interest only period of 2 years for servicing, and
• the relevant interest only interest rate.

If applying for a longer interest only term than 2 years for the construction loan, you’ll need to enter this term instead (e.g. 5 years).

For construction split loans, you’ll need to enter two home loan accounts if:

• the land or refinance portion is higher than the construction amount, or
• you’re requesting different repayment methods (e.g. P&I repayments) on the other split of the loan.

For more information see Submitting a construction loan application.

To calculate serviceability for a principal increase application (PIA), input the current interest rate of your customer’s home loan account (and any other accounts within their home loan facility).

Current interest rates for your existing customer are available in Broker Portal.

A minimum assessment rate buffer has been built into the calculator and will be applied automatically. You don’t need to manually add this into your interest rate.

For more information see our Residential Home Loans Credit Guidelines.

If the postcode is restricted or high density, a pop-up will appear to let you know. Additionally, the fields under ‘Max loan amount per security’ won’t populate with a maximum lending amount (e.g. $850,000).

If the pop-up doesn’t appear when you enter the postcode (and you’re expecting it to), reset the calculator. This will wipe any data from the application, but will ensure you’re aware of any postcode restrictions.