Australia-wide
Do I have to tell my mortgage lender about my prescription?
There is no law on thisThe short answer
No — and not because of a technicality. A home loan is a credit contract, and the law that governs it, the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth), directs the lender to make reasonable inquiries about your requirements, objectives and financial situation, and to take reasonable steps to verify the financial situation. There is no question about prescribed medicine on a standard application, and no statute creates a duty to volunteer one. The health questions that do exist sit one step away — lenders mortgage insurance and loan protection policies — and those are insurance, with an insurance duty.
What the law actually says
Where health questions really live. Lenders mortgage insurance and loan protection policies are insurance contracts, and for consumer insurance the duty is to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation about anything the insurer asks — the same duty that governs life cover, set out on the life-insurance page. That duty is not a duty to volunteer either: for consumer insurance contracts, failing to answer a question is expressly not a misrepresentation.
Answering what IS asked untruthfully is a different thing. A materially false answer to a question a lender actually asks can unravel the loan under ordinary principles about misrepresentation. Nothing on this page is a reason to answer any question untruthfully.
What the law says here — and what is still to be confirmed
The material below has not been checked against the instruments it describes. It is set out rather than withheld so you can see exactly what is open, and so a professional reviewing this page knows what to check.
- The National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth) is the framework for consumer credit, home loans included. Its responsible-lending obligations run to the lender, not the borrower: under s 128 the credit provider must assess whether the contract is not unsuitable, and under s 130 it must make reasonable inquiries into the consumer's requirements and objectives and financial situation, and take reasonable steps to verify the financial situation. Nothing in that structure asks a borrower to volunteer health information. read the Act at ss 128-130 and confirm no other provision imposes an applicant-side disclosure obligation this page has missed.
- What an application actually asks. The questions on a home-loan application are about income, debts, expenses, employment and the property. A prescribed medicine is none of those, and a lender that is not told about one has not been misled about anything it asked. the site has not surveyed every lender's application form; confirm the standard question set has no health component.
What happens if it goes wrong
If a broker or a lender asks a health question directly, answer it accurately or decline to proceed with that lender. The duty not to misrepresent is the one duty that runs to you.
What is still to be confirmed about the consequences
The material below has not been checked against the instruments it describes. It is set out rather than withheld so you can see exactly what is open, and so a professional reviewing this page knows what to check.
- The realistic exposure is not refusal — it is the lender's insurer declining a claim, or a lender treating an answer it can show was false as misrepresentation. identify what a lender can actually do on discovering a false answer — call in the loan, avoid the contract, or neither — and on what authority.
What to carry
- A copy of the application questions you actually answered, screenshot or saved as filled
- Any lender's mortgage insurance or loan protection policy documents, read before signing
- Written answers from the lender or broker about anything you were unsure you had to disclose
What to say
- Ask the lender, in writing, whether any question on the application asks about health or medicines
- Ask which insurer sits behind any lender's mortgage insurance requirement, and get that policy's questions in writing
What not to do
- Do not answer a question about health untruthfully — the one duty that runs to you is not to misrepresent
- Do not volunteer medical information no question asked for; it is not owed, and it cannot be unasked
- Do not sign a lender's mortgage insurance declaration without reading what it asks
Sources
- National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth) — ss 128, 130, responsible lending obligations legislation checked 2026-09-27
- Law Handbook SA (Legal Services Commission of South Australia) — Consumer Credit: NCCPA ss 128, 130 summarised guidance checked 2026-09-27
- Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth), Compilation No. 32 — Part IV Division 1A, the duty to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation legislation checked 2026-09-27
Cite this page
Know Your Script, ‘Do you have to disclose a prescription on a home loan?’ (Australia-wide), https://www.knowyourscript.com.au/banking/mortgage-disclosure/ (not yet checked against primary sources — not for citation).
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