How to build a shorter pre-qualification form

If the form asks too little, the broker walks into the call blind. If it asks for an application’s worth of detail, a prospective client may be doing administrative work before anyone has shown that the conversation is worth continuing.

The answer is not simply fewer fields. It is progressive fact-finding.

A pre-qualification form helps a broker prepare and route an enquiry. It should not be presented as proof that a person qualifies for credit, a complete assessment of suitability, or the full basis for a recommendation.

ASIC’s mortgage-broker guidance explains that brokers may need reliable information about the consumer’s needs, objectives, priorities, preferences, personal circumstances and financial situation. The depth of inquiry depends on the individual circumstances and the credit assistance being provided.

That is why the form needs a visible handover.

The right form depends on the job it must do.

The most experienced broker may need only a few numbers to recognise a scenario. That judgement sits with the broker. It should not be converted into a public calculator or an automatic approval message.

Keep this version to one short page, or a small number of progressive steps.

1. What would you like help with? Buying a home, refinancing, investment, construction, business or asset finance, or something else.
2. When are you hoping to act? Now, within three months, three to twelve months, or researching.
3. What is the estimated purchase price or property value? Show wording that matches the selected purpose.
4. How much would you like to borrow? Allow “not sure” rather than forcing a false number.
5. What deposit or usable equity may be available? A broad amount or range is enough at this stage.
6. How many applicants are involved, and how many dependants are there?
7. What best describes the applicants’ income? PAYG full-time, PAYG part-time, casual or contract, self-employed, mixed, or other.
8. What is the approximate combined gross income? Use an amount and frequency, or a clearly labelled range.
9. What major commitments should the broker know about? Home loans, investment loans, personal or car loans, credit-card limits, HELP debt, child support, guarantees, none, or other.
10. Is there anything that may need an early conversation? Recent employment change, variable income, adverse credit, unusual property, visa or residency question, none, or prefer to discuss privately.
11. How should the broker contact you? Phone, SMS or email, with a preferred time.
12. Privacy and contact acknowledgement. Link the collection notice and record the permission that actually applies.

Do not request identity documents, payslips, tax returns or bank statements in this first form unless the approved process and a secure collection channel are already in place.

The middle-tier form adds structure without reproducing the entire application.

Page 1 — Your goal

• loan purpose;
• desired timing;
• purchase price, property value or refinance balance;
• requested amount, or “help me work this out”;
• owner-occupied or investment purpose; and
• the most important outcome, in the client’s own words.

Page 2 — The applicants

• applicant count;
• names and contact details;
• relationship between applicants where relevant;
• dependants;
• broad residency or visa status where required for routing; and
• preferred contact method.

Do not collect a full identity profile merely to decide who should call.

Page 3 — Income shape

• employment or income type;
• occupation or industry;
• time in the current role or business;
• approximate base income and frequency;
• variable income such as overtime, commission or bonus;
• rental or other material income; and
• whether income is expected to change.

Ask detailed self-employed questions only when the person selects a self-employed income type.

Page 4 — Position

• approximate savings or deposit;
• existing property and broad value;
• current home-loan balances;
• personal and car-loan balances and repayments;
• credit-card limits, not only current balances;
• HELP debt and other material commitments;
• a broad living-expense estimate, or an acknowledgement that it will be completed later; and
• guarantees or liabilities that need a broker conversation.

Page 5 — Context and next step

• known credit issues or a recent declined application, with “prefer to discuss” available;
• property or transaction complexity;
• permission to contact;
• privacy collection notice;
• confirmation that the information is preliminary and may need verification; and
• appointment or callback choice.

The final screen should tell the person what happens next. It should not show an automated “approved”, “qualified” or estimated borrowing result unless a separate, reviewed process supports that claim.

The full form belongs inside the broker’s approved process.

It may extend the scenario form with complete personal and address history, detailed employment, every income source, assets, liabilities, living expenses, objectives, preferences, foreseeable changes, credit history, supporting documents, declarations, consents and file-note requirements.

The exact content is not universal. It changes with the consumer, product, licensee, aggregator, lender and transaction.

Digital collection can reduce re-keying when approved answers populate the correct CRM or application fields. It does not remove the broker’s responsibility to check completeness, resolve contradictions and verify information where required.

The first screen should feel easy and relevant.

Start with purpose and timing, because they establish the conversation. Ask for contact details early enough to recover an interrupted submission, but explain why they are needed.

Move questions that feel intrusive or require effort later:

• detailed liabilities;
• sensitive circumstances;
• long employment histories;
• document uploads;
• declarations and consents that relate to a later process; and
• free-text explanations.

Use a progress indicator that reflects real progress. Do not show “90% complete” when conditional branches can double the remaining questions.

Conditional logic should remove irrelevant questions, not hide important ones.

The published platform documentation describes conditional actions including show or hide, redirect, display message, and survey jump logic. Rules run in an order, so document which rule wins when more than one condition matches.

1. Define the fields before opening the builder

Create a field sheet with the question label, help text, CRM object, field type, allowed values, required status, branch rule, owner after submission, and a retention or sensitivity note.

Personal attributes that follow the person belong on the contact. Scenario-specific values such as requested amount, purpose and property belong on the opportunity. Do not create duplicate fields with slightly different names for each form.

2. Create the form

Open the Forms builder, start from scratch, and use a clear internal name.

Add standard contact elements first. Add approved custom fields only after confirming their object, name and allowed values.

3. Arrange the questions

Drag fields into the sequence above. Use headings and short explanations to tell the person why a section exists. Use a survey-style multi-step experience if the number of questions makes a single form feel like a wall of fields.

4. Add conditional logic

Open Conditional Logic and build one rule at a time: select the controlling field, select the condition, set the expected value, choose show, hide, message, redirect or jump where supported, then save and record the rule in the field sheet.

Keep the number of branches manageable. A form that only its builder understands is not ready for staff or clients.

5. Configure the confirmation

• Standard confirmation: the information has been received and a broker will review it and make contact using the selected method.
• Appointment path: show the approved calendar when the person asks to book.
• Private review path: confirm receipt without describing the sensitive trigger that created the internal task.

Never display a decline or a credit recommendation from this intake alone.

6. Configure notifications and workflows

• create or update the contact;
• create the opportunity in the correct intake stage;
• record source and form version;
• assign a person or a queue;
• notify the owner without putting unnecessary financial detail into email or SMS;
• send the client an acknowledgement; and
• stop duplicate acknowledgements if the form is resubmitted.

7. Publish it in the right place

The builder can provide a direct link or an embed for a website or funnel. Use the secure, approved method, and test the final embedded version rather than only the builder preview.

Use synthetic people and deliberately awkward scenarios.

Field and branch tests

• buying, refinancing, investment and construction;
• one applicant and two applicants;
• PAYG, casual, self-employed and mixed income;
• no liabilities and multiple liabilities;
• optional fields left blank;
• invalid email and phone formats;
• a sensitive answer creating a private task; and
• a person declining an optional contact permission.

System tests

• the submission appears in the form-submissions area;
• values land in the intended contact and opportunity fields;
• no answer overwrites another applicant or another deal;
• source, timestamp and form version are visible;
• the correct opportunity and owner are created;
• the client acknowledgement arrives once;
• the internal notification contains only what the recipient needs;
• every redirect and confirmation works;
• privacy and terms links resolve;
• mobile layout, keyboard navigation and error messages work; and
• repeated submission and workflow-stop behaviour work.

Run several submissions through the complete published page. The supplied testing tutorial correctly emphasises checking captured submissions, automations and notifications, rather than merely whether the form can be opened.

Track mechanisms first:

• start-to-submit completion;
• abandonment by page;
• questions most often corrected by the broker;
• missing fields at the first meeting;
• duplicate or unmapped values;
• submissions without an owner;
• time to first human review; and
• the number of cases that need the full fact-find immediately.

These measures show where to shorten, clarify or branch the form. They do not prove that the form improves approvals or client outcomes.

Collect enough to prepare the conversation.

The back-of-the-napkin form establishes the shape. The scenario fact-find prepares the broker. The approved full fact-find and verification process support the actual credit work.

Shorter becomes safer when each level has a clear job.