The peak body representing Australia’s finance brokers has called for bipartisan support for the Federal Government’s announced changes to lending regulations.

Hailing the announcement as a move that will stimulate the industry and the economy at large, the Finance Brokers Association of Australia (FBAA) said that many borrowers who can afford mortgages have been locked out of the housing market due to overly restrictive criteria.

FBAA managing director Peter White AM said the changes were sensible and he hopes the Opposition and minor parties back them.

“Anything that puts the accountability back onto the borrower is just common sense.”

He explained the current situation which makes banks accountable for information provided by a borrower has resulted in overzealous investigations as banks try to mitigate the borrower’s wrongdoing.

“It’s become an exercise by lenders to pass judgment on a borrower’s discretionary spending, which isn’t the role of a lender.

“All a lender should care about is the capacity of the borrower to service the loan and they already have many criteria on which to base that. This won’t change.”

He said that banks will still be thoroughly checking information but ultimately if a borrower is deceptive, it is the borrower who should be held accountable and pay the price.

Mr White also emphasised that this was a small part of the overall responsible lending regulations and there should be no concern about banks lending to those who can’t afford it.

“I notice that some consumer groups have already been critical of the move but this is unwarranted.

“The Government has also announced changes to better protect vulnerable consumers, and the industry supports this.” He said the changes will simply allow people who can genuinely afford to service a loan the opportunity to achieve this without restrictive red tape getting in the way, and speed up approval times which have dramatically and unfairly blown out to many weeks.