Credit Quote Requirements for Mortgage Brokers

A credit quote sets out the services and maximum charges a consumer agrees to before you provide credit assistance. If you charge your client, give them the written quote, obtain signed and dated acceptance and give them the accepted copy before providing that assistance.

For a mortgage broker, the sequence matters even when the fee becomes payable only after settlement. Agreeing to a fee later doesn’t repair credit assistance provided before acceptance.

Confirm Whether a Quote is Needed

Start with the service you plan to provide and whether the consumer will pay for it. Under section 114 of the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009, the quote requirement precedes specific credit assistance.

That assistance includes recommending or helping a consumer apply for a particular lender’s loan or a limit increase. It also includes suggesting they remain in a particular credit contract. The Act’s current compilation is dated 1 July 2026.

Before drafting, identify the consumer, the credit licensee responsible for the assistance and the person providing it. If you are a credit representative, record that relationship. Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) guidance explains that a representative can provide the quote on a licensee’s behalf.

Record the proposed service and the consumer charge in the same file. A fee described as administration or application preparation still needs to be assessed by what the service actually covers.

When Your Client Pays No Fee

A no-fee service can use the exemption in regulation 28C of the National Consumer Credit Protection Regulations 2010. The current compilation is dated 5 September 2026.

One route is a credit guide stating that the licensee doesn’t impose consumer fees or charges for credit assistance and other services. The other requires both an intention to charge nothing before assistance and a proposal document stating that no fee or charge was imposed.

For example, a broker receiving lender-paid commission can still provide a no-fee service to the consumer. Keep the relevant disclosure evidence with the file. Commission disclosure belongs in the credit proposal disclosure document.

A settlement-only consumer fee is still a consumer fee. If you plan to charge it, prepare the quote before providing credit assistance.

Describe the Service and Fee

Describe the work covered and the maximum amount payable so your client can understand the charge without calculating it or consulting another document. Section 114 and regulation 28D set those content requirements.

Use this document check before sending the quote.

1. Name the service. Explain the credit assistance and any other included work, such as preparing and lodging one refinance application.
2. Separate the charges. Distinguish your service fee, costs you incur and amounts you pay to others on your client’s behalf. Regulation 28D also requires maximum third-party amounts payable whether or not a credit contract is entered.
3. State the maximum. Give each known maximum in dollars. For a variable fee, explain its calculation and show the reasonable maximum estimate in the form the regulation requires.
4. Explain payment. State the payment frequency and the circumstances in which each fee is payable. Explicitly say what is payable if the loan isn’t entered or the limit isn’t increased.
5. Identify the amounts as a quote. Add any applicable cancellation or refund terms so they agree with the service and payment conditions.

A calculation method alone leaves the consumer without a maximum. If a percentage determines the fee, show the percentage and dollar amount required by regulation 28D. Explain any formula in plain words.

Lender application fees and government charges have different recipients from your broker service fee. List them separately where required, and distinguish lender-paid commission from money your client pays you. For choosing a charging model, see mortgage broker fees.

Hypothetical Service and Fee

Assume a brokerage quotes an Australian-dollar fee of $660, including goods and services tax (GST), for preparing and lodging one refinance application. Its agreed terms make the fee payable once, at settlement. No broker fee is payable if the loan doesn’t settle, and the example assumes no separate consumer charge for cancelled work.

The service description identifies the application work and its limits. The quote states the $660 maximum, the settlement payment event and the no-settlement outcome. Any relevant third-party charges appear separately with their own maximum amounts and conditions.

These are illustrative engagement terms, not a statutory form or an industry fee recommendation. Your actual document must describe the services and charges agreed for that engagement. Refund wording must match the terms you actually provide and applicable consumer rights.

Obtain Acceptance Before Work Starts

Obtain acceptance and deliver the accepted copy before you recommend a particular loan or help your client apply for it. ASIC’s disclosure guidance, updated May 2025, sets out that order.

1. Issue the complete quote. Give it personally or use an electronic delivery method with the consumer’s consent under regulation 28L. Keep the version and delivery date.
2. Obtain signed and dated acceptance. Check that the accepted document contains the agreed scope and fee. For electronic signing, retain the signed document and its completion record.
3. Give the consumer the accepted copy. Record when and how you sent it. A signed copy stored only in your system doesn’t establish that you gave it to the client.
4. Begin the credit assistance. Record the recommendation or application-assistance date after those earlier steps are complete.

A general instruction to proceed doesn’t identify the quote version accepted. A file note of a phone call also doesn’t replace the signed and dated quote used in this procedure.

Acceptance authorises the engagement on its written terms. It doesn’t authorise an advance demand for the credit-assistance fee. Section 114(5) prohibits requesting or demanding that payment before the assistance is provided.

In the hypothetical $660 engagement, acceptance happens before the refinance assistance. The brokerage then provides the assistance and requests payment at settlement, as agreed. Moving collection to the signing date would conflict with the prohibition on requesting payment before assistance.

Check Changes and File Evidence

Resolve a changed scope or fee before continuing work outside the accepted terms. Keep the old accepted quote and explain the proposed change in a new version.

If the change raises the maximum, don’t treat the original acceptance as authority to charge more. Section 114(4) prohibits requesting payment above the quoted maximum. Obtain signed and dated acceptance of the revised terms and give the client their accepted copy before providing the changed assistance.

For example, the client might request a second, separately charged application outside the hypothetical refinance scope. Record the additional service and revised maximum explicitly. Preserve the first quote so the file shows which work each acceptance covers.

Check the final file against these observable results.

Evidence	What the record must show for this workflow
Accepted quote	The agreed service, maximum charges, payment conditions and signed acceptance date
Delivery record	The version issued and when the consumer received the accepted copy
Assistance record	The recommendation or application assistance followed acceptance and delivery of the accepted copy
Invoice	The charged service matches the accepted scope and stays within the accepted maximum
Proposal disclosure	Fees and remuneration agree with the quote and the recommendation-stage disclosures
Changes and communication	Each changed engagement has its own agreed terms and dated acceptance evidence

Under regulation 28F, a proposal can refer to an unchanged quoted fee when the quote was given no more than 30 days earlier. Outside that exception, include the required fee information in the proposal. Keep the recommendation-stage requirements together in the credit proposal guide.

Retain the quote with the supporting communication and fee records under your licensee’s retention process. Section 95 requires relevant financial records to remain for seven years after their transactions are completed. That financial-record rule is distinct from section 120’s consumer right to request a preliminary assessment within seven years of the quote.

If an invoice exceeds the accepted maximum, correct the invoice before seeking payment. If acceptance evidence is missing after assistance, refer the failure through your licensee’s compliance process. Preserve the original dates and records so the file accurately shows what happened.