Anyone dealt with mates rates before?

Hi guys,

Just purchased my first IP/PPOR (got to live in it for the 1st 12mths)in Melbourne and was looking around for a good mortgage broker to help source a loan

Came across mates rates while searching online ..Mates Rates Mortgage Broker - ORP and Rebate Mortgages

Any1 dealt with them before ? Any recommendations on mortgage brokers?

Thanks heaps !

 

Victorngel,
I have not heard of anyone dealing with Mates Rates before but if you want to deal with a broker offering a fixed fee for service and 100% upfront commission rebated back, let me know as that is the service I offer.
There are a lot of brokers out there so good luck.

 

Hey Greg,

Thanks for the reply !

So far my experience has been quite positive and they have been quite responsive as well which is always a good sign although it feels as if they are abit short staffed at times..

This is their offer :

The rebates that Mates Rates offers is as follows;

* ORP = Ongoing Rebate Plan which is 100% of the ongoing/trailing commissions we receive from the lender. St George is 0.15% p.a. calculated on the principal balance of your loan amount each month; and
* SRP = Single Rebate Plan which is 25% of the upfront commission received from the lender. The upfront commission we receive from St George is 0.50% of the loan amount.


If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact me.


Mates Rates Mortgages

Owned by Universal Integrity


Guess the attractive part is the trailing commission that is returned...

I'm looking to borrow about $300K +

Just wondering how comparable 100% upfront commission returned versus 0.15% of prinicpal of the loan for the life of the loan

 

Interesting.
I am pleased to see some broking firms offering somthing different to the run of the mill. They may have a more efficient model than others or are pricing their services.

Based on the above numbers, it is hard to see why anyone would go for the SRP.
The average loan life is something like 3.5 years so please consider if you intend to remain with that lender long term while you look at trail commission aspect.

I provide a very different model to a normal mortgage broker. I sit down with a client and listen as they detail their long term goals. I then put a plan in place using a finance strategy based on multiple property investments to achieve that. It is a well document and modelled plan for clients, a blueprint if you like. I charge a professional fee for that and as a benefit and for transparency, I rebate back 100% of the upfront commission I receive. Using StG as a lender, it is 0.635%. I believe it takes away the inherent bias of any commission based remuneration model.

Let me know how you go with Mates Rates, I would be interested in any feedback.

 

Current status: Unhappy and bank valuation lower than expected.

I'll try to be as objective as possible when writing this so apologises if anyone feels that if I'm whinging, i'm trying my best.

Situation: Alot of back and forth emails and finally about a month after submitting the application, the bank comes back $20K short of the purchase price. I asked for a valuation dispute and was asked to provide 3 comparable sales along with same size and rooms.

Managed to get hold of the real estate agent who provided sales within the building but was rejected because I bought the apartment off the plan. The reason being is that developer sales are not accepted. So I had to go try and source from other real estate agents that I knew to get some sales that they might have over the past 6 months. Even tried to buy some reports off Home Price Guide® – Auction Results & Property Prices but could not get anything since the property was too new for the computer to pick it up. Rounded up all these sales and even used google to try and find information on recent sales(surprised that alot of sale prices and useful information are withheld)

Got knocked back again a 2nd time this time with the reason that sizes are inconsistent..(not really sure how a consumers will have access to such information such as internal living area)

Service from Mates Rates : Never actually talked to the bank in person so they were just the relaying information between their bank contact and myself.

Advice was sparse; Had to suggest a valuation dispute to them when they came back with a shortfall in valuation.

Defintely not much help in sourcing comparable sales for the valuation dispute since I was asked to look for them myself. Suggestion by them was to ask the real estate agents and gather the information which they would them send off on my behalf. They couldn't check to see if comparable sales were comparable before sending off.

Not much help in filling in the application forms; was sent the form with only some simple details filled in and had to fill in the rest.

No mention of first home owner's grant form as well; had to look for it on the SRO website (was under the impression that the broker took care of that, I might be wrong)

Overall feel: Probably good for some one who already knows what type of loan and which lenders they want to go with. Suitable for those wanting refinancing rather than PPOR or IP esp. if not much service is required

Any advice on the valuation would be much appreciated. I have already started going to another bank directly this time to get another valuation.

 

Bank Valuations

It is a difficult environment, especially for off the plan purchases with valuations. I am disappointed to hear of your less than satisfactory experience with your broker. There are some very good brokers out there and some who provide less than they should.
A broker would normally complete the application form for you and you just sign and they should assist with the FHOG process, although they may not be able to certify documents for you depending on their qualifications. Conveyancers and solicitors tend to be more involved with the FHOG applications than brokers for that reason.

I sent an e-mail earlier this week to clients of some sites where information is publicly available, both for sold properties and suburban rent yields and demographics. If you want to e-mail me outside this forum at [email protected] I will forward this to you.

Alternatively if you have contacts with a good buyers agent, most subscribe to REIV and providers like RPData etc to have up to date sales information. Real Estate agents should as well.

Different lenders have various methods of valuing, depending on the loan amount and the LVR, some may use COS price, others a desk top, some a kerbside or others insist on a full valuation. With some lenders, brokers have a choice of valuers. Without knowing the details, I cannot add too much more. I am happy to look at this for you if you want to send me the details.

Good luck.

 

This is a pretty good summation of this type of service. If you know what loan and structure you want and your only concern is the cost of that particular loan then a rebating service is probably a good option. But you can't expect to get good advice and service if you don't want the broker to make any money out of dealing with you.