Accountants, lawyers paid to ‘introduce’ CBA’s Unloan mortgage to borrowers

The Unloan division of the Commonwealth Bank is paying a commission to professionals, such as accountants, lawyers and financial planners, among others, for introducing its variable rate mortgage to clients.

Under the “introducer” agreement, the introducer is paid 0.33 per cent of the value of the mortgage upfront if the client goes on to complete settlement.

Some introducer agreements were criticised by the Banking Royal Commission as the introducers were giving credit advice, despite not being licensed to do so. ANZ and NAB have paid fines for contravening the laws with their introducer agreements.

Mortgage brokers are licensed to give credit advice and are subject to a “best-interests duty”, where consumers’ interests must be prioritised over their own.

They will recommend a mortgage from among its panel of lenders that considers the personal circumstances of the person seeking the mortgage. Applications can be made directly on the Unloan website. While Unloan has been around since May 2022, its introducer agreement is new.

Daniel Oertli, the chief executive of Unloan, says it has studied the previous issues relating to introducer programs and has designed its program with those in mind.

Unloan’s introducers do not give advice, but forward a digital link to Unloan’s website with the commission disclosed to the customer.

“All referral partners are vetted; all referrals are made via an anonymous link to Unloan, so that partners are not involved in the collection of any information,” Oertli says.

Anja Pannek, the chief executive of the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA), says the association is worried about this and other styles of referral programs, where the client is directed to one lender by someone who is not required to act in the best interests of clients.