TALKBACK -- Industry comment on www.theadviser.com.au

Everyone has an opinion, and some people feel compelled to speak out. Here are just a few comments prompted by daily news broken on www.theadviser.com.au over the last month.

ON THE GOVERNMENT TO CUT EXIT FEES

What a Macquarie analyst thinks [the] government could do with exit fees and what happens in reality are completely different. Personally, I would love to see the end of exit fees. Marco Meloni

ON ADVANTEDGE GIVING ITS BROKERS A LICENSING CHOICE

There is no indication on what the licensing is going to cost. Does anyone have any idea? A lot of brokers who operate in their own right are concerned, and nobody has the answer. It looks like the new laws and regulation have once again been jumped into without looking at the cost for mortgage brokers. Even if you go under an aggregator that purchases the licence, they may [still] pass this cost on, or... reduce commissions to compensate. David Shipp

ON THE MFAA EXPELS BROKER FOR CPD FRAUD

Once again the MFAA makes news by expelling a broker, what about the unscrupulous lenders we have to deal with. Lenders with discounts that brokers can never obtain. Now the MFAA have the unbelievable gall to start actively promoting fee-for-service, this once again plays to the banks’ anti-commission strategy. The MFAA are blatantly for the banks, not for the brokers. Andrew Hunter

ON CBA’S DECISION TO REVAMP ITS LOAN PROCESS

This is an explosive topic. Imagine if clients could see what mortgage brokers currently see. Files that sit there for days, requests not being responded to, and if you answer their requests for more info with an email within 24 hours, the system currently doesn’t notify the bank you have replied – the file sits in limbo. Letting a client see what is happening is not going to speed up the loan approval process. Don’t waste your time tracking and diverting the funds to employ a few more people and get the job done: justify your profit margin with some service. Anonymous

ON THE ADVISER’S DECISION TO RANK THE MAJOR BANKS

I have been asking my aggregator to do this. Brokers have been copping a flogging from the lenders about the quality of applications, conversion rates and professionalism for some time. Now it’s our turn! Great work. Keith Nicholson

Bring it on! It’s about time we started to push back as an industry and let those lenders that provide poor service to us understand that it is not acceptable. I hope that the survey can be made as publicly accessible as possible. Kim Fewings

Excellent idea. Brokers have been calling out for a fair and unbiased bank ranking that gives the majors insight into how we really feel about them. Can’t wait to see the results. Jack Tarlington

ON MORTGAGE CHOICE’S CALL FOR FASTER LOAN PROCESSES

I think it’s about time the MFAA actually negotiated SLAs for the broker channel. We have suffered through commission cuts, volume requirements, electronic lodgment requirements, regulation for what exactly? What have we got in return? It’s about time we got some SLA agreements in place. If the banks fall outside those agreements, then they should be suspended from the channel. We should also have broker/client contracts that actually protect our client relationship. I am all for a professional industry but it’s about time some professionalism went our way! Brett Coombs

ON ADVANTEDGE TO LAUNCH A NEW BUSINESS

The banks may well regret the day they decided to break into the broker movement during the GFC. All they have done is given us the opportunity to diversify our business models and expand into other areas that were previously the domain of the banks and their subsidiary companies. The brokers that have made it through the downturn have trimmed the fat and muscled up. Bring it on. Terry Shoesmith