Mortgage Commission Calculator (Australia)

This calculator estimates what an Australian mortgage broker earns on a home loan — the upfront commission paid after settlement, and the trail commission paid monthly while the loan stays on the lender's book. Enter a loan amount and it returns your upfront, first-year trail, and total trail over the loan's expected life. Published industry guidance puts typical rates at around 0.65–0.70% + GST upfront(MFAA-cited guidance) and 0.15–0.20% p.a. + GST trail(commonly cited market ranges), with wider ranges also reported — some upfront from around 0.50% + GST and trail from 0% up to around 0.35%. These are indicative only and vary by lender, product and settlement date.

Open Advanced settings to model what actually lands in your account — aggregator split, GST treatment and the net-of-offset adjustment — turn on the clawback view to see what an early discharge would cost, or switch to Book projection for a whole-of-book view.

Everything is calculated in your browser. Nothing you type is transmitted or stored. All figures are estimates.

Loan amount ($)

Upfront rate (%)typically 0.65–0.70% + GST

Trail rate (% p.a.)typically 0.15–0.20% + GST

Expected loan life (years)How long before the loan is refinanced, discharged or paid out. Defaults to 5 years — roughly the Australian average loan life. This is not the loan term.

Show what a clawback would cost me

Upfront commission: $3,900; Paid once, ~6–8 weeks after settlement.
Trail — year 1: $894; $894 in the first year, declining as the loan amortises.
Trail — total over loan life: $4,349; Summed across 5 years — the annuity most estimates miss.
Total commission: $8,249; Over the 5 years you hold this loan.

Figures shown ex-GST — the GST component is collected and remitted, not income. Toggle to see inc-GST.

Estimates only, based on the figures you enter. Actual commission depends on your lender's schedule, product, settlement date and aggregator agreement. Not financial advice.

Adjust any figure to model your own loan. The formulas, a worked example and the assumptions behind every number are explained below the calculator.

How to use this calculator

Enter the loan amount. Use the drawn amount, not the approved facility limit — commission is generally calculated on what the borrower actually draws.
Set the upfront and trail rates. Published industry guidance puts upfront typically around 0.65–0.70% + GST and trail around 0.15–0.20% p.a. + GST (indicative only — see the rate sources on this page). Your lender's schedule is the authority.
Set the expected loan life. How long before the loan is refinanced, discharged or paid out. It defaults to 5 years — roughly the Australian average loan life — and it is not the loan term. This is what drives the trail total.
Open Advanced settings if you need them. Model your aggregator split, apply a net-of-offset adjustment, switch between ex-GST and inc-GST, or change the trail basis between a declining balance and a flat opening balance.
Turn on the clawback view. Choose a discharge month and structure to see the upfront clawed back, the trail forgone, and the combined true cost of an early discharge.
Switch to Book projection for a whole-of-book view. Enter your active loans, average balance and settlements per year for an annual upfront run-rate, current annual trail, and an indicative book value range.
Read the notes under the results. They state the GST view and the assumptions applied to the figures you're looking at.

How broker commission is calculated

Three formulas do most of the work — they are exactly what the tool computes.

Upfront commission

upfront = (loan − offset) × upfront rate × your split

The base is the drawn balance less any offset or undrawn funds at the lender's measurement point — not the facility limit. On a $600,000 loan at 0.65% with a 100% split, that's $3,900 before GST.

Trail commission

trail (per year) = outstanding balance × trail rate × your split

Trail is calculated on the outstanding balance, so on the default declining basis it falls as the loan amortises: a $600,000 loan at 0.15% pays roughly $894 in year one, and less every year after. The flat basis instead holds the opening balance — simpler, but it over-states later years.

Total trail over the loan's life

total trail = sum of annual trail across the expected loan life

This is where most commission estimates go wrong. Multiplying year-one trail by 30 assumes a loan that never refinances, never sells and never pays out — which describes almost no loan. The calculator defaults to a five-year expected life — roughly the Australian average — for that reason.

For what happens after the estimate — reconciling what your statements say you were due against what actually arrived — see commission tracking.

What the settings mean

Aggregator split

Commission flows lender → aggregator → broker. The split percentage is the share you keep after your aggregator's cut. If you pay your aggregator a flat monthly fee instead of a percentage, enter 100 — a fixed fee is an overhead across your entire book, not a cost attributable to one loan, so netting it off a single loan's commission would distort your per-loan economics.

GST treatment

Commission rates are conventionally quoted plus GST. If you're registered, the GST component you receive is remitted to the ATO — it is not income. That's why the calculator defaults to ex-GST; the inclusive view exists so you can reconcile against a statement showing GST-inclusive figures. A payment that looks 10% "wrong" is very often a GST-treatment difference rather than an error. Not tax advice — confirm your GST position with your accountant.

Net-of-offset

Upfront commission is generally calculated on the drawn amount less offset balances, following the Combined Industry Forum reforms. The example that costs brokers most: a client settles with $100,000 parked in offset to fund a renovation. If the lender measures shortly after settlement, upfront is paid on $500,000, not $600,000 — a reduction of $650 at 0.65%. Measurement windows differ by lender, from a few days after settlement to month-end.

Clawback exposure

If the loan discharges inside the lender's window, upfront is reclaimed — but the clawback is only half the story. The trail you would have earned across the rest of the loan's life stops too, and as the worked example below shows, the trail forgone is often larger than the clawback itself. The clawback view shows both, plus the combined true cost of the early discharge.

The legal limits are enforced by this tool. Under regulation 28VG of the National Consumer Credit Protection Regulations 2010, a clawback obligation must not apply for more than 2 years, must not require repayment of more than the benefit given, and the consumer must not be made liable for it. The calculator caps clawback at the upfront paid and returns zero beyond month 24 regardless of what you enter. Structures vary by lender — the two-year cap is a legal maximum, not a standard. General information only, not legal advice. For visibility of clawback risk across your whole book, see clawback risk.

Book projection

The book mode is a deliberately light projection: your annual upfront run-rate from settlements, your current annual and monthly trail, and an indicative book value as a multiple range of annual trail. Trail books are commonly discussed in multiples of annual trail, but real valuations turn on run-off, seasoning, lender mix and arrears — treat the range as indicative and get an independent appraisal before any decision.

Worked example: a $600,000 loan

Settled with $100,000 in offset, an 80% aggregator split, and a five-year expected life.

Step	Calculation	Amount (ex GST)
Loan amount	—	$600,000
Offset at settlement	—	$100,000
Upfront base	$600,000 − $100,000	$500,000
Upfront had there been no offset	$600,000 × 0.65% × 80%	$3,120
Upfront @ 0.65%, 80% split	$500,000 × 0.65% × 80%	$2,600
Net-of-offset cost	—	−$520
Trail year 1 @ 0.15%, 80% split	declining balance	~$715
Trail total, 5-year expected life	—	~$3,479
Total commission	$2,600 + ~$3,479	~$6,079

Now suppose the client refinances at month 13 under a 100%/50% clawback structure:

Upfront clawed back (50% in year 2)	$2,600 × 50%	−$1,300
Trail forgone (months 13–60)	the annuity that stops	−~$2,705
True cost of the early discharge	—	~$4,005

Illustrative estimates only. Actual entitlement depends on your lender's schedule at the time, your aggregator arrangement and the real balance each month.

Two things this example shows that a headline rate doesn't: the offset adjustment cost most of a year of trail, and on the early discharge, the trail forgone was more than double the clawback itself. Neither is visible if you calculate commission as loan size × rate.

Frequently asked questions

How much commission does a broker earn on a $500,000 loan?

At an indicative 0.65% upfront, roughly $3,250 plus GST, with trail at 0.15% adding around $745 in the first year and declining as the balance reduces. Both are before your aggregator split and before any clawback. Actual rates depend entirely on the lender's schedule.

How is trail commission calculated?

Trail is a percentage per annum — typically around 0.15–0.20% — of the outstanding loan balance, paid monthly while the loan stays on the lender's book. Because it's calculated on the balance, it declines as the loan amortises, and it stops entirely when the loan is refinanced, discharged or paid out.

What is net-of-offset?

Many lenders calculate upfront commission on the drawn amount less any funds in offset (or undrawn) at their measurement point, following the Combined Industry Forum reforms. A client who settles with $100,000 parked in offset can reduce your upfront by hundreds of dollars — the calculator shows the difference explicitly.

How much commission can be clawed back?

No more than the upfront that was paid, and nothing beyond two years from settlement. Reg 28VG of the National Consumer Credit Protection Regulations 2010 provides that the repayment obligation must not apply for more than 2 years, must not exceed the benefit given, and must not make the consumer liable. Within that ceiling, structures vary by lender — a common one is 100% in year one and 50% in year two.

Do these figures include GST?

By default, no — figures are shown ex-GST because the GST component you receive is remitted to the ATO, not income. Toggle to the inc-GST view to reconcile against a GST-inclusive statement. Confirm your position with your accountant.

Should I use 30 years or 5 years for the loan life?

Five years is roughly the Australian average — most loans are refinanced, discharged or paid out well before their full term. Entering 30 (the loan term) produces the theoretical maximum trail, not an expectation. The expected-loan-life input exists precisely to keep that distinction visible.

Does this calculator store what I enter?

No. All calculation happens in your browser. No loan amounts, rates or scenarios are transmitted or stored. The shareable link encodes only the inputs you chose, in the link itself.

Can I use this to check whether I've been underpaid?

It tells you what a payment should look like on given assumptions, which is the starting point. Verifying an actual payment means comparing what your aggregator statements say you were due against what actually arrived, loan by loan — which is what CommissionsIQ automates.

Estimates are a starting point. Know your real numbers.

This models projections on assumed rates. CommissionsIQ reconciles every upfront and trail payment across your whole book against what your aggregator statements say you were due, flags variances, and tracks clawback exposure loan by loan.

Get started See how it works

Sources

National Consumer Credit Protection Regulations 2010 — latest in-force compilation, Federal Register of Legislation (reg 28VG, clawback requirements)
ASIC — Report 516: Review of mortgage broker remuneration
Combined Industry Forum — response to ASIC Report 516 (net-of-offset principle)
Entry Education — average mortgage broker earnings in Australia (cites MFAA industry guidance putting upfront generally between 0.65% and 0.70%)
Soren Financial — how does a mortgage broker get paid (published market ranges commonly cited as 0.60–0.70% + GST upfront and 0.15–0.20% p.a. + GST trail)
Home Loan Experts — mortgage broker commissions and salary (wider ranges: some upfront from around 0.50% + GST; trail from 0% up to around 0.35%)

All outputs are estimates. Commission rates, calculation methods, GST treatment and clawback terms vary by lender, product, aggregator and settlement date, and change over time. The typical rate ranges and the book-value multiple range shown are indicative only. Verify against your aggregator's current commission schedules, and seek an independent appraisal before relying on any book value. General information only — not financial, tax or legal advice.