Vow Voice 17th January 2019

Introduction: Many Vow brokers are not aware that on joining Vow, they are automatically accredited with our in-house Mortgage Manager, Resi. We are here to let you know the benefits that Resi bring to your business and how to ensure their competitive funding options display for you and your brokers.

What does Resi provide to your business? A 30 second snapshot is detailed below:

• Access to 4 different funders via one lender. Prime lending solutions, Near Prime and Specialist solutions via multiple product providers.
• Exceptional flexible Prime loan solutions. Construction options via 3 funders, construction solutions including options covering:
  • Bridging Finance scenarios
  • Alt Doc construction
  • Construction for Near Prime credit situations
  • First Home Buyers up to 95% with FHOG acceptable as funds to complete
  • No LMI options to 85% for first time buyers, upgraders, property investors (including Interest Only Loans).

• Highly competitive Prime Investment lending options. Market leading rates available for Investment P&I and well as Interest Only up to a 90% LVR.
• Near Prime and Specialist lending solutions which minimise entry costs - solutions designed to help you manage your customers short term needs (getting their loan set now) and allowing you to map out a low-cost pathway to a prime lending solutions longer term.

This is just a little snapshot of what you are currently accredited to access. So how do I view these products in Vownet?

Once you have accessed Vow Net, navigate to "My accreditations" menu item. The next step is to look for each of the individual Resi Product ranges. Make sure you mark your accreditation for:

• RESI Agile
• RESI Flexi
• RESI Restart Renew
• RESI Smart Pro

While the product ranges appear separately within Vownet, your dealings are with the one organisation, just make sure you have got each of the accreditations enabled to ensure our lending solutions display in Vownet for you.

Featured Product: Flexi Options

Flexi Options be it for Owner-Occupied or Investors provides some great long-term value for your customers. Recently we have seen the resurgence of honeymoon rates, but all of our Flexi Options loans are true long-term variable rates with no nasty rate increases after 2 years.

For Owner-occupied, we offer the following rates with no on-going fees (unless an offset account is selected which comes at a cost of $10 per month).

* LMI can be capitalised on top of the loan amount

In terms of loans to investors, this is where we really stand out from the pack, no matter your scenario, we have you covered with a very competitive offer. Principal and Interest remains the more popular option now with sharper rates available, our rates represent good value no matter how long your client wants to stay with us.

* LMI can be capitalised on top of the loan amount.

* 90% hard cap for Interest Only lending.

Got you interested? Have a chat to the team about your next Scenario or Deal

Jason Hulbert - Business Development Manager
E: Jason.Hulbert@resi.com.au P: 0468 755 419
Tony Wakim - Business Development Manager
E: Tony.Wakim@resi.com.au P: 0416 409 100
Craig Herden - National Sales Manager
E: Craig.Herden@resi.com.au P: 0478 537 841

Or e-mail our scenarios team on scenarios@resi.com.au or 1800 737 448

Check out our Rate Sheet and Product Sheet.

We would like to advise that due to changes in the way Macquarie remit commissions to Vow, we are no longer able to process upfront commission payments in the mid-month payment run.

Unfortunately, these upfronts will now be deferred to the corresponding end of month payment.

This change is effective 1 January 2019 and impacts both Macquarie branded loans and those for Vow Home Loans.

For more information or if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact your State Manager or BDM.

The Adviser's Charbel Kadib finds out what it's like to be a broker in Tasmania from Lance Cure, veteran broker and director of Finance Brokers of Tasmania, who joined the broking industry in 1986.

Read the interview to discover Lance's extraordinary broking career and get some insights into his amazing journey so far.

Q. Why did you choose to become a broker?

In the mid-1970s, I worked for the Bank of New South Wales (now Westpac) and I progressed to a certain level by the time I was 19, when I sort of hit a roadblock.

I decided to take time away from work and go travelling for a couple of years, and that started in Western Australia where I came across some finance brokers for people working in the mining communities.

I then went overseas for almost two years, and when I came back, I got a job with a finance company, and that company transferred me from Hobart to run their Launceston operations. Soon after, I was given an opportunity to become what might have been the state's first full-time finance business manager at the local Toyota and Jaguar franchisee.

After experiencing the pressures of a car yard operating seven days a week and not having much time to myself, I decided that I might have a crack at doing what I'd seen in Western Australia and what I'd seen from one broker in Tasmania.

Q. How did you break into the broking industry?

I started out as an equipment broker in mid-1986 when we first set up the business, and I got a couple of people I know to come and work for me as the business grew. Those that I brought in had been either working in business manager roles or for finance companies.

Now the Finance Brokers of Tasmania operates out of Hobart, Burnie and Launceston. We have 11 brokers across the state and a number of support staff to go with that.

We generally receive business from those areas. The distinct business areas of Tasmania are north, south and northwest, so we've got a presence in each one.

Although some try to specialise, we try and encourage each broker to be capable of writing not only home loans but also commercial, equipment and vehicle loans. We train our brokers to be versatile.

Two of our younger brokers are in the middle of a correspondence financial planning course, which is really what we see the good brokers of the future being.

Q. What challenges did you face when you first started?

The first challenge was that nobody understood what a finance broker did in Tasmania. We called ourselves Finance Brokers of Tasmania (FBT), which we still trade under today.

Receiving acknowledgment for the service we provided was difficult. We had to spend a lot of money on advertising our brand and advertising what our service was. We had to go to a lot of industry associations and present and talk to people at truck shows or any of the field days that were put on for certain industries.

We had to get out there and do a bit of pounding of the pavement to let people know what we did. Then, of course, as time went on, repeat and referral business became a lot more prevalent.

Q. Have brokers benefitted from the boom in the Tasmanian housing market?

It would be fair to say that, given that Hobart is experiencing significant growth. It doesn't necessarily mean there are more sales; it just means that the sales are for bigger dollars. While it hasn't necessarily meant a large upturn in volume of sales, there would be some in Hobart, and it's starting to occur along the north and the northwest of the state. Our business has grown, to a degree, alongside the Tasmanian economy.

There's also been a lot of money spent here by the government, both at a federal and state level, on infrastructure projects. So, the finance industry has seen an increase in (demand for) machinery and equipment (finance) from the contractors that are working on those projects.

Q. What are your plans for the next 12 months?

I plan to work closely with our new brokers and try and do as much work as I can in our office in Burnie, which we opened most recently.

I'm also endeavouring to increase our product information seminars that we offer directly to clients in those three areas. These provide borrowers with information regarding investments and parental guarantee home loans while also promoting ourselves as an information source to the general public.

(We're doing) whatever it takes to provide better information for borrowers who are looking for a little bit of positivity and guidance following what's come out of the financial services royal commission. I think the clients out there are looking for someone they can feel comfortable dealing with, someone they can trust.

We've also embarked on a fairly comprehensive TV advertising campaign, and we've launched a new website, to try and get a little bit more out there in the community and to let people know what we're doing.

We've been doing this for 32 years, so most people in Tasmania have heard of us. It's just a matter of building the client base on top of the many thousands we've built over time.

There's always a new generation of borrowers coming through.

Please be advised that Liberty have reviewed the way they calculate upfront commission to ensure commissions appropriately reflect the customer's outcome.

Therefore, Liberty will be calculating the upfront commission five business days after settlement by multiplying the upfront commission percentage by the loan balance net of any offset.

This applies to all residential mortgage loans settled from 1 January 2019.

For your convenience, please click here for the updated Commission Schedule which outlines what payments are made for the introduction of new business.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your State Manager or BDM.