“Go out of your way to show that person they made the right choice by going to a broker”, is the latest encouragement from one custom lender.
Group sales manager at specialist lender Liberty, John Mohnacheff, wants to see all brokers offer custom lending to give every person the opportunity for a home loan.
He says there are growing numbers of people who mainstream lenders will not engage with, due to reasons like their prior credit problems, or their type of employment. Custom lending can give these people more options in terms of borrowing and can help find them a suitable loan.
An example of someone who might need a custom loan is a self-employed person, someone who has recently started a new job, has been previously bankrupt or has issues with their credit history.
It can also include low-doc loans, or alt-doc loans, where the borrower provides alternative documentation to demonstrate their income. This could be because they are self-employed and haven’t yet lodged their most recent tax returns yet can demonstrate solid income flow through different means such as bank statements or BAS.
Mohnacheff said that just because they have been declined by a major lender, it does not mean brokers should stop helping them.
He added, “Open your eyes to stop saying I can’t help you, or I’m not interested, or it’s too hard. The reason people go to a broker is because they need help. They’ve chosen you as their broker, go out of your way. Go out of your way to show that person that they made the right choice by going to a broker.
“As far as I am concerned if a broker comes across an opportunity of course they should try and help. It’s a home loan, but for a different type of human or a different type of income, that’s all it is.
“It’s no less complex no more complex. You might ask a few more questions, but it’s a question for goodness sake and that’s what brokers are here to do, to help customers get the right home loan.”
Mohnacheff wants to encourage brokers to sit down with their customers to discover more beyond whether they have been declined for a loan.
“The interesting thing about life is that people might be PAYG one day, self employed the next,” he added.
“Your life is going along peachy and rosy and then God forbid one of life’s least desired events happens: a divorce, a major illness, an accident, loss of job, a death, regretfully it happens everyday. So you as the broker have to be open minded to say this individual is in that position because of a lifetime event that they never wanted to happen.
“That’s when people need the brokers the most, that’s when they need professional help to say it’s ok, don’t worry, I’ll do my best to help you get a suitable home loan, or a car loan, or a commercial loan.
“Custom lending is not hard, it’s just different. You’ve got the same human being in front of you and when they walk in you will never know whether it’s a prime customer or a custom customer until you engage with them. Never prejudge, sit down, hear them out and then give them a solution.”
Brokers interested in offering custom lending can speak to their BDM about the specialist lenders available to them and for other support and advice.
