IMPROVING QUALITY OF SUBMISSIONS
The quality of a broker’s submission will impact the rate of approval. If all your information is included the first time, then the Lender will have everything at hand to enable a quicker assessment.
If the Lender needs to come back to you for additional information or to seek clarifications, then this delays the assessment process and, in the end, could have delays in meeting your client’s finance due or settlement dates.
Some Lenders are also keeping quality metric scores on all the submissions that you make. Lenders are interested in good quality submissions rather than quantity.
This guide will provide you with some guidance and tips on how to improve the quality of your submissions to assist with approval times and overall better broker performance.
Submission Notes
Use a submission notes template, to submit with each application. If you don’t have one, create one that you can use for each submission. Your template/notes should paint the picture of who your client is and what their requirements are. It should cover but not limited to the following:
- Who the clients are
- Employment type and time in employment
- Savings and financial position and Funds to complete
- Objectives, Loan product selected, Loan structure
- Discussions about Fixed Rate Lock options for fixed loans, did the client accept or
decline the offer.
- Credit Status - explain any areas of concern
- Expenses – explain any one-off expense or expenses that will reduce or cease
- Exit strategy (if at least 1 applicant is 40yrs or over)
Remember the Lender/assessors don’t know your client. With good notes, the assessor will be able to use the information as a reference first before asking for more information from you.
Checking the information collected and entered is the same
Check clients spelling of names, if there is a middle name, make sure that it has been entered as per ID documents provided.
Check data entry against supporting documents i.e., date of birth, street addresses, securities and that all fields have been completed.
Request savings and credit card statements to help with validation of income, expenses, and any undisclosed debts. Statements will also help with verifying clients’ funds to complete and their savings position.
Have your client complete a breakdown of their living expenses via a fact find document or budget document. Check and validate living expenses against savings and credit card statements that have been provided to avoid any missing values or incorrect values and to ensure you make a reasonable enquiry into their living expenses.
Check and validate employment against pay slips, employment letters, tax returns for example.
Check number and ages of dependent children, dependent children can be checked against Medicare cards. Age of dependents will be important is using Family Allowance for servicing.
Thorough checking of information will also assist with fraud prevention.
If something doesn’t look right, then question it, seek clarification, and validate it before you submit it.
If there are red flags and you can’t validate the information, then you DO NOT submit the application to the Lender.
Ensure all tax file numbers on documents are redacted before loading into Infynity.
Submission tips
Download the individual lenders submission checklist, this will provide you with a guide of what that lender’s minimum requirements are for submission. By using the Lenders checklist, it can save you time and reworks.
Provide all the documents first time round, not in bits and pieces as that will just cause delays.
You want your submission quality to be one touch approvals, take an extra 10 mins or so to include everything upfront, rather than waste hours in reworks later.
Complete a credit check on your clients, to avoid any surprises regarding their credit status, this will hold up assessment if the assessor needs to question anything on their credit report. Explain it upfront and provide any evidence to support your notes.
Check and complete the funding calculator to ensure clients will have sufficient funds to complete their settlement. Verify the funds available via statements.
If a refinance application, it is mandatory to complete the Refinance questions and Refinance calculator and upload the fully completed calculator to the client
account in Infynity.
If LMI is applicable and is being capitalised to the loan, ensure that the max LVR policy for the Lender is not exceeded, as this will cause delays in reworks.
Complete and include the Lenders servicing calculator with each application to ensure the deal services. Providing a copy with the submission allows the assessor to compare amounts used against their assessment should they have any discrepancies.
Order an upfront valuation for all deals as required, this will assist in approval times. If the assessor doesn’t have to order or chase valuations, this assists with quicker formal approvals.
Ordering valuations upfront will also help with higher LVR loans to ensure the valuation is not going to come up short which can result in the deal not being cost effective, additional LMI costs for the clients or worse that the loan is declined
Where applicable attach Fixed Rate Lock forms, fully signed and dated by the clients to the application. If rate lock was declined, make clear notes to the Lender.
Check the Lender’s postcode listings / restrictions before submitting to Lender, to ensure that it meets the Lender’s security policy, in particular with higher LVR deals.
Complete pricing approval requests on loans before submission as this can affect assessment rates. Make sure to include the pricing approval within your supporting documents so the assessor can see the rates that you have used within the Lender servicing calculators. This will avoid delays if the assessor needs to seek confirmation of pricing from you.
Validate all the information within ApplyOnline (AOL), pay special attention to the ‘’!’’ warnings, as these are important for you to review and make sure that you haven’t overlooked something.
Check against the Lenders policy matrix within AOL to make sure that the application is within the Lender’s general policy.
All tax file numbers on documents must be redacted before loading into AOL or use the redaction tool within AOL.
To avoid delays or reworks, upload all supporting documents from the beginning, not just the mandatory documents within AOL.
Ensure the clients have signed and dated the Lender’s application pack and all pages have been uploaded to the application. Adhere to Lender policy with signature method accepted. For instance some Lender’s may not accept e-signatures.
Post submission tips
Action any missing document requests or requests for additional information from the Lender as soon as you receive them, to get them back in the assessment queue with the Lender as quickly as possible.
Use tasks or workflows to remind you of follow ups on the progress of the application with the Lender.
Use automated workflows to keep your clients updated with the loan progress. Be proactive, not reactive.
Keep file notes on the client account in Infynity regarding the different follow ups made on the application progress, including any clarifications of information or changes made. Best practice is to have all notes within Infynity and in the one place.
Disclaimer: This information is current as at the time of each QRG publication. It is a general information guide only.