After five years of intense consultation with State and Federal Governments, the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) hailed today’s introduction of new national consumer credit laws into Federal Parliament.
MFAA CEO Phil Naylor said the new laws reflected the key issues the MFAA had raised on behalf of its members for efficient regulation and consumer protection.
“These laws demonstrate our commitment to MFAA members and borrowers; they ensure proper protection for consumers and the exclusion of rogue operators from the lending industry,” Mr Naylor said.
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People considering a reverse mortgage or any other multifaceted loan product should seek the advice of a professional broker, trained in complex mortgage products, the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) said today.
“We recognise that reverse mortgages are complicated products that can be of great value to retirees who are asset-rich, but cash-poor and who are seeking a line of credit,” Phil Naylor, CEO of the MFAA, said.
“As an organisation that has been educating people on equity release products for a long time, the MFAA supports all efforts by other organisations seeking to do the same.”
ASIC and the Australian Government Financial Literacy Board yesterday launched Thinking of Using the Equity in Your Home?, a guide to assist people in assessing whether an equity release product is right for their individual situation.
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Stamp duty on home loans is an inefficient and unproductive cost that must be abolished, the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) said today.
The wide-ranging tax review by Treasury Secretary Ken Henry is reportedly considering proposals to remove the stamp duty charged by state governments on housing loans.
Tax experts are reported to have told the Henry review that home loan stamp duty acts a barrier to moving house and creates inefficiencies in the wider economy by — for example — discouraging labour mobility.
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The Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) today welcomed reports that the Federal Government is examining ways to help make non-bank lenders more competitive in the mortgage market.
Treasury officials are said to be preparing options that will make it easier for regional banks and non-bank lenders to access funds and therefore to offer lower mortgage rates.
“The possibility of Federal Government support is appropriate and welcome,” said Phil Naylor, CEO of the MFAA.
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I’d like to say a huge thank you to our newest sponsors for this month. Without their support, we wouldn’t be in the position to bring you all the latest news and issues from around the industry.
In no particular order:
- ValuePro
- Wealth Today
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The MFAA Conference is over for another year and what we’d really like to know is: How did you rate it? Were you a sponsor/exhibitor? Let us know what you thought. Delegate? How did you find the discussions? Just visiting for the ExpoMart? Was it worth the trip for you?
Let us know your thoughts and comments on the conference and if you found it useful or not.
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Senator the Hon. Nick Sherry, Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law, has addressed the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia’s (MFAA) National Convention today on the Gold Coast, praising the Association for its involvement in shaping new consumer protection and consumer credit laws, and for elevating the role and standards of the industry.
Addressing the conference, Senator Sherry said: “I value the important work that the MFAA plays in elevating the role and standards of your industry. And I particularly appreciate your focus on promoting professionalism for your members, and excellence for the benefit of your customers.”
Senator Sherry also recognised the advisory role the MFAA played on the development of the draft Consumer Credit Reform Package, as a member of the Industry Consultation Group.
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Hi Everyone,
Here at Lending Central we’ve always believed in allowing all of our readers the freedom of speech. After all, that’s what the nature of the internet and indeed the basis of stimulating discussion is all about.
However, some of the last “controversial” topics and our lack of hard-line moderation has resulted in some questionable commentary by our readers. It is with regret that we now have to announce the following regulations will be enforced and comments will begin to be moderated.
- Profanities - All comments that have any profane comments will be moderated and edited to be toned down for our readers so as to limit the offensive nature of them.
- Derogatory comments - All comments that have any derogatory comments towards interviewed people will be removed. Examples of this are: “XYZ, you are full of s$%t”, “XYZ, you are a d#@khead” and these will be removed. Interviews are extremely important to get answers to the questions that you ask and derogatory comments do nothing to make people want to be interviewed.
- Derogatory comments towards other readers - This is self explanatory and any comments that are aimed at other readers will be completely removed. Examples of this are: “Reader Name, you are a loser”, “Reader Name, you don’t know what you are talking about.” and these will be removed
- Comments that do not add anything to the conversation or the topic and really fall into points 2 and 3 above will be removed. The point of commenting is to stimulate discussion and new ideas amongst the industry. Everyone has a point of view and if you don’t agree with it, then come up with reasons why rather than just being derogatory.
- As an important note, points 2 and 3 (and to some extent, point 4) belong on something like YouTube, NOT on a professional industry news source. Over 30% of our readers are NOT from within the industry and for general public to see bickering and arguing instead of support and interesting ideas does nothing for the reputation of the commenter, or our industry as a whole. Please keep this in mind when you do comment.
- Commenters who do add value to the articles - and reading the comments, this is 95% of you, I thank you for your insights and valuable contributions to making Lending Central as popular as it is today.
Thank you in advance for ensuring that you do adhere to the requirements set forth above. If you have any questions, please let us know and drop me an email using the contact form at the top of menu.
Regards,
Scott.
I left the media room after my last update today and made my way down to the Expomart for the conference lunch.
Upon my release from the quiet media room - I had it all to myself as you can see from the photo album (at end of post) I was immediately impressed with the general noise going on around me. The media room was located upstairs, out of the way and to get back to the Expomart I had to pass by the hospitality suites.
I can’t really say just how busy these suites were as I didn’t head on into them due to time constraints, but I did notice that a lot of people were around making their way between the suites and the Expomart, talking on their phones, catching up with other people and most likely trying to either get the goss, or the next big deal!
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This was one function that I was quite looking forward to. The official Welcome Function event was being held at Movie World this year and I haven’t been there since I was a kid!
At the end of the first day’s events, there was the option of being bussed out to Movie World as a free service for those attending the event, which I thought was a great idea! Given that the event was being held a fair way from the convention centre and its surrounding hotels where most people that I’ve spoken to were staying, you can imagine how catching a cab would have been a real pain.
I was tempted to catch the bus with everyone else, but due to some late meetings, I once again jumped into the trusty rental car and began the drive down to Movie World. Thanks to the modern technology of GPS I was able to find the way without getting too lost!
Once I parked the car I was just in time for the arrival of all the buses from the convention centre and was lucky enough to see the “arrival” entertainment. As we passed through the ticket booths, getting our passes scanned, we were ushered onto the red carpet entrance of movie world itself. Screaming fans were present, yelling out our names as flashes went off blinding us to what was happening. The sights and sounds as you entered Movie World was a little overwhelming and made us all feel like movie stars!
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It’s been a hectic morning for me today, with phone calls and meetings taking up most of my time. I’ve managed to pop into a few of the talks this morning and I’m now sitting up in the media room giving my views of today so far.
Apart from it being a late night after the movie world function (coming in another update!) most people seemed to be in fairly good spirits about today’s events. The Expomart was a lot busier as I passed by on my way to the media room - as I mentioned in my previous update I think it was quiet due to the golf day which was heavily attended from talking to people last night.
There were certainly a lot of sore heads as is usual for any conference as it’s a great chance to be entertained with your friends and colleagues.
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By Scott Spencer for Lending Central
Today marks the first day of the MFAA Conference for 2009. One down, and two more days to go.
So what’s been happening today?
Well, I started to head down to the Gold Coast convention centre, filled with excitement about finally getting back to a MFAA function after not having attended one for almost 3 years (other work commitments unfortunately!). I jumped into the rental car after having tried to ensure that my internet connection was working - bad move as my coverage seems to be a little limited and started the short drive from my hotel to the centre.
The Convention Centre itself was fairly well signed and I was easily able to find the registration centre to pick up my media pass and some conference goodies - you know the ones, bag filled with special offers, advertising and the like. I’m still waiting to go through it, but might have time to do so tonight and I can let you know what’s there!
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The MFAA Conference this year is sure to be an interesting event, with everything that’s been happening this year, there’s bound to be something worth listening too!
Last week we wanted to know how many of you are actually going to be going this year, with various media reports these days mentioning that attendances at conferences and events have been impacted by the financial crisis.
The results of that poll only provided us with re-assurance that these reports were accurate with a huge 72% (as at time of writing this) of our respondents letting us know that they were NOT attending this year.
There are always various reasons why people can’t go and so I decided that this year, thanks to the generous support of our site sponsors, we’re going to go on behalf of everyone who can’t be there!
Yup, that’s right, I’m going to be doing a “live” blogcast!
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The Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) today called on the Government to keep the new licensing procedures proposed for the industry simple and easy to avoid driving smaller operators out of mortgage broking.
The calls came as part of the Association’s submission on the National Consumer Credit Protection Bill draft.
“The overall thrust of the exposure draft is sound, and the MFAA supports stronger legislation to stamp out predatory practices and better protect consumers,” said Phil Naylor, CEO of the MFAA.
“However, the vast majority of the mortgage brokers practicing today as small operators and we need the Government to ensure that the licensing requirements are not cumbersome or onerous and do not prevent these small operators from staying in business.
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The Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia has been granted conditional authorisation to enable it to continue to give effect to its Disciplinary Rules, ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said today.
The MFAA has approximately 13,000 members Australia wide including mortgage brokers, finance brokers, mortgage managers, lenders (bank and non-bank) and originators, lawyers, accountants and educational institutions associated with the industry.
Authorisation provides immunity from court action for conduct that might otherwise raise concerns under the competition provisions of the Trade Practices Act 1974. Broadly, the ACCC can grant an authorisation when it is satisfied that the public benefit from the conduct outweighs any public detriment.
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By Jill Fraser for Lending Central
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