Former Wizard Home Loans director and co-founder Paul Ryan has launched a free app where consumers can ask brokers and bank managers questions about home loans and finance.
Ryan, who co-founded Wizard Home Loans with
Mark Bouris in 1996, claims Eccho is the only independent app of its kind in Australian at the moment.
Currently, Eccho has about 150 advisers providing advice on the platform and 200 individuals registered with 300 questions asked so far, according to a report by
Fairfax. The registered advisers are mainly mortgage brokers, plus some bank managers and peer-to-peer lenders.
“About 70 to 80 per cent of people don't know the interest rate on their home loan – is that because they don't know who to ask or because they don't have time,” Ryan told
Fairfax.
“It's a Q&A platform for the community, where consumers can post a question and that sits on the platform then any of the mortgage finance brokers, bank managers and P2P lenders can answer it.”
Ryan believes there is still a big market for such forums because despite a lot of choice, people still neglect to look for better deals on loans. He admits that while some of the responders will be biased, the forum quickly weeds out self-interested advice.
“Someone asks a question and it gets answered by a finance professional, but if it is not correct others can come in to correct it," Ryan told
Fairfax.
“You can see the quality of the answers, the tone of the answers, so you can get to know the finance professional in the way they are communicating.”
Eccho is a free service at the moment, however, Ryan told
Fairfax he will likely make money from it in future by charging a subscription fee to finance professionals. He may also charge a fee if someone wants to use the responder’s services.
Advisers are identified by occupation and location only and the consumer is identified by their first name and the first initial of their last name.
