New mortgage platform to share spoils with borrowers

Shroogle, a subsidiary of Complii Fintech Solutions, has launched an online mortgage broking platform, the first of a range of financial services that it plans to roll out over the coming years.

The platform, which operates under Vow Financial’s credit licence, facilitates access to mortgage products offered by a panel of over 20 lenders via its online web portal.

Speaking to Mortgage Business, Shroogle’s co-founder and head of products Justin Quay said the platform aims to provide users with holistic, low-cost mortgage advice.

“We’ll tell [users] how much it costs to [obtain a product], how much the estimated benefit will be, and how long it will take,” he said.

“Consumers will be able to very quickly make a decision about how important something is in the broad scheme of things and whether they want to engage with it.” 

He continued: “Consumers need something more transparent; they need something more accessible. 

“There’s a lot of fat in mortgages that consumers can benefit from, but a business can still be profitable in operating in that way. 

“This is the first of a suite of modules that it designed to completely revolutionise the way that customers access financial advice.”

Unlike traditional mortgage broking services, Shroogle passes on upfront and trailing commissions earned upon settlement of a loan to its clients, in exchange for a fixed fee of $1,625.

Mr Quay said the remuneration model was designed to align with recommendations handed down by commissioner Kenneth Hayne in the final report of the financial services royal omission, which proposed the banning of commission-based remuneration for brokers and the introduction of fee for service.  

“When consumers go to brokers, they get a better choice of products,” he said.

“We’re giving people access to a mortgage broking service, but we’re doing it in line with commissioner Hayne’s recommendations to provide mortgage advice with a fixed fee.

“It’s more transparent and more cost-effective to the consumer.”

Mr Quay claimed that Shroogle’s cashback arrangement would reduce cost pressures for borrowers, enabling them to invest in other wealth products to enhance their financial position.

“Home loans make up a significant amount of expenditure on financial products by consumers, and so to shape someone’s personal situation for financial advice, is to reduce the amount of expenditure they expend on interest,” he continued.

“If you can do that, they then free up wealth to pay down other more expensive debts and invest in other products to make them wealthy if they want to take on risk to do so. 

“This is the first of a series of advice modules, with the consumer really benefiting from cashback and reducing the amount of interest they’re spending on these products.”

Mr Quay revealed that Shroogle plans to enhance its mortgage broking module in 2020, before launching a personal insurance module.  

“What we’ve launched at the moment is a minimum viable product,” he said. “What we will be looking to do is add in some enhanced features that make this a much more compelling proportion and to make it much more efficient in the way it processes the back-end part of loan applications.”

“We’ve been working for the last 12 months, rewriting the technical specifications for that, and it’s now in the pipeline for delivery.”

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