Lender increases upfront commissions by 30 basis points

Following its late-February rate cut, specialist lender Pepper is continuing the good news for brokers this week by announcing a new higher upfront commission for brokers of 0.90 per cent (up from 0.60 per cent) for some of its home loan products.

The increased commission is valid for lodgements of Pepper Easy (near-prime) and Pepper Advantage (specialist) products until 30 April 2015.

Pepper Group director of sales and distribution Mario Rehayem told The Adviser that the lender is looking to target the market in a more aggressive manner.

“This is not something we have done before,” Mr Rehayem said. “We are just trialling the market to find out how we can better reward our brokers. 

“Pepper usually goes down a path of constantly finding other ways to better our services regardless of whether we have the best service in the market or not, we are always looking to better that.”

After tweaking its policy and expanding its product range, the lender is confident that it now offers a superior service to its third-party partners.

For a six-week period the group will trial the 90 basis point upfront commission in order to reward brokers for their service.

“We are trialling something different to gain the attention of the broker market,” Mr Rehayem said.

“This commission play is just another way of testing the market to get more eyeballs on our product. It is just another part of our strategy.”

The meaningful increase reflects Pepper’s ongoing relationship with the broker channel, Mr Rehayem said, adding that the group is constantly looking for feedback from the third-party industry on how it can improve its offering.

“We want to find out what brokers want,” he said.

“There are many strategies we will be running over the next six months and it will be all about testing the market and seeing what works and what doesn’t.”

Written by James Mitchell

Last Updated: 09 March 2022

Published: 11 March 2015