The industry must continue to raise its game, says broker

Mortgage brokers should be the first port of call both for banks and for borrowers, according to Glen McLeod from Edge Mortgages.

Speaking to NZ Adviser, McLeod says he would like to see the industry in New Zealand align more with the USA model, where the first stop for those looking for a mortgage would be via the broker channel.

“We brokers need to continue to up our game and raise our qualifications,” says McLeod. “We’re becoming more corporate in the way we deal with our clients. They know we’re there for them in the longer term, and it’s not a case of we do the transaction and we’re gone. The more that game is raised the more we can benefit our clients by saving them money and giving them the correct advice, and only then can we go in a better direction.”

It is also cheaper for lenders to use an adviser rather than do everything in-house, and McLeod says he’d like to see banks recognise the raised standards of the broker industry and push their entire mortgage process out to that market.

The industry has its challenges however, and McLeod says the lingering uncertainty around government policies and legislation has made it difficult to plan for the future.

“When you have so much information swirling around and there isn’t any clarity, it can get confusing. At the moment we can surmise what the taxation scenario is going to be, we know the bright-line test is changing and we know what might happen with certain legislation. But we don’t know for sure if we’re going to have to be qualified for level five yet, or whether or not there’ll be some changes regarding tenure. Only once you have certainty can you actually plan for the changes and continue to move forward.”