A South Australian lender has announced a new partnership to boost its broker lending in the southern state.
HomeStart Finance – a lender backed by the South Australian government – has announced a partnership with one of the country’s largest aggregators,
PLAN Australia. The partnership means that an additional 41 of PLAN’s South Australian brokers can now offer HomeStart’s suite of products to customers.
HomeStart’s head of retail, John Rolfe, says that PLAN’s South Australian brokers will now have another lending option for customers, particularly those who have limited savings or moderate incomes.
“Upfront costs are one the biggest hurdles to home ownership and HomeStart’s products have been designed to help homebuyers overcome these barriers,” he said.
“Our low deposit loan means homebuyers can get started from a 3% deposit, meaning they can make the step into home ownership sooner.”
Unlike most other lenders, HomeStart also doesn’t charge LMI, says Rolfe, giving PLAN brokers lending solutions to an even broader range of customers.
“Instead, HomeStart has a loan provision charge, which saves most customers a significant amount of money which they can then use to reduce their loan size or to borrow more.
“For brokers, having access to HomeStart’s loans ensures they are able to provide lending solutions to a broader range of customers. This provides an opportunity to create and maintain a relationship with customers and help them multiple times throughout their lifetime.”
HomeStart is specifically targeting the broker market for growth, aiming for 50% of new lending to originate from mortgage brokers by 2016. Rolfe says its partnership with PLAN will play a significant role in helping it achieve this goal.
“We have had a specific focus on the broker market for several years, as it is a good strategic fit with our distribution model,” he said.
"Brokers provide us with a cost effective channel to broaden our geographical footprint and we have invested in this channel to ensure we are a strong partner.”
