Borrowers’ mortgage experience revealed

For those who used the services of a mortgage broker, 96.3 per cent were either very satisfied or satisfied (which breaks down to a split of 84 per cent and 12.3 per cent of respondents, respectively). Meanwhile, those who directly went to a lender were either very satisfied and satisfied 66.8 per cent of the time (which breaks down to 25.8 per cent and 41 per cent of respondents, respectively).

This broker satisfaction level impacted future behavior too, the report found.

Both customers of mortgage brokers and those who use a lender directly said they would use a mortgage broker in the future, at 95.8 per cent and 63.3 per cent respectively.

As for why borrowers use brokers, 60 per cent of respondents of broker customers said they believe they are most likely to get the best loan for their needs. This is opposed to those who went to a lender directly, with just 44.6 per cent of direct-to-lender borrowers believing they can get a loan to best suit their needs through this channel.

The report also looked at borrower attitudes to broker remuneration. Nearly four-fifths (78.6 per cent) of mortgage broker borrowers said they have no concerns with the current remuneration structure for brokers.

A broker is currently remunerated by a lender commission – both an upfront and trail commission – which means that their service is typically free for a borrower.

A recurring theme from the report was that “consumers are highly satisfied with their mortgage broker and do not feel the products recommended have been influenced by the level of commission paid by the lenders”.

These sentiments can be found from brokers as well. The report showed that brokers ranked commission rates and commission structure lowly (20 and 21 out of 23 factors) when considering which lenders to recommend to their customers.