Better Choice Home Loans has launched a new range of commercial loan products to further its SME offering.
With more than 2.4 million small to medium businesses in Australia, employing almost five million, the non-bank lender is boosting its lending capabilities to the SME sector.
Better Choice’s parent company BNK Banking Corporation recently announced a shift in strategic direction to pivot the company and drive the next stage of expansion through SME lending.
Better Choice national manager sales and strategic partnerships Paul Bakker (pictured above) said since emerging from COVID-19 restrictions, the SME lending market had been a growth sector.
“Better Choice’s SME product range includes offering larger loan amounts of up to $5 million and waiving application fees for a limited time,” Bakker said. “We are well placed to assist SMEs who have done it tougher than most over the past few years in coping with a variety of challenges which included the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters in some regions.”
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Bakker said it had been particularly tough for many businesses during COVID-19.
“With the pandemic impacting trade, staffing and supply chains, there has been government stimulus to help SMEs retain staff and try and weather all the challenges,” he said. “It can also be necessary to take out a loan to keep the business going and purchase necessary equipment.”
Bakker said Better Choice’s commercial suite included full-doc and alt-doc term loans as well as products for commercial SMSFs and lease docs.
“These are all offered at competitive rates with flexible trail options. We are targeting residential brokers who are looking to diversify into commercial lending with a dedicated ‘best in market’ commercial team to assist brokers clients with a same day scenario response,” he said.
“We can offer applicants 25-year loan terms, P&I with no annual reviews and just one form of income verification for commercial alt doc loans. Our offering is also there to assist brokers seeking finance to grow their business with a broker trail book loan.”
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In April, Better Choice Home Loans announced an overhaul of the verification of identity process for its gold product range by replacing its paper forms with a combined digital mortgage and VOI solution to deliver a more streamlined experience for brokers and customers.
Better Choice Home Loans director Allan Savins said delivering this technology to its clients reinforced its commitment to continually enhance the overall customer experience without introducing unnecessary risk into the business.
“While the signing of documents electronically and conducting a digital verification of identity are not new practices in their own right, they are usually done at separate points in time, which presents significant opportunity for mortgage fraud,” he said.
