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A direct-to-consumer online lender has launched an aggressively priced SMSF product, which Firstmac hinted may soon become available to brokers.
The online brand of Firstmac ‘loans.com.au’ announced a new foray into the booming SMSF sector by launching a 4.99 per cent loan for residential investment property refinances and purchases with a loan-to-value ratio (LVR) of up to 80 per cent.
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While the product is only available through the online lender at the moment, a spokesperson for Firstmac and loans.com.au told The Adviser that brokers have not been forgotten.
“Firstmac has always supported brokers, and while nothing is set in stone we can confirm that Firstmac is looking to take this product to the broker distribution channel,” the spokesperson said.
In launching the product, loans.com.au managing director Marie Mortimer claimed that SMSF trustees had been paying "exorbitant rates for residential property loans for too long".
“When they first came out, SMSF loans were a niche market and the banks considered them to be riskier and priced them as commercial loans,” a spokesperson told The Adviser's sister title SMSF Adviser.
“We regard SMSF loans the same as any other residential home loan and price it accordingly.”
Speaking with The Adviser, industry veteran Steve Marshall of The Lone Arranger said that with his experience of SMSF lending, he believes most trustees wouldn’t be looking for SMSF loans online.
“You will always have consumers going online to get the cheapest rate, but because this is such a specialised product I doubt anyone who is savvy enough to be a trustee in an SMSF will apply for a loan online," he said.
“People with the financial aptitude to be involved with an SMSF know that the rate is only part of the equation, so competing on price is just one piece to the puzzle.”
