ABOUT US (“we, us, our”):
“licensee”
Interestrate Pty Ltd (“known as interestrate.com.au”)
Client Representative – Andrew Barbazza
Australian Credit License – 377789
Address: Suite 220, 818 Whitehorse Road, VIC 3128
Tel: 1300 850 185]
Fax: (03) 9895 8501
Email: [email protected]
Website: interestrate.com.au
This document provides you with information relating to our activities and those of our credit representatives. It contains information about various fees and charges that may be payable by you to us, as well as about certain commissions we may receive from a licensee when we are acting as a credit representative, or we pay to certain third parties. It also contains information about what you should do if you have a complaint or dispute in connection with our services as a credit representative.
WHAT IS A CREDIT REPRESENTATIVE?
A ‘credit representative’ is a person who has been authorised by a credit licensee to engage in specified credit activities on behalf of the licensee. Our licensee is Interestrate Pty Ltd
WHAT IS CREDIT ASSISTANCE?
We give you credit assistance when:
THE ASSESSMENT WE NEED TO DO BEFORE GIVING YOU CREDIT ASSISTANCE
Before we provide credit assistance to you, we assess whether the particular loan or lease is suitable for you. To do this, we need to make reasonable inquiries and verify that:
We won’t be able to give you credit assistance if our assessment shows that:
GETTING A COPY OF OUR ASSESSMENT
If we provide you with credit assistance, you can ask us for a copy of our assessment any time up to 7 years after we provide you with a credit assistance quote. To request a copy please contact us. We will provide you with a copy:
INFORMATION ABOUT THE LICENSEE AND ITS CREDIT REPRESENTATIVES
We act as a credit representative for Interestrate Pty Ltd. We are authorised to engage in credit activities including providing credit assistance on its behalf.
Subject to meeting credit criteria, we are able to assist you to obtain loans and leases for you from a broad range of lenders and lessors through our Broker Group. Our Broker Group does not require us to recommend any particular lender and our Broker Group does not set any quotas or obligations on us relating to recommending any particular lender.
The Broker Group’s panel of lenders includes a number of lenders and loan distributors that are part of the National Australia Bank Group. These include National Australia Bank Ltd and PLAN Lending Pty Ltd.
The following are the lenders or lessors with whom we generally conduct the most business:
OWNERSHIP
We obtain mortgage aggregation services from the Broker Group. The Broker Group is a member of the National Australia Bank Group. The Broker Group provides services at arm’s-length to our business which include IT systems, loan information and lodgement systems, training and development, commission processing, conferences and professional development events, and assistance with regulatory and compliance obligations. In consideration of the services the Broker Group gives us, we pay fees to the Broker Group or the Broker Group retains some of the commission panel lenders pay on loans we arrange.
Our business is owned and managed independently from the Broker Group and National Australia Bank Limited (NAB).
FEES AND CHARGES
FEES PAYABLE FOR THE PROVISION OF CREDIT ASSISTANCE
We may charge a fee for providing credit assistance. More detail about those fees will be set out in a quote we will give to you before we provide you with credit assistance.
FEES PAYABLE IN RELATION TO ACTING AS A CREDIT REPRESENTATIVE
We may receive remuneration from our employer, Interstate and/or Broker Group and do not charge you any fees or charges in relation to acting as a credit representative.
OTHER FEES AND CHARGES
You may have to pay other fees and charges (such as an application fees, valuation fees and other fees) to the lender, lessor or other parties. You should review the disclosure documents and your loan contract or lease for further details of any such fees and charges.
COMMISSIONS
COMMISSIONS WE RECEIVE FROM OUR LICENSEE
Our Licensee has appointed our Broker Group as its agent to receive commissions from lenders and lessors and to pay us commission in relation to loan contracts or leases for which we act as a credit representative and provide credit assistance. The total amount of commission we may receive in relation to your loan or lease may vary depending on the lender or lessor, the term, the features, the amount of the loan or lease you ultimately choose and the amount and timing of the repayments that you make.
Loan Contracts such as Home Loans and Investment Property Loans
Upfront commission payable by lenders in relation to home loans and investment property loans is calculated as a percentage of the loan amount and is generally in the range of .55% and.77% of the loan amount. It is usually paid after settlement of the loan.
Trail commission payable by lenders in relation to home loans and investment property loans is generally calculated regularly (monthly, quarterly, bi-monthly or annually) on the outstanding loan balance and is paid in arrears. The trail commission payable by lenders is generally in the range of 0% per annum and .385% per annum of the outstanding loan amount.
Leases
Upfront commission payable by lessors in relation to leases is calculated as a percentage of the lease amount and is generally in the range of 0% and 5% of the lease amount. It is usually paid after settlement of the lease.
Trail commission is generally not payable in relation to leases.
Further details of the commission earned by us will be included in the credit proposal disclosure document we will provide to you at the same time as we provide you with credit assistance.
You can request information from us about the fees that we are likely to receive, how those fees are calculated, and our reasonable estimate of the fees or commissions that will be payable.
VOLUME BONUS ARRANGEMENTS
From time to time we or our Broker Group may receive a benefit, directly by way of cash bonus or additional commissions or indirectly by way of training, professional development days or sponsorship, if we or our Broker Group write a particular volume of loans offered by those lenders.
COMMISSIONS PAYABLE BY US
If a third party has introduced you to us or referred you to us, we may pay them a commission or a fee. More detail about those payments will be set out in the credit proposal disclosure document we will give to you before we provide you with credit assistance.
We obtain referrals from a range of sources, including real estate agents, accountants, financial planners or other people.
Further information about referral commissions, including our reasonable estimate of the amount of any commission payable and how it is calculated is available from us on request and will be included in the credit proposal disclosure we will supply to you when we provide you with our credit assistance.
DISPUTES OR COMPLAINTS
WHAT TO DO IF YOU HAVE A DISPUTE OR COMPLAINT?
We are committed to providing our customers with the best possible service. If at any time we have not met our obligations – or you have a complaint about any of our services – please inform us so we can work towards a resolution. We will endeavour to deal with your complaint promptly, thoroughly and fairly.
HOW TO MAKE A COMPLAINT AND THE COMPLAINTS PROCESS?
If you have a complaint, we request you follow these steps:
THIRD PARTY PRODUCTS OR SERVICES
If your complaint relates to a product or service acquired through a third party (for example, a lender) we may ask you to contact the relevant third party. They will deal with your complaint under their complaints resolution process.
If you are not satisfied with the resolution of your complaint by the third party under their complaints resolution process, you are entitled to have your dispute considered by their External Dispute Resolution Scheme. Please contact the third party for further details.
KEEPING YOU INFORMED
Interestrate.com.au will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within five business days. If unable to resolve the complaint/dispute to your satisfaction within five business days, they will write to you advising the procedures we will follow in investigating and handling your complaint.
Within 45 calendar days from the date you lodged the complaint with us, we will write to you advising you the outcome of the investigation and the reason/s for our decision, or if required, we will inform you if more time is needed to complete the investigation. More information can be found on www.interestrate.com.au/disputes/process.
STILL NOT SATISFIED?
If you do not think we have resolved your complaint to your satisfaction, you may take the matter – free of charge – to the relevant External Disputes Resolution Scheme (provided it is within the scheme’s terms of reference) as detailed below. You may also refer the matter to the relevant External Disputes Resolution Scheme at any time, but if our internal process is still in progress, they may request that our internal processes be complete before considering the matter further.
Our external dispute resolution service provider is the Credit and Investments Ombudsman, which can be contacted via:
Our external dispute resolution service provider is the Financial Ombudsman Service Limited which can contacted via:
PLEASE NOTE – As of the 1st November 2018
If an issue has not been resolved to your satisfaction, you can lodge a compliant with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, or AFCA. The AFCA provides fair and independent financial services complaint resolution that is free to consumers.