Credit Guide

This Credit Guide has important information about us and your broker. It contains details about: 

• our fees, charges and commissions for helping you obtain a loan or other credit product;
• how we meet our responsible lending obligations to provide credit that is not unsuitable for you; and 
• what you can do if you have a complaint or compliment about us. 

About Us 

Equity Release Finance is authorised to engage in credit activities as a credit provider under Land Lease Home Loans Pty Ltd’s Australia Credit Licence 546781.

Equity Release Finance Pty Ltd ACN 646 082 457 and Land Lease Home Loans Pty Ltd are owned by LLHL Group Pty Ltd ACN 646 446 666. 

In this document, 'Equity Release Finance', 'we', 'us', and 'our' are references to Equity Release Finance, to employees and credit representatives of Land Lease Home Loans, and to any LLHL Group related bodies corporate.  

We arrange reverse mortgage home loans. 

Credit Licensee Details

Credit Licence Holder: Land Lease Home Loans Pty Ltd (ACN 642 684 053) 

Postal Address: PO BOX 350, Bowral NSW 2576 

Phone: 1300 555 626

Email: info@equityreleasefinance.com.au

Australian Credit Licence: 546781

External Dispute Resolution (EDR) Scheme: Australian Financial Complaints Authority 

EDR Membership Number: 106438

What is Credit Assistance? 

We are required to provide this Credit Guide to you as soon as practicable after it becomes apparent that we are likely to provide credit assistance to you. We provide “credit assistance” when we: 

1. suggest or assist you to apply for a particular credit contract with a credit provider; or 

2. suggest or assist you to apply for an increase to an existing credit contract with a credit provider; or 

3. suggest you remain in a particular credit contract with a credit provider. 

Our obligations to you 

When we provide you with credit assistance, we are legally required to only recommend credit products that are not unsuitable for you.  

To enable us to determine which loan products might be suitable for you, we are required to complete a Preliminary Assessment. When we make this preliminary assessment, we will ask you about your requirements and objectives, your financial and personal situation and your ability to repay the loan that you are considering.   

In assessing these factors, we are also required to take reasonable steps to verify some of the information you provide us. This verification may include asking you for copies of documents that demonstrate your financial situation (in some cases we may also need to sight original documents) and contacting third parties to assist in verifying the information that you provide. 

It is important that the information you provide to us is accurate.  

Obtaining a copy of your Preliminary Assessment 

You may request a copy of your Preliminary Assessment and we must give you a copy of it within: 

1. seven (7) days, if the request is made within two (2) years of providing credit assistance; or 

2. twenty-one (21) days, if the request is made between two (2) and seven (7) years of the providing credit assistance. 

There is no charge for requesting or receiving a copy of the Preliminary Assessment.  

Fees and charges payable by you in relation to our credit assistance 

We do not charge you a fee for our credit assistance.  

How do we and our Brokers get paid? 

We are paid commissions by lenders for introducing customers. The lenders we deal with will usually pay us a commission based on the size of loan and the particular loan product you have selected. We will only be paid this commission if your loan is settled and drawn down. We are also paid an ongoing commission by your lender based on the outstanding balance of your loan. Some of the commission we receive will be paid to our Brokers. 

The commissions that we are paid by your lender are not payable by you (they are paid to us directly by the lender) and do not alter your interest rate or fees. 

At this stage, the amount of commission payable is not ascertainable. As part of the application process, we will provide you with a Credit Proposal Disclosure Document which will include an estimate of the commissions we are likely to receive from the Lender if you decide to proceed with the application and your loan settles, along with details of how that commission is calculated. 

Upon request, we can provide you with a reasonable estimate of the commission likely to be received and how the commission is worked out. 

We do not have any volume-based commissions or volume-bonus arrangements with lenders. 

Brokers who are employed by us and acting on behalf of the licensee receive a salary from us and may receive additional performance incentives depending on a number of metrics including successful loan applications, customer satisfaction, and other quality metrics.  

Non-monetary remuneration or benefits 

Brokers may also receive non-monetary benefits, which may include access to tiered servicing programs, conferences, courses, competitions, entertainment benefits, and other forms of hospitality. 

Our Brokers have access to training and educational courses or seminars run by lenders, aggregators, and third parties, which are intended to assist our staff in understanding lender products. They may also be members of lender tiered servicing programs which can enable them to receive improved service and other benefits. The value of these benefits is usually unascertainable.  

All our conferences and professional development events are held at suitable locations, are primarily educationally focussed, and are aimed at improving consumer outcomes. The ability to attend conferences and access additional educational opportunities is available to all our Brokers and is not based on loan volumes written by a Broker. 

Our top 6 credit providers by concentration

We source credit products from the relatively small number of reverse mortgage lenders in the market. We are not accredited with all lenders but are accredited with the majority of lenders that currently distribute their product via Brokers being Heartland Finance, Household Capital and Inviva. We do not currently have meaningful data by concentration.

Other people we deal with  

Dispute resolution and complaints  

Whilst we always strive to provide the best possible service, we understand there may be times where you are not satisfied. If this occurs and you wish us to do something about it, we have a formal process in place to address your concerns. 

Internal Dispute Resolution 

If you do have a complaint, please contact us at info@equityreleasefinance.com.au or by using the phone number or postal address at the start of this document. You may do this verbally or in writing. Please try to explain the details of your complaint as clearly as you can and include as much relevant information or supporting documents as possible. 

You can access our policy on our website https://www.equityreleasefinance.com.au/complaints

When we receive a complaint, we will acknowledge it by the following business day and try to resolve it as soon as we can. We will provide you with a formal written response to your complaint via email or post within 30 days.  

External Dispute Resolution 

If you are not satisfied with our response or how we have handled your complaint, you may make a formal complaint to our external dispute resolution (EDR) scheme, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), which can be contacted on: 

Telephone: 1800 931 678 (free call) 

Email: info@afca.org.au 

Website: www.afca.org.au 

Post:

Australian Financial Complaints Authority  
GPO Box 3  
Melbourne VIC 3001 

Time limits may apply to complain to AFCA, so you should act promptly or otherwise consult the AFCA website to find out if or when the time limit relevant to your circumstances expires. 

Things you should know 

We don't make any promises about the value of any property you finance through us or its future prospects. You should always rely on your own enquiries.  

We don't provide legal or financial advice. It is important you understand your legal obligations under the loan and the financial consequences. If you have any doubts, you should obtain independent legal and financial advice before you enter any loan contract.  

Privacy 

We are committed to protecting your privacy. We use the information you provide to assist you with your credit needs. We do not trade, rent or sell your information. If you don't provide us with full information, we can't properly advise or assist you. You can check the information we hold about you at any time.  

For more information, please see our Privacy Policy which can be found on our website (https://www.equityreleasefinance.com.au/privacy-policy or ask us for a copy. 

For further details on your privacy rights, please visit https://www.oaic.gov.au

Questions? 

If you have any questions about this Credit Guide or anything else, just ask as we are here to help you.