Brokers and journalists have been urged to abandon “incorrect terminology” and to stop using the expression ‘selling mortgages’.
Housing Loans Australia chief executive Greg Marshall said brokers don’t ‘sell mortgages’ or ‘write mortgages’ – they ‘prepare housing finance applications’.
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“It’s one of my bugbears. No broker has written a mortgage. It’s a physical impossibility,” he told The Adviser.
“To say that a broker ‘sells a mortgage’ or ‘negotiates mortgages’, that’s an absolute falsehood. It’s incorrect terminology and has been incorrectly reported by the press for years.”
The correct terminology, he said, would help customers properly understand the home loan process.
Mr Marshall’s colleague at the Perth firm, Eric Lim, also criticised the term ‘selling mortgages’.
“Please can we have some correct terminology in this industry and by the industry press – and those who don't just look unprofessional and plain ignorant,” he said.
“I wish people in this industry would understand that the use of the colloquialism ‘selling mortgages’ is totally wrong.
“No broker sells a mortgage. We write housing loan applications and the lender or their legal team prepares the loan documents and the respective mortgage document.”