Jason Cuerel, Director at Mortgage Innovations. Winner, Best Customer Service (Office); Finalist, Best Regional Office, Better Business Awards 2026.
Winner, Best Customer Service (Office); Finalist, Best Regional Office · QLD
Mortgage Innovations is a boutique brokerage based in Varsity Lakes on the Gold Coast, with 10 full-time employees. It is a winner of Best Customer Service (Office) and Best Regional Office at the Better Business Awards QLD. The entry was submitted by director Jason Cuerel. Last year the team supported 341 families and facilitated $209 million of lending, up 13 per cent, while the loan book grew 10 per cent to $542 million. The business has assisted 2,000 families and written over $1 billion in loans. It also won Best Regional Office at the 2022 Better Business Awards Qld.
How do you help property investors on the Gold Coast untangle cross-collateralised loans to buy more property?
One property investor came to us with four cross-collateralised mortgages. Their existing bank would not fund the two further investment properties they wanted. We delinked the four mortgages, and that secured the funding for the two new purchases. We can do this kind of work because we take a wide view of finance options, and last year we used 33 different lenders. Ninety per cent of our team are Gold Coast locals, with 95 years of combined experience, so we understand the local property market as well as the lending side. Some of our residential lending clients have also started moving into SMSF lending with us.
How can a Gold Coast mortgage broker help me get a bridging loan when buying before I sell?
Each bridging lender wants bridging finance presented in its own format and calculated its own way. If we get the format wrong, the application needs rework and the approval slows down. To avoid that, we built individual templates for each lender, with funding tables and multi-page briefs. This helped cut our lodgement processing time by 75 per cent, which matters on the Gold Coast, where properties sell quickly. We also know where there is room to move. CBA only does bridging loans for existing customers, but as an exception it will approve them if they are workshopped through a third-party channel. We helped six clients this way last year, saving them valuation fees and securing a cheaper rate.
What can I do if my home loan was declined because of living expenses like private school fees?
Lenders treat living expenses differently, and their policies change, so we keep track of how each one handles costs such as private school fees and private health insurance. Staying across those details has enabled some of our clients to obtain a larger loan, up to $200,000 extra. One client came to us after a loan was declined because of private school fees. We found them a lender that treated living expenses differently. This detailed lender knowledge, along with our Platinum/Elite Broker status with top banks, is part of why our success rate last year was 98 per cent, against an industry average of 76 per cent.
How can a mortgage broker help me get a better rate on my existing home loan?
We don't wait for clients to ask. Last year we invested in a full-time Customer Care Manager and proactively repriced more than 400 clients, which achieved annual interest savings of over $300,000. We also reviewed 115 clients' loan options against their long-term goals and refinanced 75 per cent of them. Sometimes the right answer is to stay where you are. Three clients were coming off fixed rates, and we had arranged a low reverting rate for them with CBA. Instead, we consolidated their mortgages with their existing lender. We earned no commission on that, but it was the best solution for each of them. People before profit is how we run the business.
What support does a Gold Coast mortgage broker give after my home loan settles?
For us, settlement is where the relationship starts rather than ends. We developed an 18-stage post-settlement programme that includes monthly and anniversary communications and community engagements. That ongoing contact helps explain our 92 per cent retention rate. It is also why 75 per cent of our loan volume last year came from existing clients. Every client receives equal service, whatever the size of the loan. We helped one client with a $130,000 refinance, and their parents were impressed enough to come back to us for a $1.5 million mortgage. Last year, 20 per cent of our new business came from referrals by happy clients.
Find Jason at Mortgage Innovations: mortgageinnovations.com.au
