According to NAB Brokers’ website, the turnaround times on obtaining an unconditional approval has been nearly cut in half.

In the space of 6 weeks, NAB Brokers has managed to improve their turnaround times from when we last reported on them taking 2 weeks to an unconditional approval (assuming you had everything you needed!)

The previous downturn in service levels from NAB had been attributed to “Unprecedented volumes and a recent external supplier technology failure” which have impacted upon the service delivery and turnaround times.

Previous turnaround times can be viewed here
Full Story

Potential bottlenecks with home loan applications can be avoided if buyers are assisted through the approval process, according to leading mortgage broker Loan Market.

Loan Market Sunshine Coast broker Lindy Kelly said banks and other home finance providers had been busier due to the rush of people taking up the boosted First Home Buyers Grant.

But she said the increased workload for lenders had not jeopardised residential real estate transactions.

“Loan Market has been working with individual lenders to ensure that there is a process in place for the escalation and fast-tracking of urgent loan applications,” Ms Kelly said.
Full Story

By Jill Fraser for Lending Central

In the second interview in our series on aggregators Lending Central spoke to Connective Principal, Mark Haron and learned that it’s not only brokers who are experiencing frustration.

Haron says he is acutely aware of the issues facing brokers and agrees that much of the anger and concern is justified.

“The problem is that at the moment banks are not overly keen to lend a lot of money and when they do their lending policies are very restrictive,” he says.

“Their knee jerk reaction has been to minimise both lending and broker relationships, at the same time maintaining an element of business through areas they think are most profitable.”
Full Story

By Jill Fraser for Lending Central

In a series in which Lending Central will speak to a number of leading aggregators, AFG General Manager Sales and Operations, Mark Hewitt kicks off the discussion with the comment that he sympathises with both sides.

Acknowledging that this has been one of the most exasperating periods ever for AFG members Hewitt says brokers are justifiably feeling that they’re in a no win situation with “demanding customers on one side and what appears to be overly bureaucratic banks on the other”.

However from another perspective he notes: “It’s hard to get angry at banks that are still lending money when we’re fortunate in Australia to have a lending system that stood up to the pressures of the financial crisis and banks that are still willing to lend via brokers”.

“Conspiracy theorists say that the big banks are deliberately trying to squeeze the broker channel in favour of their proprietary channels.
Full Story

Banks are blaming a flood of first-home buyers attracted by the increased government grant for long delays people faced in getting home loans approved.

Yahoo!7 Finance News

View Article

By Jill Fraser for Lending Central

NAB has come under considerable attack lately for its lengthy processing times, poor service and discriminatory practices.

Last week broker Maria Rigoni took the matter to another level when she lodged a letter of complaint to MFAA CEO Phil Naylor, in which she accused NAB of being “in breach of the MFAA Code of Conduct” and “failure to reach reasonable standards of efficiency and competence in the conduct of business in the Mortgage & Finance Industry”.

Rigoni’s complaint was prompted by a 20-day processing delay followed by a rejection of the loan application due to her inadequate ‘star rating’, which she maintains “held her client to ransom”.

NAB’s Head of Broker Sales, John Flavell spoke exclusively to Lending Central about broker frustration and Rigoni’s complaints.
Full Story