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A new online brokerage will donate a percentage of its commissions to help fight homelessness.
A newly launched online brokerage, Brokers for Change (B4C), revealed that it would donate a portion of all commissions paid by the banks for loan settlements to a homelessness charity.
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Founded by Loan Market broker Stephen O’Reilly-Nugent, B4C will donate 20 per cent of commissions to StreetSmart, a grassroots charity organisation that has been battling to eradicate homelessness in Australia since 2003.
Mr O’Reilly-Nugent said it is sensible to assist “Australians who have no home at all” by using a proportion of the profits generated from mortgage deals of individuals who have purchasing power in housing markets to invest in properties outright.
O’Reilly-Nugent said: “With an estimated 450,000 loans taken out in Australia every year, just a small donation from each would have the power to make a real difference. Added to that, the growing market share of brokers over banks means that B4C will be well placed to make a difference.”
According to the latest data released by research group Comparator, a CoreLogic business, mortgage brokers settled 59.1 per cent of all residential home loans in the September quarter 2018, up from 53.6 per cent in the same quarter of 2017 – the largest year-on-year increase for any quarter over the last four years.
Research conducted in the Borrower Experience Survey also revealed that 96 per cent of borrowers were either “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their most recent mortgage broker experience, compared to 67 per cent satisfaction of borrowers who secured their mortgage directly through a lender.
Given the high demand for mortgage brokers and positive responses to their services – coinciding with the most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics census data revealing 116,427 homeless people were enumerated in 2016, up 5 per cent from the 102,439 enumerated in 2011 – Mr O’Reilly-Nugent suggested his business model can make a difference.
“Along with our charity partner, StreetSmart, I believe that everyone should have a safe and secure place to call home, and that ending homelessness will take a ‘whole of community’ approach,” Mr O’Reilly-Nugent said.
“I’m pleased to have StreetSmart as our sole charity, given their multifaceted approach to the complex issue of homelessness in Australia.”
StreetSmart operates like a mother organisation by providing support to smaller-scale homeless charities nationwide through “unique community grants programs”. It has reportedly raised $4.12 million to date, which has funded 1,348 projects at 486 organisations.
Adam Robinson, CEO of StreetSmart, said they “are proud to be recognised as a charity partner” and see it as “an important step towards ending homelessness.”
[Related: Broker donates trail to charity]
