The Finance and Mortgage Advisers’ Association of New Zealand (FAMNZ) is putting pressure on lenders following claims consumers are getting preferential treatment over advisers.
FAMNZ Managing Director Peter White says lenders must “…stop taking finance and mortgage advisers for granted”.
“We know of an instance where an adviser sent a customer to a lender because it was the only way an urgent application could be processed, and this is not acceptable,” says White.
“This shows not only a disregard for the adviser channel, but a lack of understanding of how important the channel is to them, and how much business the lender can gain from working more closely with advisers.”
White says banks were closing branches and so should do more for advisers.
“The percentage of business written through mortgage advisers is currently around fifty per cent and this will increase exponentially over the next few years,” he says.
White – also the chair of the International Mortgage Broker Federation of which New Zealand is now represented by FAMNZ – says New Zealand lenders must catch up to the rest of the world when it comes to technology.
“Our processes are far more manual than in other similar nations, and this is impacting client outcomes,” he says, adding that the association has discussed these matters with the Commerce Commission.
“Kiwi finance and mortgage advisers deserve better, and customers deserve better, but unfortunately advisers have had such poor representation for many years.”
White says FAMNZ will not allow this trend to continue.
“I encourage advisers to contact us with your experiences, particularly around poor service from lenders, so we can take up these issues,” he says.