A new fintech company which has created an online marketplace for home loans says it offers brokers strong lead generation opportunities.
LoanDolphin – a resident of Sydney fintech hub, Stone & Chalk – operates as an auction platform where brokers and banks can bid for a consumer’s home loan. Speaking to
Australian Broker, co-founder of Loan Dolphin Ranin Mendis said the platform wants to partner with brokers as a trusted referral source.
“We are definitely not competing with the brokers – we need the brokers and the banks to actually work in this platform.
“It is a marketplace so for us, we want the brokers to look at us as a place they can source really good customers from.”
Just as customers can create an online profile detailing what they are looking for in regards to a home loan, brokers can do the same – detailing what type of broker they are and what type of customer they want to service.
“[Brokers] can browse our platform to understand and search for customers they want to work with. For example, if the broker lives and works in Sydney then they could actually us the platform to look for customers around that area and within that radius.
“They can also specify on our platform what they are looking for in terms of targeting those customers. They can create a profile on our platform – it is like a LinkedIn profile – where they tell us about themselves, what they do, how many loans they have written and what types of loans they have written. They can connect to customers on that level.”
LoanDolphin has auctioned close to $15 million worth of home loans so far and Mendis says they already have about 15 brokers on the platform – with a big waiting list waiting until the platform goes to the wider market officially with their consumer value proposition.
The platform has also partnered with many lenders including
NAB, St George and Bendigo Bank, as well as mortgage franchises including Mortgage House.
However, Mendis told
Australian Broker that he expects brokers to be the main partners and users.
“I find that both bankers and brokers can get a lot out of this platform, but mostly I feel brokers will be the predominant player.
“We [Mendis and his business partner] worked in banking before – we worked for
Westpac – and we know that brokers are much more driven than the bank lenders to look after the customer and get the best outcome for the customer.”
The platform will also run its own ratings and review system.
“We have a rating and review system so if a customer does choose a broker then the customer has an opportunity to rate a broker and tell us how their experience was,” Mendis said.
“We really want to create a marketplace. We want to help the customers get where they want to get to, but we also want to have really good quality brokers in there.”
LoanDolphin is remunerated by taking a referral fee if a loan is sourced is settled. However, part of its profits are either given to charity or the customer can choose to take a cashback reward.
