Just curious into what people look for in a mortgage broker and how do they find it e.g. If you invest in property, do you think it's essential your broker is also a property investor? Do you look for brokers with a certain amount of experience, especially if you have 2 or more properties? Do you only look for brokers with no fees?
Are there certain traits or things that make you leave your mortgage broker?
Share your thoughts.
Does it matter to you if they are an authorised credit representative or authorised credit licensee?
Not for my specific needs, no…
But I prefer someone who is in the Industry and not just cooling their heels between selling cars or houses. lol
Do you know if there is much difference between a broker being a member of MFAA or FBAA (Finance brokers association of Australia)?
No mortgage broker should have fees. All I look for is one that has contact with a bank that is willing to lend to me. If they are a nice person and professional, turn up when they say they will and respond to emails etc that's a bonus.
Some state they have no fees.. But then you find out they have claw back fees if you discharge your mortgage early or refinance, etc
Well that's normal. It would be unfair to ask them to spend many hours on you only for you to cut them off their compensation right away.
Then they should be upfront about those claw back conditions/fees.
They would have to be able to offer me something that I can't get from your average online no-frills lender.
In my experience, the majority of brokers are not going to beat the best rates that I can get online, e.g. from Tic:Toc and the process with these online lenders are generally pretty easy as it is. Therefore, the only real place that a broker would beat the online lenders would be by offering larger loans or being more generous with borrowing power.
For me I find the brokers can be good when it comes to initial property settlements. I've bought a couple of new/off the plan places and online lenders won't lend on these. My current mortgages are all with Tic:Toc, but I'm settling on an investment next month and used a broker for that, not as cheap unfortunately, but a good broker can advise on things like processing times for approval/who has better credit assessment policies etc.
Example in point - CBA will generally get a pre-approval in 48 hours, where as the other big banks will often take 2-3 weeks, 2-3 weeks was fine for us, but may not have been in other circumstances. CBA/ANZ were both better than some of the other lenders he used in terms of accepting bonus payments as income as well, which helps with credit approval as well. CBA average across two years, and ANZ take your last year's bonus as income for assessment purposes, other banks won't take anything other than salary. This can be particularly useful if you have high variable pay, like a role in sales where a large proportion of income is commission.
Yeah, this. A good broker is about getting the best loan. Not the best rate, but the best loan in terms of credit policy, features, service, and then rate.
One that bends the rules so I can buy 10-20 properties on a 50k salary
Mayfair, Park Lane, Bond St etc.
Hotels used to be good, but with Covid, I'm not so sure.
One that can think outside the box. I had to go through three before I found one that would do a bit of work for something that wasn't just a straight forward pay day for them.
How did you find this sort of broker then.. Word of mouth or Google search?
Actually in a barefoot facebook group. Then I contacted directly. Happy to pass on details if you PM.
Broker here (I'll try and answer this without bias)
Reviews are important, look at what clients are saying, not just the fact that they're 5 stars
Previous hands on experience is handy. So if the broker has bought, invested, built properties etc. Handy but not essential. There are fantastic brokers who haven't necessarily done the above
Experience- how long have they been doing the field?
Industry awards- Are they recognised in the industry for any awards? Again this isn't super important but nice to have
Good luck
How long would you say they have needed to be in the industry to know what they are doing, especially for an investor who's reached serviceability?
How many lenders do you think a broker should have access to for an investor who's reached potential serviceability?
I've noticed some industry awards seem a little rigged as you can nominate yourself, etc.
Being a mortgage broker, what is more common authorised credit representative or authorised credit licensee? I'm trying to get my head around the terminology.. I'm assuming a mortgage broker does their certificate then starts off as a credit representative.. Then once they gain more experience, can become a licensee? But some choose to stay as representatives and find a licensee to work under.. Hence forgoing some of their trail or passing extra fees to a client?
Yep, industry awards are definitely not a good indication as to the quality of the broker. All winners and finalists nominate themselves and then post on linked in thanks their clients for nominating them.
Agree 100%. I'd go so far as saying a raft industry awards put me off using a broker. it is a sure fire sign that they are focusing more on themselves and not on their clients.
@tomclancy: Yes you can nominate yourself but then you put a case forward by showcasing how you've excelled in service, solved a major customer issue etc. (Each category has different criteria) And it then goes to a panel of judges who choose the finalists and winners from there
@MadgeH: Without trying to be rude, I think you are missing the point.
Quantumcat's comment above is really everything you should be doing as a mortgage broker. Have a good panel of lenders; be professional; show up on time; respond to emails/phone calls. It's not rocket science. Just be available and show that you care.
What you've said is important: reviews; experience; awards - they are all inward-looking / self-centred. How dumb would a client have to be to place importance on an industry award which is self-nominated and peer-reviewed?
When a butcher says they won the bronze medal for skinless sausages under the Italian category in the Tamworth regional show… do you really care? Probably not. But I bet the butcher tells all the other butchers "look how good I am". You could be on the phone to one of your mortgage broker mates bragging about your industry award, but client's just want you to return their phone call.
Member of Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA)