An expected spike in the number of people looking to refinance in coming months has resulted in aggregator
eChoice rolling out a new online portal for consumers looking to find a better deal on their home loan.
eChoice claims the first six months of 2016 has seen a 30% increase in refinancing enquiries compared to the last half of 2015, prompting it this week roll out refinancing.com.au.
Peter Andronicos, refinancing.com.au chief executive officer, told
Australian Broker that the platform has been designed to be more than just a comparison engine.
“It was mainly about us giving the consumer something compelling and something more than another comparison engine. It delves a lot deeper than [just being a comparison tool]. It’s more than just looking at a headline rate that someone scrapes or pulls from a bank’s website,” Andronicos told
Australian Broker.
“This is the true data that comes from the lenders’ calculators. For somebody who looks at refinancing.com.au, yes there are 25 plus lenders, but it actually cross references the consumer against thousands upon thousands of loan variations based on all the ins and outs of their needs,” he said.
Andronicos said it’s expected that the number of borrowers actually refinancing will likely pick up over the next three to four months as, with borrowers spurred on by the fact that lenders have been inconsistent in passing on rate reductions as well as conditions in the property market.
“We’re looking at the fact that there’s very little property being sold at the moment and very little property on the market at the moment and because of that consumers are looking at other options,” he told
Australian Broker.
“At the moment the best option for people is probably refinancing. Rates may stay low or they may go up, but people want a little bit extra cash in their pocket and the best way for them to get that is to refinance.”
While refinancing.com.au has been launched to meet a need in the market, Andronicos also said the launch of the platform is also an opportunity for eChoice to test out new tool before rolling them out to its broker channel.
“This is a real showcase of what our brokers can expect in the near future. Everything eChoice does is around pushing forward and being an innovator, but it’s also testing for our aggregator and broker partners.
“eChoice launches the tools and programs, but then in the backend builds those tool and programs for our aggregation business partners. Over the last few months we’ve launched 20 or so websites for our broker network that encompass a lot of the tools that are being used in our direct to consumer platforms.
“refinancing.com.au is an example our broker network can look at and see what is coming to you. These are the tools we’ll be rolling out on their individual brands and their individual websites in the near future."
