Property broker - what info is normal?

[911GT3]

Mortgage broker - what info is normal?

Hi,

I have recently approached a mortgage broker and was a bit taken back by the information that was requested. Expected information was things like salary, net worth, goals etc but are things like license numbers and mothers maiden names considered "normal"...?

I don't want to offend the broker but at the same time im concerned about things like identity theft.

TIA.

 

[Hooray]

What is a property broker?

 

[911GT3]

Apologies I meant mortgage broker. Post corrected.

 

[Terry_w]

Mother's maiden name, licence numbers are needed for submission. It is all electronic these days and not including these little details can have a negative effective with automatic credit scoring.

But for initial enquries it is not needed. I tell people to just give me the numbers up front and the rest before submission.

 

[Peter_Tersteeg]

There's a fair bit of information that ultimately needed for the application, but not for an initial assessment. There's no initial need for drivers license details, etc.

That said, we ask for it in our initial discussion. No big deal if it's no provided, but it's a lot more efficient to get everything right upfront. It's difficult enough to get all the information needed for the assessment. It's very frustrating only getting some of the information required and continually going back to for more information.

Keep in mind that there's not much that can be done without your signature. Nobody generally gets this until the actual application is made.

 

[911GT3]

Thanks Terry and Peter. Much appreciated.

 

[Jamie M]

That said, we ask for it in our initial discussion. No big deal if it's no provided, but it's a lot more efficient to get everything right upfront. It's difficult enough to get all the information needed for the assessment.

Same - they're standard questions on my fact find too (simply because it plugs straight into an online application if we get to that point) but if that info is not provided upfront (licence number, etc), it's not a big deal. A preliminary assessment and some initial advice can still be provided.

Cheers

Jamie

 

[911GT3]

Thanks Jamie.

 

[wombat777]

A general comment here is that all brokers and the banks themselves need to lift their game in terms of the methods used for exchanging private client information - i.e. Scanned identity docs, statements, completed finance applications.

E-mail isn't the most secure of methods and other methods should really be used.

I've not seen one broker or bank offer or advise the use of a more secure alternative. Not great form.

Solicitors / conveyancers, accountants and real estate agents also need to lift their game.

 

[Peter_Tersteeg]

A general comment here is that all brokers and the banks themselves need to lift their game in terms of the methods used for exchanging private client information - i.e. Scanned identity docs, statements, completed finance applications.

E-mail isn't the most secure of methods and other methods should really be used.

I've not seen one broker or bank offer or advise the use of a more secure alternative. Not great form.

Solicitors / conveyancers, accountants and real estate agents also need to lift their game.

I completely agree, this is something that should have been addressed years ago, but it's not the broker community that needs to cope with this.

A few lenders are accepting documents uploaded via an online portal but it's quirky in many cases and not universal. It's up to the lenders to dictate this. I'd be happy to send them encrypted files but there's no chance at all that they'd cope with any encryption initiated at our end.

Some clients send us files uploaded to Dropbox or emailed as an encrypted archive. We get encrypted PDF files all the time. No big deal from my end, but it up to client to implement this.

The MFAA launched an app to do this type of thing quite recently. Of course it goes through their server and it's not free. It also looks fairly clunky.

There is also a new standard in secure identification coming quite soon. Not only lenders and brokers will be required to use it, but legal and real estate people as well. It'll probably be implemented within the next 12 months.