Rising Tide Blog

Last financial year, our team helped over 150 clients purchase new property, renovate, or refinance their existing loans – a feat we would never have dreamt a decade ago.

As Rising Tide Lending nears our 10^th birthday, I feel now is a great time to reflect on the journey and to reconfirm the numerous benefits of objective broking and lending advice.

Since our inception in 2005, we have always had great relationships with banks and mortgage brokers across Melbourne, but towards the end of 2010, we were noticing three common trends occurring:

• Great banking staff would move from one place to another – putting us back to square one when liaising about our clients’ lending needs
• Dealing with individual banks meant our clients weren’t getting the best deal available (you don’t go to a CBA branch and get an ANZ loan)
• We felt like external mortgage brokers weren’t considering our clients’ whole situation when recommending loans.

When Sam and his wife Mel made it clear they were looking to move back to Melbourne, it felt right that we explore the option of introducing an internal mortgage broking team at Rising Tide. Sam had spent the past five years honing his mortgage broking craft in Perth and we knew he had the runs on the board to add significant value to our clients.

Before long, Rising Tide Lending started, and we were off and running. Having Sam and his team on-board doing the leg work for our clients and ensuring that the loan structures were in line with their financial goals was terrific, while having access to over 40 banks was an added bonus.

So, fast forward to today where our lending team has grown from Sam, to Sam plus ten others. With three additional mortgage brokers on hand to help (Tommy, Leena and Bob), now, more than ever, the financial planning team collaborate with the lending team to get better outcomes for our clients. We still have the capacity for clients who want to tackle only their lending needs and are hoping that the number of 150 client groups can continue to increase.

I love the transparency of what our lending team provides. We are clear about what fees might be involved and also what you can expect when a pre-approval may be required. I’m also a fan of the best interest duty legislation changes in 2021 that made it easier for clients to understand what a mortgage broker needs to do.

The one thing we hope to change in the next few years is how banks pay mortgage brokers for the work that gets done. Currently, the bank pays mortgage brokers a pre-determined fee, based on the loan size and whilst we get paid one month after a loan settles, our income is not guaranteed for two years from the settlement date. Yep, the banks can take our income back off us if a client sells their home or refinances within two years!

Looking towards the next ten years, we can help you:

• Plan out your next property purchase or renovation
• Reduce your interest rates and repayments, which is obviously very relevant at the moment
• Ensure that your lending and loan structures are aligned with your financial goals

On a similar note, here’s how you can help us?

• We are always open to referrals from our existing clients. We are looking to help more people and would love an introduction.
• If you haven’t reviewed your current loan in the last two years, click here to lock in a chat with us (select mortgage broking from the drop-down list)
• If you have a fixed-rate loan that is due to expire, click here to lock in a chat with us (select mortgage broking from the drop-down list)
• Let us know in advance any plans you have to sell/refinance your loans – this can help us to avoid any unforeseen issues with how we set up the loans