What mortgage brokers do

How we work with our clients:

We assist our clients to find a suitable lender that will loan them the funds they require to fulfill their financial goals and objectives.  In an ever-changing lending policy environment, we help to navigate the myriad of obstacles of the home loan application process to provide our clients with solutions from a selection of lenders based on their scenario. We ask our clients many questions to fully understand their existing situation before we can provide specific recommendations.

As part of our due diligence in understanding our clients and their needs and objectives, we will request a multitude of verification documents such as pay slips, PAYG summaries, identification documents, employment contracts, existing liability statements, bank transaction account and credit card history which the lender may also require. We are also required to verify our client’s living expenses and ensure that there are no undisclosed debts. Living expenses are heavily scruitinised to ensure that a client is not overcommitting themselves.

Some of the things we discuss are our client’s needs and objectives including short and long term future financial plans. We discuss loan structure and ensure our clients understand and are educated on the process of 

Lender Research

Each lender’s policy is different and with over 30 lenders available to us, we need to navigate our way through our lenders policies to find solutions to our client’s scenarios, such as:

• The casually employed or those employed on temporary contract
• Newly self-employed
• Low income self-employed using add-backs
• Lo Doc lending
• Low deposit using FHOG and/or rental statement as evidence of 5% genuine savings
• No deposit using family pledge/family guarantee
• Servicing by using a combination of employment income/Centrelink/Child Support
• Use of overtime, bonuses and/or allowances for servicing
• Complex lending where companies and trusts are involved
• Construction lending usually encompassing two parts – the vacant land purchase and then the build process.
• First home buyer’s assistance.
• SMSF lending.

Our Obligations

We communicate with the client what our short list of (ideally) 3 lender recommendations and demonstrate this with a comprehensive document that compares products side-by-side and provides a comparison of the savings from one lender to another over any given period up to 30 years, taking into consideration all of the fees and interest costs over that period.  It also contains detailed information about the loan product features which should align with the client’s objectives stated in the previous questionnaires/client profile which we can further detail to our clients the benefits of these features in how they relate to the client’s stated objectives.  

At that point, a lender and products are chosen – usually decided by the client but with our guidance and taking into consideration all factors including the lender’s service level timeframes to pick up and assess the application against the timeframe allowed to settlement.  

Finally, we can then commence putting together the loan application and once we have everything, we can then submit the signed application to the lender.

Post-Approval

Once approved, we liaise with the lender regarding the issuing of loan documents and then work with our clients to get everything signed and witnessed.  But our job is not finished there.  We need to facilitate any further requests from the lender/ assessor (and there are usually a few) with the applicants and liaise with the solicitors/conveyancers (or the outgoing lender in the case of refinances) every step of the way up until settlement.  We are usually the main point of contact in coordinating whatever is necessary to ensure a smooth and timely settlement.

With over 70% of home loans written by (Mortgage) Brokers in 2022, we are an important conduit between the banks/lenders and individuals looking for the right home loan for them and their situation. We take pride in putting our client’s best interests first in their journey to home ownership.

If you wish to discuss your situation further, please feel free to contact us.

*This information is general in nature and does not take into consideration your individual circumstances. Please contact us for further information.