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The majority of AFCA complaints received against the major brokerage’s brokers were resolved in their favour, according to the brokerage.
According to Loan Market chief compliance officer David McQueen, in the last six months, almost 90 per cent of complaints received by the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) against Loan Market brokers “were found to be in our favour”.
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“To put this in a wider perspective, 99.98 per cent of all applications made by our brokers in the same period met their customers’ expectations,” Mr McQueen said.
“While it’s pleasing to know our brokers are doing the right thing, it is, nonetheless, a time-consuming process for them (the broker) as well.”
Recent figures from AFCA on its online comparative tool AFCA Datacube showed that broker complaints comprised only a fraction of all complaints relating to home loans at the registration and referral stage during the FY19-20 period.
Mr McQueen warned that any aggregator that services thousands of clients a year must accept that complaints could arise.
However, he said it is up to the aggregator to support its brokers if these scenarios occur.
He noted that since the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, brokers have been subject to greater public scrutiny and have since sought support from their aggregators to avoid complaints and protect them during customer disputes, which clients have seven years to take action.
Mr McQueen said a digital paper trail and digital tools would protect brokers in customer disputes, and offer facts when these disputes arise.
He added that the major brokerage’s compliance and customer service program, The Loan Market Way, can create a digital paper trail for brokers with note-taking and broker recommendations should they receive a complaint, while also providing a checklist that addresses regulatory requirements such as the best interests duty and responsible lending obligations.
This year, Loan Market launched Hello Pack, which delivers the initial correspondence between the broker and their client, including the delivery of the credit guide, along with Goal Setter, which is a digital meeting tool for brokers to conduct conversations around client goals, and Game Plan, which is a tech-driven document that interacts with Goal Setter and outlines the work completed by the broker before sending it to the client via eSign to digitally sign before they are ready to proceed.
[Related: AFCA broker complaints drop in the ocean]
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