How to choose a finance broker, and how to get the most from them.

Years in the industry mean little on their own. Ask how many transactions like yours they have settled in the last twelve months, and ask them to walk you through one that went wrong and what they did about it. Then check the licence: search the broker on ASIC's professional registers and ask whether they hold their own Australian Credit Licence or act as a credit representative under someone else’s. Both are legal; a broker who holds their own licence carries the compliance obligations personally.

Most residential brokers are paid commission by the lender and charge the client nothing directly. Commercial, development and complex lending work often carries a consulting or advisory fee as well, because the work is in the advice and the structure, not just the application. What matters is that the whole arrangement is disclosed in writing before you commit, and that you understand what each payment buys. A fee for advice usually signals that the advice itself is the product. You get what you pay for.

Six earn their place: Who looks after my file day to day, and who do I talk to when you are away? What is your service standard when a lender goes quiet? Which lending do you specialise in, and how much of it did you settle last year? Have you done your own investments or developments? What happens if the lender’s policy says no: how do you argue an exception? And what do you charge, and what does it cover? The quality of your questions decides the quality of the advice.

Because they have sat on the other side of the fence. A former lender or credit assessor knows how a file is actually read: what the committee asks, which policy applies, which button to press when, and how to argue an exception in the lender’s own terms rather than by complaining louder. Files written by someone who used to approve them arrive answering the questions before they are asked.

A Dr-style broker asks a lot of questions first, then advises against your scenario, your transaction and your long-term goals, using their knowledge, experience and strategies. An ice-cream style broker serves what you point at: you tell them the loan you want and they get it for you, as far as you can afford it. Both are legitimate. Simple lending tolerates the second; complex lending punishes it, because the expensive mistakes happen in the questions that were never asked.

Settlement is the start of the facility, not the end of the service. A broker worth keeping reviews your pricing against the market, checks in after settlement, watches fixed-rate expiries, and books an annual review without being asked. A settled loan left alone drifts expensive, and the lender is not going to ring you about it.