How to Become a Mortgage Broker?

What is a mortgage broker?

At the very basic level, a mortgage broker works for a home buyer to get the home loan or you can say that a mortgage broker acts as a middleman between the borrower and the lender.

They operate under a Limited AFS Licence and are certified by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to advise mortgage products based on a thorough evaluation of a client’s situation.

As per the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (NCCP Act), a broker must not recommend insurance that is not suitable for a customer.

Let’s discuss an example, I met with the other person in Melbourne, she was looking for a new home and over a long period of time, she was stuck with the property market and hadn’t had an up to the mark experience with the previous broker from any other company.

Any situation of this kind can motivate you to be the mortgage broker. Now, let’s understand the procedure of becoming a mortgage broker.

How to become a mortgage broker?

Here are a few basic steps you need to follow to become a mortgage broker.

• Join and end up with professional courses: the person, who has completed just high school, can join mortgage broker course. Skills, which are required to become mortgage broker are, good research ability, basic knowledge of computer, able to evaluate financial documents, good communication skills.

• Attend license education: this is not mandatory in Australia to get the license of a mortgage broker. But it would be plus point to your profile after completing certificate IV. Diploma in finance and mortgage broking will give you the knowledge of organizational structure in the country for the loan. It also increases your employment prospect in a significant way.

• Get the account limited license: after completing the basic education for becoming a mortgage broker in Australia, you can apply for the Account limited licence. Limited AFS brokers license is mandatory for all the mortgage brokers in Australia. If you don’t get the Australian credit license, you can work as a new credit representative or new authorized representative. So, this is the mandatory step to get the mortgage broker license in Australia.

• Join an organization and find a mentor: once you complete all the above procedure, you need to find a proper organization where you can get proper training and mentorship. Your mentor will guide for some period of time as well as they also act as an aggregator.

Duties of a mortgage broker

A mortgage broker serves as a mediator between banks or different lenders and potential home buyers. They listen, understand and analyze the financial situation of their clients to determine their borrowing capacity, and then liaise with financial institutes to find the most suitable home loan.  They then find a suitable home loan for their clients. After getting a suitable option for the client, the broker helps the client throughout the application process, guiding them through the required document submissions, negotiating with lenders and maintaining communication to ensure the application goes as effortlessly as possible.

Skills required becoming a mortgage broker

Successful mortgage brokers should be hardworking and need to learn to deal with numbers and research. Negotiating skill is required for being a good mortgage broker. So, they need to be decisive and determined to get a suitable deal for each of their customers. A good mortgage broker is well-organized, systematic and excellent in problem-solving and critical thinking.

If you think broking might be for you, chat to our experts about it. You never know, in a very near future you could be doing your broker training and can get mortgage brokers license.