The National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC) is pleased to announce that, following a competitive procurement process, it has appointed the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) as the second major bank lender, and a further 25 non-major lenders to the initial panel of residential mortgage lenders to offer guaranteed loans under the Australian Government’s new First Home Loan Deposit Scheme, which commences 1 January 2020.



The full list of initial participating lenders is:



Major bank lenders:



National Australia Bank

Commonwealth Bank of Australia



Non-major lenders:



Australian Military Bank

Auswide Bank

Bank Australia

Bank First

Bank of us

Bendigo Bank

Beyond Bank Australia

Community First Credit Union

CUA

Defence Bank

Gateway Bank

G&C Mutual Bank

Indigenous Business Australia

Mortgageport

MyState Bank

People’s Choice Credit Union

Police Bank (including the Border Bank and Bank of Heritage Isle)

P&N Bank

QBANK

Queensland Country Credit Union

Regional Australia Bank

Sydney Mutual Bank and Endeavour Mutual Bank (divisions of Australian Mutual Bank Ltd)

Teachers Mutual Bank Limited (including Firefighters Mutual Bank, Health Professionals Bank, Teachers Mutual Bank and UniBank)

The Mutual Bank

WAW Credit Union



The initial panel composition achieves the Australian Government’s objective of promoting competition between the big and small lenders, and also ensuring that the Scheme has broad geographic reach, including in regional and remote communities.



The composition of the panel should enable strong activation of mortgage broker channels and promote choice for first home buyers.



All participating lenders are supporting the Scheme by not charging eligible customers higher interest rates than equivalent customers outside of the Scheme.



Both NAB and CBA will offer guaranteed loans from the Scheme’s commencement date of 1 January 2020.



Consistent with NHFIC’s Investment Mandate, the non-major lenders will receive no less than 50 per cent of the initial 10,000 guarantees allocated in the current financial year. The 25 non-major lenders will begin offering guaranteed loans from 1 February 2020.



In accordance with the terms of the RFP, panel members have been selected on the basis of a range of criteria including the competitiveness of their home loan offering, geographic reach and readiness to meet Scheme implementation timelines.



Applications for the Scheme are not yet open. Once the Scheme commences, applications will only be made through participating lenders and their authorised representatives. NHFIC will not accept applications directly.



Information about the Scheme is available on NHFIC’s website including online tools to assist prospective first home buyers determine their potential eligibility and identify the relevant property price threshold that will apply to any potential purchases.





Media contact



Fiona Benson | fiona.benson@nhfic.gov.au | 0407 294 620



