A new entrant in Australia’s home loan market backed by Wizard Home Loans founder Mark Bouris hopes more competition will put pressure on the big banks to keep any interest rate rises to a minimum.

Mr Bouris, the executive chairman of wealth management company Yellow Brick Road, said he was “delighted” to be back in the home loan business.

Yellow Brick Road, formed in 2007, said on Sunday it will begin offering home loan products after teaming up with Gateway Credit Union.

Mr Bouris said the arrival of new players in the home loan market was needed to “keep the big banks honest and ensure that there’s strong competition in the marketplace”.

He said the major banks had been able to raise interest rates without fear of losing market share after most non-bank lenders were forced out of business or taken over as a result of the global financial crisis.
Full Story

By Jill Fraser for Lending Central

“I’m in control,” proclaims Mark Bouris, “and I’ll answer whatever I will”.

Lending Central discovered that the new role of the founder and former boss of the now defunct Wizard Home Loans fits him like a glove.

Bouris made his television debut last night as the star of the Nine Network’s The Apprentice Australia. The original version of the show was based on Donald Trump’s autocratic, take-no-prisoners approach to leadership and Bouris’ style is clearly cut from the same cloth.

Strict, nonnegotiable parameters are established as soon as the interview with Lending Central begins. Questions pertaining to his personal life are a no go zone and expectations of insights into this ferociously private personality are met with “you’ve got no chance”.

The mortgage industry’s new media celebrity is handsome, charming, opinionated and wealthy and reputedly guards his inner workings like a steel trap.

Okay, let’s see what a bit of subtle prising can reveal.
Full Story

FremantleMedia Australia is to produce an Australian version of The Apprentice led by former Wizard Home Loans creator Mark Bouris.

TV Tonight

View Article

Aussie Home Loans, is posting record lending levels following the recent acquisition of Wizard Home Loans from GE Money.

The mortgage broker has doubled its monthly lending volumes to more than $2 billion following the addition of Wizard franchisees to Aussie’s distribution network, which now covers over 140 outlets in city and regional areas.

All of the 111 Wizard outlets are being transformed to the Aussie brand and they are now part of an organisation which is bucking the gloom of the recession with an aggressive expansion strategy.
Full Story

The ACCC has allowed Wizard home loans to waive the deferred administration fee for those transferring to Aussie, but not to other home loan providers.  You can read the full press release from the ACCC below:

AMS Mortgage Services Pty Ltd proposes to waive the deferred administration fee for early termination of Wizard branded home loans where a customer chooses to refinance with Aussie Home Loans.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will permit this arrangement which involves third line forcing, after a notification was lodged by AMS.

Third line forcing is a type of exclusive dealing conduct prohibited by the Trade Practices Act 1974. It involves the supply of goods or services on condition that the purchaser acquires goods or services from a particular third party. By lodging a notification with the ACCC, businesses may obtain protection from legal proceedings under the Act. Provided the ACCC does not object, protection commences 14 days after lodgment.
Full Story

More than 80,000 Wizard and GE Money customers will from today (Friday, February 27, 2009) have the chance to save thousands of dollars and years off their home loans if they re-finance their loans through Australia’s leading mortgage broker, Aussie Home Loans.

As part of Aussie’s acquisition of Wizard from GE Money, which settled today, Aussie is now able to offer both GE and Wizard customers the opportunity to transfer to a better home loan without the cost of high
contract break fees.
Full Story

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) says it will acquire a $2.25 billion portion of Wizard Home Loans’ portfolio from GE Money.

CBA will also pass on a 100 basis point cut to interest rates to those Wizard home loans to be included in the new CBA funded portfolio, the bank said in a statement on Tuesday.

CBA said the rate cut will take effect from March 9 and benefit more than 16,000 customers.

CBA retail banking boss Ross McEwan said the bank will also continue to the look at the interest rates being offered to all of our customers to ensure that they receive competitive pricing.
Full Story

The Wizard brand, acquired late last year by Aussie Home Loans is expected to soon vanish and be folded into the new owners ever growing mortgage broking business.

According the AFR (note this link requires a login for AFR.com) it is understood that chairman John Symond has told Wizard staff in a series of briefings that he plans to re-brand the Wizard distribution network in the hopes of reviving the once thriving brand.

It’s reported that Aussie, backed by the 33% ownership stake of the Commonwealth Bank, paid $26 million for the Wizard brand and retail network which includes 160 franchises and around 300 mortgage advisers.
Full Story

GE Money said its talks with National Australia Bank (NAB) over a potential sale of Wizard Home Loans are not exclusive.

The group confirmed on Wednesday that other parties are involved in discussions to acquire the mortgage lender from GE Money, which acquired Wizard in 2004.

“NAB is one of the parties we are in discussions with,” GE Money spokesman Geoff Lynch told AAP.
Full Story

National Australia Bank (NAB) says it is in advanced talks to purchase the brand name and Australian distribution network of Wizard Home Loans for an undisclosed price.

The bank said the purchase price would have no material impact on its tier 1 capital ratio.

NAB said it also was negotiating to acquire up to $4 billion of Wizard-originated prime mortgages, all of which are mortgage insured.

Wizard’s mortgage portfolio comprises prime mortgages with a maximum loan to valuation ratio of 90 per cent.
Full Story

Wizard Home Loans, which once claimed to be New Zealand’s fastest growing alternative home lender, is the latest casualty of the global financial crisis.

Owner GE Money said it was closing the business. GE had previously announced it was ceasing offering home loans through third parties and was exiting the motor finance and small business financing market.

Today it said the decision to close Wizard in New Zealand was made reluctantly. There was no estimate of job losses.
Full Story

Wizard Home Loans has followed Australia’s big banks and cut its variable interest rates by 80 basis points after the Reserve Bank of Australia’s surprise 100 basis point cut to the official cash rate.

Wizard will lower its standard variable rate to 8.49 per cent from tomorrow for new customers, and from Thursday, October 16 for its existing customers, the lender said in a statement this morning.
Full Story

Australian banks and lenders will have no excuse not to follow Wizard Home Loans’ lead and cut their interest rates if conditions continue, Treasurer Wayne Swan says.

Wizard Home Loans today became the first leader to cut its variable interest rate in seven years.

Wizard cut its variable rate from 9.54 to 9.29 per cent, effective from today, in a move announced three days before the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) decides whether to reduce rates.
Full Story

Wizard Home Loans has become the first lender to cut its variable interest rate in seven years.

The announcement comes three days before the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) decides whether to implement a rate cut.

Economists say a combination of a slowing economy, deteriorating business conditions and tight credit markets will ensure the central bank cuts interest rates this week.
Full Story

More than 1 million Australian households are projected to experience some form of mortgage stress by December this year, according to the latest Fujitsu Consulting / Wizard Home Loans Mortgage Stress-O-Meter.

Fujitsu Consulting Managing Consulting Director and Executive General Manager, Martin North, said the projections equated to 15 percent of all borrowing households - both owner occupiers and property investors.
Full Story