Artificial intelligence has made writing emails, organising information and preparing documents easier than ever. But new research suggests some Australians are also using the technology in a far more concerning way: creating or altering documents connected with home loan applications.

A survey commissioned by comparison platform OurTop10 found that 18% of respondents said they had used AI to create or alter documents for a home loan application or negotiation. That is nearly one in five — a striking result at a time when affordability pressures, higher borrowing costs and tighter lending assessments are making it harder for many Australians to enter the property market.

The finding deserves attention, but it needs context. The survey measured reported use of AI to create or alter loan-related documents. It does not establish that every respondent deliberately falsified information, submitted an altered document to a lender or committed fraud. Using AI to organise truthful information is very different from knowingly misleading a bank.

What Exactly Are Australians Changing?

The October 2026 OurTop10 survey, conducted by PureProfile among 1,018 Australians, asked respondents about using AI to create or alter documents connected with a home loan application or negotiation. Bank statements and other financial records were the most frequently reported category.

Respondents could select more than one document type, so these percentages overlap and should not be added together. The figures describe what participants said they had done; they are not a count of proven fraudulent mortgage applications.

That distinction matters because AI has legitimate administrative uses. A borrower might use it to organise a document pack, summarise information or improve the presentation of a genuine explanation. The concern arises when someone changes the underlying facts — making income appear higher, expenses lower or employment more secure than it really is.

Why Are Younger Australians More Likely to Report It?

The survey reported a significant generational difference: 56% of Gen Z respondents and 36% of Millennials said they had used AI to create or alter home-loan-related documents, compared with 18% overall. These are self-reported survey results, not proof that those groups are more likely to commit mortgage fraud.

The figures arrive against a difficult housing backdrop. Many younger Australians are trying to save larger deposits while property prices, living costs and borrowing assessments place pressure on household budgets. Existing borrowers can also find refinancing difficult if their circumstances or lending criteria have changed since they first took out a mortgage.

Those pressures help explain why shortcuts may look tempting to some people. They do not make dishonesty acceptable. A lender needs an accurate picture of a borrower's income, expenses, debts and employment to assess whether repayments are sustainable. If the information is deliberately distorted, the decision is being made on a false foundation.

Mortgage Fraud Is Bigger Than One Survey

The concerns are not limited to the OurTop10 research. In August 2026, AUSTRAC said its Fintel Alliance had analysed information from 10 major Australian banks and identified potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in suspected fraudulent loans. The suspected activity included inflated incomes, misrepresented employment, fabricated or unverifiable business activity and falsified or misleading documents.

AUSTRAC stressed the importance of identifying suspicious activity before a loan is approved. Once funds have been advanced and a property settlement has taken place, recovering money can become significantly more difficult. Its findings point to a broader challenge for the lending sector: risks can be difficult to see when each institution only has part of the picture.

AI adds another layer to that challenge. It can make convincing-looking material easier and faster to produce, but the underlying problem is not the technology itself. The issue is the deliberate use of false or misleading information to obtain credit.

The Real Risk: Borrowing More Than You Can Afford

A manipulated document may appear to help an application cross the approval line. But it cannot increase a household's actual income, reduce its real expenses or make a repayment more manageable.

A mortgage is a long-term financial commitment. Repayments must be managed alongside everyday living costs, insurance, rates, maintenance, changes in employment and unexpected expenses. If a loan is approved on an inaccurate picture of a borrower's finances, the borrower may end up with debt that was never genuinely affordable.

There can also be serious consequences if a person knowingly gives a lender false information. An application may be declined; a lender may take action under the loan agreement if material misrepresentation is discovered after settlement; and deliberate deception may lead to legal consequences, including criminal charges depending on the circumstances. Anyone facing a specific issue should seek independent legal or financial advice.

How Lenders May Respond

The survey is likely to strengthen calls for lenders to verify information at its source rather than relying only on documents supplied by applicants. This could involve more robust employment and income checks, secure bank-data retrieval, cross-checking information against independent records and better tools for identifying inconsistencies.

OurTop10 has pointed to the possibility of secure data sharing between the Australian Taxation Office and lenders, with the borrower's consent, as one way to verify declared income. Any such approach would need careful safeguards. Financial and tax information is highly sensitive, and people should understand what is being accessed, why it is needed, how long it is retained and how it will be protected.

There is also a balance to strike. Verification should help identify genuine risks without treating every applicant as suspicious or creating unnecessary barriers for people with complex but legitimate income — including contractors, sole traders and self-employed borrowers.

What Borrowers Should Do Instead

If a home loan application is falling short, changing the paperwork is not a solution. There are more constructive steps that may improve a borrower's position:

• Review your budget and understand your genuine borrowing capacity before committing to a property.
• Reduce existing debts where possible and avoid taking on new credit unnecessarily.
• Prepare accurate, complete records of income, expenses, liabilities and employment.
• Speak with a qualified mortgage broker or lender about why an application is not meeting assessment criteria.
• Consider whether a different purchase price, deposit target or timeframe would create a more sustainable outcome.
• If you are self-employed or have irregular income, ask what legitimate supporting records the lender will accept.

The aim should not be to borrow the largest amount a lender might approve. It should be to secure finance that can be comfortably managed through changing circumstances.

What This Means for Australia's Property Market

Mortgage integrity matters well beyond the relationship between a borrower and a bank. Lending decisions influence how households enter the market, how much they can pay and how resilient they are when interest rates or living costs change.

If lenders face more sophisticated document manipulation, verification may become more detailed and the application process could become more demanding. That may add time and administrative work for borrowers and brokers, even when their documents are completely genuine. Stronger checks, however, can help protect lenders, responsible borrowers and confidence in the housing finance system.

For the property market, sustainable lending is important. A purchase should be supported by a realistic assessment of the buyer's financial position — not by paperwork that makes the numbers look better than they are. Responsible borrowing helps households remain in their homes and reduces the risk of financial distress.

Sources & Further Reading

• OurTop10 – The AI Fraud Report (October 2026)
• AUSTRAC – Fintel Alliance uncovers coordinated mortgage fraud across major lenders (19 August 2026)
• AUSTRAC – Major mortgage fraud risks uncovered (30 September 2026)
• Australian Broker – Nearly one in five Australians say they used AI on loan documents (23 October 2026)