Specialist lender breaks into prime market

“We’ve had great success with our specialist products,” he said. “The only issue we had with the product was that when the client was ready to move on to a prime loan we didn’t cater for them.

“Our brokers have come to us continuously over the past three years asking us for a prime product. We’ve assessed it, and we understand it’s time for us to come out with a good offering.”

Mr Rehayem said a full spectrum of prime products will launch in late January, including both full-doc and alt-doc offerings.

“But the beauty of the Pepper prime product is that it will have zero attachment points to any mortgage insurer. Our alt-doc lender protection fee will start at 70 per cent, not 60 like most other lenders,” Mr Rehayem said.

With rates starting at 4.85 per cent, he said, the rate and a competitive commission structure will help drive broker interest – while Pepper’s service model will keep them coming back.

“If you submit a deal by 12 o’clock you will have a same-day manually assessed deal. That means if you log on online, order the [valuation] upfront and submit the deal complete, you will have unconditional, same-day approval. We’ve put our money where our mouth is,” he said.

For brokers who operate in the specialist lending space, like director of The Home Loan Experts Otto Dargan, the prime products provide a seamless transition from a non-conforming loan to a prime product.

“A specialist loan needs to be positioned as a stepping stone to get back to a prime loan,” Mr Dargan told The Adviser.

“When positioning these products, you need to talk to them about the solution and how you are going to get them back to a prime loan.”