Home loan provider reaches $8bn milestone

Self-employed specialist home loan provider Rate Money has announced it has reached $8 billion in loans written since its founding in 2019.

Rate Money noted that $4.5 billion of those loans were achieved over the last two years to highlight its “rapid expansion and robust performance”.

CEO Ryan Gair expressed the company is “thrilled” to have reached this milestone in “such a short period of time”.

“We have successfully developed and executed on a plan to reshape the mortgage industry for the benefit of Australia’s 2 million-strong self-employed heroes,” Gair said.

“We’ve achieved this through genuine disruption of the industry by eliminating the burden of Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI), risk fees, application fees, and valuation fees for our more than 8,000 self-employed customers.

“We were also first to market in scrapping clawbacks without risk fees and replacing them with transparent commissions – a move that not only benefits our loan writers but underscores our dedication to fair and ethical business practices.”

On scrapping clawbacks, Gair said: “They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and we are proud to have influenced the rest of the industry as they try to mimic the same clawback reductions and remove the same risk fees from their products for Australia’s hard-working, uniquely ambitious small-business owners who big bank lenders have historically neglected.

“We’re proud to be spearheading this change and remain dedicated to serving our customers while driving transformation.”

According to Rate Money, investments into custom-built CRM and automated workflow systems have also contributed to the home loan provider growth, which has led to reduced turnaround times, application handling, and error rates.

Gair said: “Over the past 18 months, we experienced an increase in monthly call volumes of more than 200 per cent to our contact centre from our growing customer base, and maintained a Grade of Service in the high-90s.

“This was achieved by introducing automation to support our experienced customer support officers.”

The $8 billion milestone comes as Rate Money introduced a tax return product for self-employed customers, only requiring one tax return instead of two years’ worth during the loan process along with launching its Elevate Easy Doc Construction Loan for those looking to finance construction projects.

“We’ve built our entire value proposition around comprehensive support, tailored solutions, and ongoing innovation, ensuring every decision we make is in the best interest of our customers, brokers, and franchisees,” Gair said.

“Our commitment to navigating the complex challenges of self-employment and proactively monitoring market trends has allowed us to provide exceptional value to our customers.”

[RELATED: Rate Money reaches $7bn settlement milestone]