It is easier for homebuyers looking for a loan, but if things go wrong it can go hard on new home buyers struggling wit home repayments.
Australians taking advantage of fast easy cash loans are also risking increasing debt and insolvency.
Despite low unemployment figures, economic growth and high consumer confidence, personal bankruptcies went up by 17 per cent in the 2006-07 financial year.
David Tennant, chairman of the Australian Financial Counselling and Credit Reform Association, said more ordinary Australians were finding it difficult to make ends meet.
Over the last six months his Care Financial Counselling Service has recorded a ten per cent rise in people needing assistance.
"The debt explosion is not because people are necessarily leading an extravagant lifestyle it is because it has become much harder for ordinary households to make ends meet.
"The deeply disturbing trend ... is a subtle shift from low-income to now medium-low income households simply not having enough money to have the basic lifestyle."
Mr Tennant said it was a relief that housing affordability was now a national issue because his group had been trying to draw attention to it for years.
A spokeswoman from consumer advocacy group CHOICE said a drop in house prices also had inadvertently put borrowers in the red.
"It's very disturbing when people sell their house and still can't reach payments for the outstanding mortgage," she said.
"There is a huge amount of individual responsibility required but it is also very hard when people are presented with all these finance opportunities. People don't think something bad is going to happen and then someone falls ill or a car repair is required.
"Australian consumers are under a lot of pressure to buy homes, to have a family home. They are told they can have a dream home. It is good to have confidence but you can't extend yourself."
The spokeswoman said there were grave concerns with fast loans when there was only limited testing of borrowers' ability to pay.
Bob Cruickshanks, deputy officer receiver for the Insolvency and Trustee Service Australia, said financial institutions were relaxing their means tests because of greater competition.
"Super funds are awash with cash and when you look around in Sydney there aren't really big projects absorbing it, so there is more money available and greater competition for the smaller finance companies to compete for borrowers.
"But the Department of Fair Trading has been like a hawk stamping out dodgy credit companies," he said.
Source: AAP
