You don't pay Wity a cent. So who does? Before you hand anyone your payslips and two years of bank statements, that question deserves an answer in dollars, not a paragraph of reassurance.
The short version: the lender pays us a commission when your loan settles, you see the exact dollar figure in writing before you commit, and commissions across our 45+ lender panel sit so close together that steering you into the wrong loan would earn us almost nothing extra. Openness about money is why we built Wity in the first place.
The timing of the question matters. The RBA has lifted the cash rate three times since February 2026, to 4.35%, and held in June; the next decision lands on 11 August 2026. Rising rates thin out the buying crowd, which hands prepared borrowers rare negotiating power, and they push record numbers of Australians to shop their loan around, many through a broker for the first time. If that's you, asking how mortgage brokers get paid in Australia isn't cynical. It's due diligence.
How do mortgage brokers get paid in Australia?
By the lender, and only when your loan settles. Australian brokers typically receive two payments: an upfront commission of roughly 0.65% of the loan amount (plus GST), and a trail commission of around 0.15% of the remaining balance each year. You pay nothing for the service.
Think of a broker as the branch the lender didn't have to build. Lenders pay for introductions the way they'd otherwise pay for shopfronts and tellers, which is why a broker-arranged loan typically prices the same as one you'd get walking into that branch yourself, and sometimes sharper once negotiated.
There's a legal layer too. Since January 2021, brokers have carried the Best Interests Duty, enforced by ASIC: a legal obligation to put your interests ahead of our own. Bank branch staff owe you no such duty. They only have to sell you their employer's products.
What does the commission look like in real dollars?
Take Tessa and Dan, buying an $850,000 townhouse in Paddington, inner Brisbane, with a $680,000 loan arranged through Wity.
| Payment | Typical rate | On their $680,000 loan |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront commission | ~0.65% + GST | ~$4,420, paid by the lender at settlement |
| Trail commission | ~0.15% a year | ~$1,020 in year one, falling as the balance shrinks |
| What Tessa and Dan pay Wity | $0 | $0 |
Based on typical scenarios. Individual outcomes vary.
You'd assume that $4,420 gets baked into their rate as a broker premium. It doesn't. Their rate is the same one the lender offers its walk-in customers, because the commission comes out of the lender's distribution budget, not out of their repayments.
Doesn't commission bias the advice?
It could. So the industry built brakes.
Commissions barely vary. Upfront rates across major lenders cluster between roughly 0.50% and 0.70%, so the gap between recommending one lender over another on a $680,000 loan is a few hundred dollars, once. Then there's clawback: discharge a loan within about two years and the lender takes back up to 100% of the upfront commission. We've watched that clause quietly discipline this industry, because a broker who recommends a loan the borrower has to unwind in eighteen months hands the whole commission straight back.
Chain it through. Standardised commissions remove the reason to steer. Clawback punishes loans that don't last. The Best Interests Duty makes steering unlawful anyway. Which leaves one incentive standing, and it points the same direction yours does: a loan that fits, settles, and stays.
What does the trail buy you?
A fair challenge: 0.15% a year, for what? At plenty of volume brokerages, the honest answer is nothing. The file closes at settlement and the trail keeps arriving anyway.
At Wity, trail funds the part of the service that happens after settlement: your dedicated Relationship Manager at no extra cost, annual rate reviews, and repricing requests when the market moves under your loan. Settled doesn't mean forgotten.
You also see the money before any of it starts. Your WityLoanPlan, the digital loan proposal you accept before your application goes anywhere, sets out the recommended loan, the options it beat, and the commission Wity expects to receive, in dollars. You accept it digitally or you don't. Nothing moves without your yes.
What about cashbacks and other catches?
Cashbacks are the lender's money, not ours, and they land in your account, not Wity's. Around ten lenders are currently offering $1,000 to $4,000, and ANZ is the only big-four bank still running one: $3,000, for first home buyers only, having scrapped its refinance cashback in October 2025. Whether a cashback beats a sharper rate over five years is a maths problem; we've worked it through in our guide to home loan cashback offers.
Two red flags, wherever you shop. A broker who charges you a fee on top of commission without saying what it buys. And a "panel" of three lenders wearing a comparison costume. Ask any broker the question you've asked us here; the good ones answer in dollars.
What should you do this month?
If the rate cycle has you comparing lenders for the first time, start where the money is disclosed before you commit, not after. The Wity questionnaire matches you with offers from 45+ lenders — free, no credit check, two minutes. Start the Wity questionnaire → The longer story of who we are and how we work sits on our About page.
