“Brokers perform outsourced loan writing tasks and in every instance they should be paid a fair unconditional fee by the lender for that,” says Rigoni.
“The fee is for client sourcing, knowledge of product and policy, introducing the client to the lender’s offering, interviewing… following-up everything – including valuation shortfalls – anticipating and fixing every problem as it presents so that a settlement actually occurs.”
Rigoni believes the big banks currently ‘hide’ behind failings in contract law in order to financially exploit the ‘sub contractor broker’ through clawbacks.
“Clawback is punitive... it financially punishes the broker for events that other people dictate. No fair work cover for self-employed brokers. There needs to be an invisible shield between broker and lender. The aggregation model once upon a time supported this, until the big banks decided to own the broker/aggregation channel.”
Furthermore, she argues, NCCP has had a number of ‘destructive elements’ – and LMI is a ‘shameful consumer rip-off’.
“Responsible borrowers do not need to be protected from themselves. They need to be protected from discriminatory and no-risk-for-lender practices.”
The Bank Reform Party is only running in Victoria and Rigoni says the party has secured a group voting ticket, allowing people to vote one above the line.
“Those living in Victoria will have the opportunity to vote for me – a broker – and just maybe I will be elected and can then work towards having changes made to some of the legislation to make their life better.”
