OzBargain’s Best Home Loan Broker

dandandan on 17/04/2018 - 14:40
Last edited 17/04/2018 - 14:53 by 1 other user

I previously used a broker through OzBargain to refinance my home mortgage. The Broker was okay however the bank was slow through their end and I had to contact the bank myself to get things moving.

I am thinking of redoing again, so who is OzBargains best overall Broker/s?

In my opinion, they need to have a wide product offering or a competitive offering where they know the lenders requirements and what applicant is suitable for the correct lender and or loan. They must have good customer service, privacy be understanding and non judgmental, in other words provide top level service for their fee. I suppose many will have to pick up their game after the financial service enquiry however that is another issue.

Another thought, a bidding system would be good in the lending space, ie. lenders bid for your business, that would change the whole process.

Maybe a poll would also be helpful?

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  tomleonhart on 17/04/2018 - 16:18

  +1

  broker here. what you describe sort of exists.

  try http://joust.com.au/

  abeit it's for lender to compete!

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    dandandan on 17/04/2018 - 22:31

    Thanks for this, looks good, I am going to have a look into it.

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  tallkid123 on 17/04/2018 - 16:23

  +1

  (provide top level service for their fee)

  What fee? You normally don't pay brokers a fee for their services.

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    chumlee on 17/04/2018 - 17:31

    Not yet but wait until the royal commission into financial services hands down it's recommendations

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    dandandan on 17/04/2018 - 22:39

    +1

    They get a fee, I suppose the best way to describe it, is a commission for their service and work. Whilst it's not indirectly a fee to you, it's a higher cost customer for the lender so it increases lending overall. It's a difficult conundrum, as I suppose there is benefits to a broker however if there were no brokers maybe lending costs would decrease, albeit at a small level. I think a broker would be best served to address my assumptions and comment on this.

    As long as there fee is disclosed, which I'm sure they all do there is no problem. I suppose the real problem which they royal commission will look at is how a limited panel of lenders or higher payments from certain lenders could influence a broker's decision

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      tomleonhart on 18/04/2018 - 05:03

      "It's a higher cost customer for the lender so it increases lending overall."

      Not true, then how can a customer of a broker can usually get a cheaper or the same interest rate as what they bank offer. We even get bank to price match for the client so they don't have to do it themselves.

      "It's a difficult conundrum, as I suppose there is benefits to a broker however if there were no brokers maybe lending costs would decrease, albeit at a small level"

      Compare these 2 scenarios:

      • Broker brings in a customer, most likely it's a 100% business because he/she has done the homework to make sure the client business meets the lending criteria. Banks pays them a small commission for the almost guarantee loan. We don't submit any loan, we don't get any payment.

      • Bank hires one lending person at 70k-80k a year plus bonus. Now they're on a salary so even if they sit in the office and don't bring in any business, they're getting $1300+ a week. And that's just one person.

      Hope that helps.

      • 

        dandandan on 18/04/2018 - 09:23

        -1

        Thanks for your comments. I get your points, however;

        "It's a higher cost customer for the lender so it increases lending overall."

        "Not true, then how can a customer of a broker can usually get a cheaper or the same interest rate as what they bank offer. We even get bank to price match for the client so they don't have to do it themselves."

        A cheaper rate would be a higher cost customer for the lender as they are lending at a lower rate, so less return for the lender. They also have to pay a fee through an upfront/ongoing structure.

        In regards to the two scenarios, the banks already have a number of staff who can perform multiple duties for their other lending/saving/investment offerings and product range, so the staff costs wouldn't really come into it in my opinion. They also have a lot of automated technology, input the details then pre-approval in minutes, it's even easier if someone already banks with them as they know where there money is going.

        The real advantage a broker has over a single lender is the competitive process. I think it would be good if brokers could get their process like the Joust link you provided. I think that would help remove any perceived conflict, if the best bidder for the business is the winner it removes the argument of the broker submitting the loan to the lender/s who pay them a better fee.

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  E C on 17/04/2018 - 18:46

  joust uses equifax - the company famous for a massive data breach. Also if it runs a credit check, does that decrease the credit rating?

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    dandandan on 17/04/2018 - 22:40

    I'm looking into that as well. I'm thinking they would do they credit checks and provide data to lenders to avoid multiple credit checks.

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  87percent on 17/04/2018 - 19:45

  If you're in Melbourne, I can highly recommend my guy

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    dandandan on 17/04/2018 - 22:41

    Thanks. I think a poll or some sort of data set of who is good would serve all Ozbargainer's better.