Banks versus Mortgage Brokers - What's the difference?

Banks versus Mortgage Brokers – What’s the difference?

Approaching a mortgage broker to help you find a suitable loan can save you time and money.

Mortgage brokers:

Understand your financial situation and advise you on affordability, borrowing capacity and structuring of your loan
Are able to recommend products suitable to your situation from across a panel of 20 to 30 lenders (and, along with that, communicate to you the most competitive rates on the market)
Explain each step of the loan process
Will be a consistent contact person throughout the process and a key liaison between the other professionals involved, such as solicitors and valuation experts
Assist you with the loan application and guide you through the paperwork, which can be confusing
Help you to respond to questions from lenders and resolve any unforeseen issues that come up during the lender’s review process
Understand and can help you navigate each lender’s policies
Are free to you and receive a commission from the lender that you choose

Banks:

Will allocate you to a bank employee (a bank loan officer), who will recommend products with that lender (i.e. you could miss out on a more competitive product offered through a different lender)
Are large institutions that may pass you around to different people
Bank loan officers often receive incentive-based remuneration

Application fees and interest rates are dependent on each lender and will not change if you go with a mortgage broker as opposed to approaching a lender directly. A good mortgage broker can actually advocate a better rate for you, as lenders feel greater competitive pressure.

What should I look for in a mortgage broker?

There are many mortgage brokers out there, and it is important to choose someone trusted and who will prioritise your needs.

Here are a few attributes that we recommend you look for:

Ensure your mortgage broker has the appropriate accreditations (i.e. is part of one of the professional bodies, such as FBAA or MFAA)
Strong reputation and experience
Clear communication, explaining why recommended products have been chosen
Responsiveness to your questions

kindred

1723297847

I recently worked with Michael Jin to purchase my new home, and I couldn't be happier with the experience! From start to finish, he was incredibly professional, knowledgeable, and responsive.He took the time to understand my financial situation and tailored the mortgage options to suit my needs perfectly.I highly recommend Michael Jin for anyone in need of expert mortgage assistance with property purchasing.

Brian Chau

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Michael provides direct, reliable feedback that I know I would struggle to find elsewhere. A trustworthy advisor.

Andrew Cheng

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Michael is very knowledgeable, provided good advice and was very prompt in responding to my queries. He was able to find a mortgage solution for my unique circumstances. Highly Recommended.

May Yeo

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Michael was very professional and very helpful in assisting me through my first home purchase. Always answered any questions I had and provided amazing service from start to finish. Highly recommended.

Julian Scully

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Michael is very responsive and hardworking when it came to refinancing my home loan. I will definitely recommend him to any of my friends and family. Will be in touch for any future loan applications too. Thank you Michael!

Olivia Phoon

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Michael and his team helped us refinance our home loan. He was very informative and responsive throughout and made the whole process easy. We were able to get approval quickly before Christmas at a lower rate. Thanks for providing a great service!

Donna

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Michael was extremely helpful and efficient assisting us with our home loan. He was easy to talk to and very prompt in responding to all our questions. Thanks Michael!

Ian Guo

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Michael is very helpful and responsive, helped us reach loan settlement with good terms

Asad

1702381199

I found Michael to be very helpful and knowledgeable. He was also very straightforward with what is possible and what is not and how to achieve my goals with the best possible outcome.

Katie Park

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I was very lucky to work with Michael to buy my first home! He is a very professional mortgage broker and caring person. As a first home buyer, I had lots of questions, and he always responded promptly with detailed explanations. His advice through the whole process gave me so much clarity. I definitely recommend Michael.

James Li

1696217763

As first home buyers, Michael demonstrated a high level of professionalism and expertise that made the entire process stress-free and smooth. He took the time to thoroughly explain the mortgage process, different financing options, common approaches to finding the property we want, and answering all our questions with patience and clarity.Throughout the entire process, Michael was just a phone call away, ensuring I was informed at every step, and that there would be no issues on the financing side if my partner and I had to act quickly on a property we liked.Michael was also able to find the best mortgage solution with the most competitive rates and terms for me and my partners situation, and coordinating with the bank to tailor the loan set-up for the both of us.

Lily G

1695850601

Michael and his team walked me through every step of the way as I was trying to purchase my first property. They were efficient and were quick to respond to any questions I had. They also offered well thought out advice and data-driven insights on the market as I was looking around. Thank you for making this entire experience as worry free as it was.

Yong Fei Lim

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Michael was very responsive and helpful during my entire property purchasing journey, which was more than 18 months. He was very knowledgable dealing with home loans and other things in regard to choosing and buying a property. I've learned a lot from him as well.

Emily May

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As a first home buyer, the whole idea of getting into the property market and applying for mortgages was really daunty. Michael really made the whole process a breeze and was always there to answer any questions I had. Really recommend his services to anyone!

Grace Lee

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We had a great experience with Michael with the process of refinancing our home loan recently. He made the process simple and always explained to us clearly, also provided recommendations based on our circumstances.We shall return to Michael on our next home loan review.Thanks Michael!

Rhys Tierney

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Michael guided my partner and I through the process of applying for our first construction loan and the refinancing of our existing home loan. Every step of the way was articulated clearly and, in the end, gave us a greater understanding of the processes involved. We are beyond happy with the outcome. Michael came highly recommended by someone who went through a similar process, and we feel lucky to have been pointed in that direction. Michael will definitely be our only choice for a broker in the future.

Katherine Averin

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Michael was excellent in helping me refinance my existing mortgaged - efficient, knowledgeable and responsive. He has also helped my partner and I obtain pre-approval for a new house purchase and provided so many valuable considerations with regards to a new purchase along the way. Overall a great experience with Michael.

David Buckland

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Great assistance, the 5 out of 5 stars from everyone is well deserved.

Gary Chui

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Michael was diligent and responsive throughout the whole process. He was knowledgeable and worked effectively to get us a good deal. Highly recommended.

Bruno Ling

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Michael is very helpful and professional. He is my go to broker for 6 years.

Ruwan Balasuriya

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Michael was recommended to me by a person who is in real estate business for many years. I immediately realised that I made a very good decision. I have been working with Michael for more than three years now. He is very professional, knowledgeable and reliable. He is always responsive to my calls, messages and emails. He helped me to find the best products as per my requirements even in challenging situations. I would highly recommend Michael to anyone looking for a great mortgage broker.

Melissa Jimenez

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We worked with Michael to do a refinance and it was such a speedy and smooth process. Michael is very well informed, responsive and takes the time to understand your needs as a client to ensure that he can get you the best outcome. I would highly recommend him to anyone looking to refinance.

El Thompson

1669350592

Michael helped me refinance my current property and purchase another using the current property as security on the new apartment.Michael's patience with my million and one questions went beyond words. His response time was incredible and his experience in home mortgaging was comforting during a time when there were so many moving pieces in settling the two properties.I would recommend speaking to Michael about your mortgaging needs.

Rachel

1663666998

Michael has been amazingly helpful throughout the entire process from inquiry to loan application. As this was my first time purchasing, he thoroughly explained the whole purchasing/loan process and answered all the questions I had which made me feel more at ease despite this all being quite daunting. He has always quickly responded to all my inquiries on properties I’ve been interested in which made my purchasing journey very seamless and easy. Highly recommend!

Shaun Williams

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First time I had to use a service like this and was recommended by word of mouth. This is the best recommendation I had and there was no issues at all and answered all questions. Will highly recommend and will use again when and as required

Michelle Nichols

1661249050

Michael has done an SMSF loan and a personal mortgage refinance for me. He is thorough, provides options and takes time to walk through detail. Highly recommend.

divya mcdonagh

1660983271

Michael what can I say about your passion helping people like me. I started this journey with you about 2yrs ago and I am so happy that I did. You have been very proactive and determined to help me with best solutions even after 2yrs. Thank you very much for all the help.

Graham Ko

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Michael refinanced my loan to a rate about 0.5% below major lenders. He is open, professional and communicative in processing my loan from start to end.Give Michael a call and challenge him to give you a better rateGraham

Jacob Prehn

1656393279

Michael is an excellent mortgage broker. He has been helpful, supportive, courteous, and knowledgeable about changing my mortgage to another lender. I highly recommend him.

Cathryn Azcona

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We’ve worked with Michael a few times, and we will continue to use his services in future. He will ensure to make the process easy for you and will explain things to you in layman’s term, none of that jargon!His communication is amazing, you will never feel lost in the process.We highly recommend Michael!

Camilla Fan

1655888310

Michael has been amazing during the mortgage process. Always prompt and on the ball, he will follow up with you in a timely manner and check in with you during the process. He has made the process so easy and simple!

1654299169

Recently did a loan switch with Michael's help. He's professional, listens to clients' needs and provides good advices. The execution was well organized and went smoothly. Very satisfied with his services and would definitely be in touch again for my future financial needs.

Xiang Min

1652926885

We engaged Michael to help with refinancing. Throughout the entire process we felt Michael truly listened to us, always sought to fully understand our needs, and provided advice and recommendations that were tailored to us. Michael was very easily accessible throughout the process, and took time to explain the various documents thoroughly so we knew exactly where to sign and what we were signing etc.. Overall a very stress free experience during uncertain and turbulent times. Highly recommended and I look forward to working with Michael again in the future.

Jason Smith

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Kate Manley

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Michael helped us through the process of securing a loan for our first home. Throughout the entire process Michael has been incredibly professional, has taken the time to explain everything to us in detail and has been available at all times to answer questions and follow up. This all happened during a very hectic time as we ended up buying our home five days before our wedding. We have felt very confident with Michael's guidance. We're incredibly grateful to him and would highly recommend him to anyone. Thank you Michael!

Bill Burns

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In our recent dealings with Michael as our mortgage broker, we found him to be very competent and personable. He always returned our calls promptly and gave us a number of options in choosing the best fit for our loan. He showed good attention to detail and guided us through the process and form filling step by step. His expertise made the whole process very smooth. We would highly recommend him.

Karen Martin

1647425880

Finding Michael to work through my finance for my 1st property was a stroke of good luck - Michael was incredibly patient with my numerous questions, highly knowledgeable-on the industry, very speedy with responses and feedback, he made himself always available. I would highly rate Michael to anyone, he will 100% take good care of you with the loan approval.

Ryan Lee

1647316634

Purchased my first house recently. worked closely with Mike from right at the start to the end. The services i have received were just simply the BEST. Flawless interactions and communications as well as personally tailored advice were really impressive. Mike does not sit and wait - he will chase and act proactively to get the process rolling. already recommended him to many other friends who they are also super happy with. Any of my future finance matters will be managed by Mike going forward. Cheers Mike again.

Rajesh Rajan

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Michael is friendly, responsive, reachable and an experienced professional. He has taken care of my home loan finance, consolidation of existing debts and provided a plan for future. Michael has ongoing relationships with various financial entities, which in turn helped me to look into various options. I look forward to working with Michael in future endeavors and highly recommend!!

Michael Forsyth

1643108143

Michael was fantastic to work with and has gone above and beyond to assist me in the process in purchasing my first home. I would highly recommend MXJ Finance to anyone!

Rod Taatinera

1641447096

Have had dealings with MXJ FINANCE on 2 home loans and a personal loan and they have always done above and beyond to get job sorted on finance and looking after me with any queries iv had all the way up to settlement. Highly recommend Michael Jin and will definitely be calling on his needs on next investment property.

Lily Sun

1637549198

Michael helped me with my first home loan. He was very patient, and he explained things that I did not understand which is pretty much everything. He was very efficient and he always give updates in a timely manner. He made the complicated process look really easy. I was very lucky to find him as my broker, and I would highly recommend him to my friends.

Josh van houten

1635375360

Michael was very patient and responsive during the purchase of our first home. He made the process really easy and walked us through every step to get the best outcome. He understood our needs and found the right lender to match our timeframe.Would highly recommend his services.

Sankalp Reddy

1634192348

Michael helped us obtain finance for our first home and was able to provide fast and professional advice along every step of the way. He was able to obtain bank approvals very quickly and was able to address all questions along the way which led to a very smooth settlement process. Would highly recommend.

Jeremy Wright

1628060863

Michael did a great job from day one. Very helpful found a a good loan. Our settlement sailed through without any issues and I reakon it's largely due to Michael's hard work!

Shekhar Sharma

1625125492

Michael; an excellent, professional and responsive broker. He’s efficient, really patient, always composed and up for a challenge.He was able to answer the myriad of questions and provide guidance to best solutions at no time.Everything was handled quickly, efficiently and his customer service is the best that we have come across. Thanks Michael for helping change our lives.I only have praise for him and will definitely use his services again and I will continue to recommend him to others.

Yingying Wang

1623199276

Michael is very responsive and customer focus. Thanks for his professional advice and quick actions, we got our refinance offer with a very good rate.

Anna Jezewski

1621211714

Michael helped us with the purchase of our first investment property using our SMSF. It was a long and complicated process which Michael helped us make sense of. He is very knowledgeable, thorough and quick as responding. Thank you Michael for making it happen super smoothly!

Pregardt

1619435033

We purchased our first home with Michael who helped us with the finance. Michael is very professional and he carefully explained us every little detail about the processes. When we had a question he was very responsive as well.Highly recommended Michael!

Eric Chan

1618969991

Very committed and helpful in getting a great home loan!

Banks versus Mortgage Brokers – What’s the difference?

Approaching a mortgage broker to help you find a suitable loan can save you time and money.

What should I look for in a mortgage broker?

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