With greater numbers of borrowers seeking out mortgages and other products from non-banks, it's clear that the public now sees alternative lenders in a more positive light.
Thanks to the vast array of information on the internet, consumers are more educated and more open to ‘challenger’ brands, Homeloans general manager of third party distribution Daniel Carde told
Australian Broker.
He pointed to research done by
Australian Broker’s sister publication
Mortgage Professional Australia (MPA) which found that 85% of consumers would consider a non-bank lending product.
This trend is also prevalent amongst brokers with more now willing to consider products outside of the traditional banking realm for clients’ finance needs. With many non-banks operating through digital channels, this is where mortgage brokers come into play, he said.
“Consumers are still looking for that professional contact to help them make sense of the information available and also help them navigate the physical application process.”
One part of this shift is that the days of negative perceptions around this sector are behind us. Carde noted that while the public may have viewed non-banks in a negative light 10 years ago during the GFC, both non-banks and consumers have moved on.
“More and more consumers are seeing lenders like Homeloans as a genuine alternative to the banks and we expect to see this trend continuing well into the future.”
To support this growth, technology will play a major role in helping non-banks reach even more brokers with aggregator software becoming more intuitive and granular.
However, technology cannot replace good old-fashioned sales and service, which is where a non-bank lender’s BDM team comes into play, he said.
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