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A mortgage group has indicated it is rejoining the broker space, saying it will be ready to offer solutions as other banks pull back.
Mortgage House, which offers a range of home, personal and business loans, started out as a broker group more than 30 years ago, before becoming a lender in its own right in 2007.
While it pulled back during the global financial crisis, watching the effects of the Royal Commission in 2018 the group said now was the right time to “re-engage with the broker community”.
Offering an alternative to the big four, Mortgage House mainly focuses on prime home loans.
General manager Sean Bombell said the lender has already seen brokers looking for alternative solutions for their prime customers.
He said, “The major banks are tightening up and have got other things on their mind at the moment, not on the broker space.
“We have seen comments on commissions and we think that that’s rubbish. We want to support the broker market to ensure that customers get the solution they’re looking for at the end of the day.
“[Brokers] are looking for solutions for themselves. Not only for their customers but themselves, they have got a business to run.”
The founder and chief executive officer of Mortgage House, Ken Sayer, added, “Brokers tell me the turnaround times have blown out and the work has increased. So, what we want to do is take the workload away from them.
“A lot of work, less success, everything’s tighter and to add insult to injury they’re looking to take a shave off the industry, so we’re of the opinion the time is pretty much spot on now.
“Brokers have to put food on the table. They’re commission based, so when the level of difficulty goes up it affects them directly.
“Our rates are very competitive, we’re a prime lender and that’s what customers are looking for. They want a broker to look after them, they want a good deal.”
Brokers working with Mortgage House would be able to leverage off the lender’s branding and tools. In particular, the group has built tailored technology solutions for fintechs and tech savvy brokers.
Bombell and Sayer also said they were able to white label products, so brokers could build their own brands.
Discussing the non-bank market, Bombell said, “I think brokers have found it difficult selling a non-bank to a customer but now they’ll have the opportunity to have someone sitting alongside them that has that presence in the non-bank space.
“I don’t think we’ll see credit improving from the banks’ point of view. It’ll be the same as brokers have experienced of recent months if not tightened a bit further.”
Confident in the role of the non-bank, Sayer concluded, “The full truth is we think the non-bank space market share will be similar to what it was 15 years ago, because they had a much bigger percentage and we think we’re going back to the future.”
