Weekly Kath's Credit Crunch 24th February 2025 🌟

NAB

Your home loan customers can now link up to 10 transaction accounts to offset eligible variable home loans. Best of all, it comes at no additional cost, and your customers will be able to manage all their offset accounts for one or multiple home loans via the NAB app. Steps for your clients to get started:

Macquarie

• Body Corp and Strata Fees include as General Living Expense
• Reminder: Self Employed Fy22 and FY23s till end of March
• $650 notional rent per household (irrespective of single or couple) effective 27th February
• Policy clarification for unlisted shares: purchasing unlisted shares will be considered a ‘business purpose’ under our loan purpose codes, with a maximum allocation of less than 50% of the total loan amount.

Bankwest

New digital ID check

To ensure a smooth digital ID check process, let your customer know:

• They’ll receive an email from us with an access key and instructions on how to proceed
• They’ll need their physical ID documents handy (photocopies and digital IDs won't be accepted)
• Their ID documents should show their full legal name and this should be the same as the name that appears on their home loan application.

La Trobe

Key updates:

80% LVR up to $3m (previously $2m) now available for the following products:

• SMSF
• Single Construction
• Bridging Loans
•  Expatriate Loans

75% LVR up to $3m (previously $2m) now available for the following products:

• Residential Vacant Land
• Non-Resident Loans

Qantas Frequent Flyer Points offer is now applicable to eligible loans up to $3m.

🚨 Brokers, Don’t Let Your Clients Miss This! 🚨

Did you know that not all banks will automatically reduce home loan repayments after an interest rate cut? Many lenders keep repayments the same unless the client actively requests a change.

💡 Remind your clients to:
📞 Call their bank and ask for their repayments to be adjusted to reflect the new rate.
💰 Check if they want to keep repayments the same to pay off their loan faster.
📊 Review their loan and ensure it still meets their needs.

Being proactive with your clients builds trust, strengthens relationships, and shows them you’re always in their corner! 💪

Last week:

On Monday morning, I had the absolute pleasure of spending time with the Westpac BDM team, walking them through The Brokers Bible and how it’s making life easier for brokers every day.

We chatted about how Brokerchat.ai is helping brokers find lender policy answers in seconds—cutting out the guesswork and giving them back precious time to focus on their clients. It was such a great session with an engaged, switched-on group who truly care about supporting their brokers.

A big thank you to the Westpac team for having me—I can’t wait to see the impact this has for you and your brokers!

Later in the day,  I had the opportunity to attend a powerful roundtable discussion at the Commonwealth Bank head office with newly appointed Baber Zaka alongside LMG and some of their top brokers. It was a real, raw, and open discussion—no fluff, just straight talk.

Baber took hard-hitting questions from the room with confidence and a clear commitment to the third-party broker channel. His key messages?

✅ Broker commissions are not under threat

✅ CBA is committed to growing the broker market significantly

✅ Rebuilding trust with brokers is a top priority

✅ More transparency, better communication, and stronger support for brokers

✅ A drive to be market-leading, with exciting new policy launches in the self-employed space coming soon

It’s encouraging to see this level of engagement and genuine commitment from a major lender. A big thank you to CBA and Baber for listening, taking feedback on board, and showing up for brokers in a meaningful way.

On Tuesday, we kicked off our very first Coffee & Credit session with the amazing Mr Mentor, diving into all things non-resident lending.

Over a great brew and even better conversations, we unpacked the key challenges brokers face when working with non-resident clients, shared insights on lender policies, and explored the best strategies to navigate this space with confidence.

It was a fantastic session, and we loved seeing so many brokers eager to upskill and strengthen their knowledge in this niche area. Huge thanks to the Mr Mentor team for making this happen—can’t wait for the next one!

Who’s keen to join us for the next Coffee & Credit? ☕️👀

On Wednesday morning, I attended the MFAA Member Breakfast, where we explored the ‘Value of Mortgage and Finance Broking 2025’ report by Deloitte. A big thank you to Anja Pannek for her insightful presentation on our industry’s growth and impact on the economy.

The panel discussion was packed with valuable takeaways from top brokers Evelyn Clark, Luke Harris (Evolution Financial Services), and Katie Liu (JKK Financial):
💬 Evelyn: Uses WhatsApp groups to streamline client communication.
🎯 Luke: Highlighted the power of tailored marketing for different client demographics.
🤖 Katie: Shared how AI, including Microsoft Copilot, is helping brokers work smarter.

Such a fantastic morning with a great group of industry professionals—excited to put these insights into action!

📩 Click below to download a copy of this report now! 👇

On Thursday, I attended the FBAA Elevate Series: Becoming the Ultimate Broker, and wow—what an incredible lineup of insights and practical takeaways!

💡 Stephen Soo kicked things off with a deep dive into mindset, reminding us how important it is to think big and stay resilient.
📊 Redom Syed highlighted the importance of knowing your broking numbers—because understanding your financials is key to long-term success.
📈 Aaron Christie-David delivered a powerhouse keynote on growth mastery, asking a thought-provoking question:
"Would you be your own broker? Would you work for yourself?"
This hit home, reinforcing the need to truly understand your business, delegate effectively, grow profitably, and focus on what brings you joy.

Aaron also shared his top tech tools, and I was thrilled to hear that The Brokers Bible is one of the key resources his team uses! 🙌

Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay for Christian Stevens' keynote, but I heard it was incredibly valuable—encouraging brokers to diversify and strengthen their businesses.

My final event for the week was straight after—attending the LMG ‘Team of the Decade’ celebration with 27 other incredible brokers. It was such an honor to be part of this amazing industry and celebrate with like-minded professionals. A massive thank you to LMG for the recognition and support—and to Leigh for bringing this event together!

Now, time to take all these insights and put them into action! 💪

🚀 An Exciting Week Ahead!

This week is shaping up to be an absolute powerhouse of events, connections, and celebrations! Here’s what’s coming up:

✨ Wednesday – Our BDM Bougie Brunch is officially SOLD OUT! Can’t wait to catch up with an incredible group of BDMs over great food and even better conversations.

✨ Thursday – The Adviser Better Business Summit 2025 kicks off, starting with breakfast with the amazing Dylan Alcott, followed by a jam-packed day of education and insights. Then, it’s time to celebrate at the Better Business Awards, where I’m honored to be a finalist in FOUR categories:
🏆 Industry Thought Leader of the Year
🏆 Mentor of the Year
🏆 Best Community Engagement Program
🏆 Wellness Advocate of the Year

✨ Friday – Wrapping up the week in the best way possible, at the Women Supporting Women IWD event with Therese O’Neill. This event is SOLD OUT with 130 incredible women attending, and I’m so proud to be a sponsor of such an inspiring gathering.

Excited for a week of learning, celebrating, and connecting—bring it on! 💥

 NEW: Multilingual Social Media Marketing Subscription! 🌎📢

🚀 Now released in five languages – the perfect way to engage, connect, and grow your business within your cultural communities. Over 200 Tiles Every Month in Five Languages! 🌍

Our brand-new monthly subscription is here! Now available in English, Simplified Chinese, Hindi, Sinhala, and Nepali! 🎉

Struggling with social media content? We’ve got you covered! As industry experts, we create high-quality, ready-to-post content designed specifically for mortgage brokers.

Every month, you’ll receive customizable, white-labelled templates in Canva plus professionally written captions to engage your audience. Now, you can reach even more clients and communities with multi-lingual, professionally written captions and fully customizable Canva templates.

What’s Included? 🎯

✅ 20+ Instagram Tiles – Professionally designed for brokers
✅ 20+ Instagram Story Tiles – Boost engagement & visibility
✅ Curated Captions – Simply copy & paste into your socials
✅ Now in 5 Languages! – English, Simplified Chinese, Hindi, Sinhala & Nepali
✅ Fully Customizable to your brand in Canva – Add your branding & post away!

✅ Over 200 Social Media Tiles Each Month – Across multiple languages

👉 Ready to elevate your broker game? Let's go!

#mortgagebroker #financebroker #brokerBFF #lendingpolicy #fintech #brokersupport #finance #industryleader #education #NDIS #SMSF

EVENTS

Next Week! ☕ Coffee & Credit with Kath - Talking all things Self-Employed - 📢  Join via THIS LINK

 Bank  of Melbourne-  International Women's Day virtual workshop with Julie McKay is on Wednesday 5 March 2025 at 11am-12pm (AEDT) 

You will be eligible for CPD points (MFAA and FBAA) which will be sent to you after the event. 
 What’s on the agenda? At last count in 2023, the representation of female brokers in Australia was 26.9%, so there’s a big opportunity to encourage more women into broking, to better reflect the diversity of our customers. 

Julie specialises in advising male-dominated industry leaders on all aspects of organisational culture, psychological safety and employee engagement.

How to register for the event.

1. To register for the session, click on the following link on your computer or mobile device: Westpac View Link
2. You will need to provide your first name, last name, and email address.  
3. Once you have registered, your personalised password and link to the briefing will be emailed to you from ‘Westpac View’ ([email protected]).  
4. Please do not delete the Westpac View email as you will need to refer to the link and your password closer to the event time.  

What to submit a question?

 Already have a question? You can submit via vevox.app using the below steps:

1. Open vevox.app on your computer or mobile device.
2. Enter the event code: 164-804-102.
3. Submit your question.

As always, Members, I’m here to help you. If you’re stuck on a scenario or need a sanity check, drop me an email anytime (exclusively for members only).

Have an amazing week ahead!
Kath👋