This is the complete guide to LMI waivers in 2024.

In this in-depth guide you’ll learn:

How to get waived LMI in 2024
What professionals are eligible for LMI exemption
How to apply for LMI Waiver Schemes
And so much more…

So if you’re ready to learn how to save more than $35,000 in LMI on your next home purchase, this guide is for you!

Let’s dive right in or you can jump to a section with the links below:

LMI Waiver Basics
Who is Eligible for waived LMI?
How First Home Buyers can get NO LMI
FAQ’s for waived LMI

LMI WAIVER Basics

Name: Mortgage Broker Brisbane - Hunter Galloway
Price range: $$$

What is an LMI Waiver?

When you are buying a home with less than 20% deposit you generally need to pay Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI) to the bank.

There are some specific jobs that the banks consider a lower risk, and so are willing to waive the LMI costs if you are eligible. In other words, if you’re buying a home worth $800,000 you could save $34,372 in costs by not paying LMI.

Who is eligible for waived LMI?

There are some banks that provide no LMI home loans to:

✅ Eligible professionals for example Doctors, Accountants, Lawyers, Physiotherapists, etc.
✅ First home buyers with a 5% deposit using the Home Guarantee Scheme
✅ Home buyers who have a 15% deposit

You need to meet the following criteria in order to be eligible for no LMI:

Doctors

✅ Must be a member of a relevant industry organisation (i.e. AHPRA membership)
✅ You need to be a preferred medical specialist like a General Practitioner, Veterinarian or Dentist.
✅ LMI waiver is available for both a home to live in and investment properties.
✅ Maximum loan of $4.5 million
✅ Maximum loan of 100% of the property value with LMI waived
✅ Call us on 1300 088 065 or complete our free assessment form to see if you are eligible.

Other Medical Professionals

✅ Must be a member of a relevant industry organisation (i.e. AHPRA membership)
✅ You need to be working in a specific role as an Optometrist, Chiropractor, Pharmacist, Audiologist, Occupational therapist, Osteopath, Podiatrist, Psychologist, Radiographer or Sonographer.
✅ In some cases, there are minimum income requirements.
✅ LMI waiver is available for both a home to live in, and investment properties.
✅ Maximum loan of $2.00 million
✅ Maximum loan 90% of the property value with LMI waived
✅ Call us on 1300 088 065 or complete our free assessment form to see if you are eligible.

Accountants, professional athletes, entertainment professionals, lawyers

✅ Accounting professionals must be an accountant, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Finance Manager, Auditor or Actuary.
✅ Legal professionals must be Solicitors, Judges, Barrister, Lawyer and have a Practicing Certificate.
✅ Depending on the professional athletes, they will be considered under the condition that they have an accredited manager or agent
✅ In some cases, there are minimum income requirements.
✅ Available for both a home to live in and investment properties.
✅ Maximum loan size $2 million
✅ Maximum loan 90% of property value

105% LVR with no LMI

✅ Yes it is possible to buy a home with no deposit, but you will need to ask your parents to act as guarantors and only, in this case, could you borrow up to 100% LVR.
✅ There is no requirement to be working in a specific role, or profession.

95% LVR with no LMI

✅ The First Home Guarantee Scheme allows up to a 95% no LMI loan
✅ There is no requirement to be working in a specific role, or profession.
✅ You need to be buying a home to live in as a first home buyer, not available on investment properties.
✅ Your FY22 taxable income needs to be under $125k if you are single, or $200k combined as a couple.
✅ Maximum loan of 95% of the property value is determined by your location, for more info see here.
✅ Call us on 1300 088 065 or complete our free assessment form to see if you are eligible.

85% LVR with no LMI

✅ There is no requirement to be working in a specific role, or profession.
✅ You need to be buying a home to live in, not available on investment properties.
✅ You do not need to be a first home buyer, it is available for any home buyers.
✅ Your income has to be fairly strong, as the debt to income ratio needs to be under 6 times.
✅ Genuine savings are not required
✅ Maximum loan size $5,000,000
✅ Maximum loan 85% of property value

85% LVR with $1 LMI for first home buyers

✅ There is no requirement to be working in a specific role, or profession.
✅ You need to be buying a home to live in, not available on investment properties.
✅ You need to be a first home buyer, or if you are buying with a partner one of you needs to be a first home buyer.
✅ Genuine savings are not required
✅ Maximum loan size $850,000 so the maximum purchase price $1.00m.
✅ Maximum loan 85% of property value
✅ LMI is not actually waived, you are required to pay $1 in LMI costs and its subject to the lender’s mortgage insurance approval – in effect the bank pays the LMI on your behalf.

Call us on 1300 088 065 or complete our free assessment form to see if you are eligible.

CONTACT HUNTER GALLOWAY FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR BREAK COST

How First Home Buyers can get NO LMI?

Lenders’ Mortgage Insurance can get waived for first home buyers using the First Home Guarantee Scheme (previously called the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme, or FHLDS).

This scheme has been created to help first-time home buyers get into the market sooner, the government effectively acts as your guarantor and lets you get into the market with a deposit of 5%.

This is available on both brand new, and existing properties, but there are property price caps that will limit what you can spend depending on where you live.

first home guarantee scheme property caps

There are only 35,000 spots available starting from 1st July 2022 so find out if you qualify for the 5% deposit scheme by calling us on 1300 088 065 or contact us.

How much do I save not paying LMI?

Lenders Mortgage Insurance is priced on a sliding scale, the higher your deposit amount the lower the insurance costs. So for example a home purchase of $600,000 with a 10% deposit ($60,000) will mean you’ll end up paying around $10,000 in LMI – but the higher the loan amount, and the lower the deposit the more this goes up.

As you can see below, having LMI waived could save you up to $34,372 in the costs of purchasing your property.

Purchase Price	Deposit (%)	Deposit ($)	LMI
$500,000	15%	$75,000	$4,725
$500,000	10%	$50,000	$9,860
$500,000	5%	$25,000	$17,655
$750,000	15%	$112,500	$9,033
$750,000	10%	$75,000	$18,173
$750,000	5%	$37,500	$34,372

*LMI amount calculated as average of big 4 banks, on a purchase in Queensland.

These costs change significantly across different banks, so in the same $600,000 purchase scenario, we mentioned above comparing 7 different lenders you can see there is a difference in cost from the cheapest ($10,301) to the most expensive ($16,121) of over $6,000!

How much does LMI cost?

Try using our Lenders Mortgage Insurance Calculator to find out, or select your job below to see if you qualify to have LMI Waived.

LMI Calculator

Loan amount:

Property value:

What is your job?

Do you earn over $150,000 per annum?

Yes No

Talk to a Mortgage Broker:

Yes No

calculate

Please make sure to have filled out all the input fields.

Current LVR: 0%

Current LMI: $XXXXX

ENQUIRE NOW

Disclaimer: This calculator is to be used as a guide to help you better understand your options. We have not assessed what options are suitable for your needs or if you meet other lending criteria that would allow you to access your equity. Any repayments quoted above are calculated using your current home loan balance over a term of 30 years. We strongly recommend that you make additional repayments and pay your loan off sooner. If you borrow over 80% of the property value then you may pay an LMI premium

FAQ’s for waived LMI

Can Nurses Get LMI Waived?

There are some banks that can waive LMI for Nurses if you have a 15% deposit, or if you are eligible for the First Home Guarantee Scheme. More info here.

What professions qualify for waived LMI?

Certain professions qualify for waived LMI, if you fit into these specific professions, then you will be able to save thousands on LMI.

Doctors
Accountants
Pharmacists
Lawyers
Optometrist
Chiropractor
Pharmacist
Audiologist
Occupational therapist
Osteopath
Podiatrist
Psychologist
Radiographer
Sonographer
Professional athlete

Are there first homebuyer discounts when it comes to LMI and 90% LVR

Depending on the mortgage insurance company, some will offer a discount on LMI premiums for first home buyers. It is best to speak with Hunter Galloway about how you can organise this deal.

As lenders will need to deal with these specific LMI providers and negotiate this discount for the customer.

Why do Banks Choose Only Certain Professions?

Banks and other lenders maintain a list of accepted professionals who obtain a waiver toward lenders’ mortgage insurance, this is mainly because they see these borrowers as lower risk who:

✅ Make regular repayments without causing any delay
✅ Borrow high loan value as compared to other borrowers
✅ Almost never default on their loan

While this might not be true in all cases, its the bank’s policy and these do change from time to time. For example the banks previously waived LMI for mining engineers but stopped that in 2017 so their policies are changing all the time.

Can I get a loan with LMI waived with bad credit?

For those with bad credit, lenders do not charge LMI, but bad credit lenders which are considered to be non conforming lenders often charge a risk fee.

Speak to our team about how much a risk fee would be.

Apply for a no Lenders Mortgage Insurance home loan

If you are thinking about buying a home, we’d love to help.

We can quickly assess if you are eligible to apply for an LMI waived home loan.

Call us on 1300 088 065 or fill out our online assessment form.

LMI Waivers: The Definitive Guide