Giving brokers a billion reasons to smile

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The Mortgage Choice Freedom product suite has hit an important milestone with $1 billion in home loans submitted in under a year – and with all the advantages on offer, it’s easy to see why

WHEN MORTGAGE CHOICE and Athena partnered to deliver the Mortgage Choice Freedom product suite, they set a mission to help Australian borrowers avoid ‘loyalty tax’ and pay down their loans faster. One year since the products were piloted with a group of 100 Mortgage Choice brokers, and some 10 months after a national launch in June, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive from brokers and customers alike. The in-demand products have customers’ best interests at their core, and brokers have now submitted over $1 billion in home loans under the scheme since the official launch. “We set ourselves an ambitious goal to deliver innovation in the home loan market,” says Mortgage Choice chief executive Anthony Waldron.

Part of the leading digital business REA Group, Mortgage Choice is a national franchise broking business with more than 1,000 brokers and over 800 franchisees around Australia. For more than 30 years, Australians have trusted Mortgage Choice brokers to help them find the right home loans to finance their property dreams.

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Mortgage Choice broker with two customers

Nathan Walsh, Athena Home Loans

“The Freedom launch was Athena’s first white label venture in the third party channel, and it’s been even bigger and better than we could have imagined. “Athena brought their innovative energy and drive to the table, we brought our experience and broker expertise, and together we’ve delivered a white label home loan solution that puts borrowers first, whilst also meeting the needs of our brokers. This helped generate strong broker support from the outset.”

Mortgage Choice attributes the success of the Freedom white label products to its collaboration with its 1,000-strong broker network. From Freedom’s inception, Athena has worked with Mortgage Choice and its brokers to co-design and continuously evolve the product offering. “Our brokers are at the coalface with customers, and we want to ensure that the Freedom products continue to deliver value for them. We didn’t stop at creating a product together. We’ve run broker focus groups and continue to seek ongoing feedback from our brokers, to ensure we’re capturing their inputs into the product roadmap,” says Waldron. “Some of these improvements included fairer clawback terms, direct access to credit teams, and Iodgement process changes. These changes to the Freedom product were only possible thanks to Athena’s flexibility and an open-mindedness to feedback.”

Athena Home Loans co-founder Nathan Walsh is equally happy with the outcome. “We’re thrilled with how Mortgage Choice brokers have embraced our mission to help their customers pay down their loans faster by avoiding loyalty tax. Brokers can confidently recommend the Freedom product suite to their customers, knowing that existing customers will never pay a higher interest rate than new customers,” says Walsh.

Not least among the key advantages the scheme offers is the sheer speed to approval. “Fast loan turnaround times is another way the Freedom suite stands out for Mortgage Choice brokers and their customers,” says Waldron. “Brokers have told me that in many cases the Freedom team’s time to assessment and loan approval is within hours, not days or weeks, which makes the world of difference in a competitive market.” Business development managers have been critical to the broker and Athena relationship, helping brokers navigate policy, pricing and processes. “Our investment into our Mortgage Choice white label BDM team has meant brokers in our network can lean on their expertise, helping build confidence and trust in our white label solutions. They’re often a broker’s first port of call when they’re looking to workshop deals or escalate an application,” says Waldron. From a policy and pricing perspective, Freedom shines with its competitive investment rates, the access to interest-only that it offers owner-occupiers, and its simplified income verification for self-employed customers.

“Brokers can confidently recommend the Freedom product suite to their customers, knowing that existing customers will never pay a higher interest rate than new customers”

The Mortgage Choice Freedom product suite has hit an important milestone with $1 billion in home loans submitted in under a year – and with all the advantages on offer, it’s easy to see why

“Building the product suite with brokers has been a great learning experience for us. Mortgage Choice brokers are clearly so passionate and professional about what they do, and with the broker channel originating more than 70% of all home loans, this partnership has helped Athena to scale quickly and reach an even bigger customer base,” he says. Some of the product suite’s most enthusiastic backers are brokers. Mortgage Choice broker Chantelle Rangel was in the Freedom pilot and one of the first brokers to submit an application. “Athena have been amazing from the outset. As seasoned brokers, we were already blown away by their initial product offering, policies, niches and commitment to service levels,” says Rangal. “However, they went beyond this by understanding brokers’ pain points, and ways to build their product to best cater to both brokers and customers. “Their senior leaders listened to our feedback, and if they were not able to deliver on a particular policy initially, they put it on the roadmap. For example, Athena now accepts multisecurity applications as well as self-employed income.”

The products launched with three key features: automatic rate match, no lender fees and ‘drop your rate’. The unique offering rewards customers for paying down their loan, by guaranteeing that existing customers will never be on a higher rate than new customers on a like-for-like loan. It also charges no lender fees, and the automatic rate drops as the LVR reduces upon pay-down of the loan. Keeping new customer rates for the life of the loan can mean significant savings for borrowers of up to $2,071 per year, or as much as $51,781 across the life of a loan. Since the Reserve Bank of Australia began raising the official cash rate in May 2022, borrowing power has reduced on average by about 30%, according to PropTrack data. While we may be entering a period of cash rate stability, customers hoping to get into the market for the first time and those looking to refinance to get a better deal are seeking to maximise their borrowing capacity while interest rates are still high.

“Athena brought their innovative energy and drive to the table, we brought our experience and broker expertise, and together we’ve delivered a white label home loan solution that puts borrowers first”

ANTHONY WALDRON, MORTGAGE CHOICE

User-centric design driving satisfaction

A great broker and customer experience

Unique proposition driving long-term value

A great broker and customer experience

Unique proposition driving long-term value

A great broker and customer experience

Unique proposition driving long-term value

Published 02 Apr 2024

Source: Mortgage Choice

per year

$2,071

Potential savings for borrowers who keep new rate for life of loan

across life of loan

$51,781

Anthony Waldron, Mortgage Choice

Source: Mortgage Choice

*Family of four with annual income of $150k

Up to

$100,000

Amount borrowing power could increase with Mortgage Choice Freedom

This positive customer feedback is echoed by brokers who have given the Freedom products an outstanding NPS score of 55, driven by excellent BDM support, rapid turnaround times and a strong product and customer proposition. This is much higher than the industry average of 11 for banking and financial services as measured by market research consultancy Evolved Thinking’s Australian B2B NPS industry benchmarks 2022. Waldron places the emphasis on the partnership aspect. “Our partnership with Athena is just that – a partnership, and we’re looking forward to delivering more initiatives with Athena to give borrowers more choice,” he says. The feeling is mutual at Athena, and the future is full of promise. “We’re excited to bring our ambitious roadmap with Mortgage Choice to life and to continue to make the home loan market fairer with brokers’ support,” says Walsh.

Waldron says, “Freedom stands out in the market thanks to its serviceability buffer of 2% and its common-sense approach to calculating the home loan applicant’s living expenses. For a family of four who are earning around $150k a year, their maximum borrowing power could increase by as much as $100,000 with Mortgage Choice Freedom.” Borrowers are extremely satisfied with Mortgage Choice Freedom, giving it a customer CSAT score of 96, citing the service provided by brokers, the product features, the app and the digital process experience as the key factors.

September 2023 customer and broker satisfaction surveys conducted by Athena Home Loans

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