Unloan resurrects introducer commissions

Unloan, the direct-to-consumer home loan division of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), has launched a new paid commission scheme that pays introducers a referral fee for every loan settled.

However, the referral program is not open to mortgage brokers.

Unloan has said its new referral program (currently under pilot) is open to accountants, conveyancers, financial planners, lawyers, and real estate agents who have an active ABN and are registered for GST.

Introducers who complete an application and are verified will then receive their own unique tracking link that they can share with clients via email, website, or social media. Introducers must clarify their association with Unloan and the potential commission they will earn (issued monthly) upon successful settlement of their Unloan home loan.

For each funded home loan application tracked through the program, Unloan has said it will pay 0.33 per cent (inclusive of GST) of the loan’s value in commission. (A mortgage broker – by comparison – typically receives 0.6 per cent of the loan value in upfront commission after a loan settles.)

Those who sign up to become referrers will receive a commission once the mortgage settles, which will be disbursed monthly (on 30-day terms).

On Unloan’s website page for the referral program, the lender stated: “Relationships are everything. We know customers would like to use a lender recommended by a professional they know and trust. That’s where the Unloan Home Loan Referral Program can help you strengthen your relationship with your customers and earn you commission.”

The move – which has been promoted on social media – marked one of the most prominent forays back into paid introducer programs at the major banks.

The role of introducers in mortgage lending was referred to repeatedly over the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, as it looked at intermediated relationships and their impact on lending.

Many introducer programs were scrapped following the banking royal commission, after it was found that a number of introducers had been overstepping their remits and – in some cases – providing credit advice.

Indeed, several major banks – including ANZ and NAB – have been hit with multimillion-dollar fines for contravening National Consumer Credit Protection laws through their introducer program in the past, too.

ANZ was last year penalised $10 million by the Federal Court in relation to its Home Loan Introducer Program (Introducer Program). The Introducer Program involved home loan referrals to ANZ from third parties, including cleaners and real estate agents.

The court found that between March 2017 and March 2018, ANZ contravened consumer credit protection laws by accepting information and documents in support of 50 home loan applications from unlicensed third parties that were not licensed to engage in credit activity.

Meanwhile, NAB scrapped its introducer program in 2019 and was ordered to pay $15 million for dealing with unlicensed home loan introducers. It was found that NAB breached the National Credit Act 260 times by engaging in a credit activity with ‘Introducers’ who did not have an ACL and were engaging in a credit activity, namely, by assisting NAB customers entering into home loans.

[Related: ANZ sued over home loan introducer program]