| About Us |
Greg Hearn Financial Solutions is licensed under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009.
The details of our licence are as follows:
| Business Name | Greg Hearn Financial Solutions |
| Address | Level 4, 29 Kiora Road Miranda, NSW, 2228 |
| Telephone | (02) 8543 4200 |
| [email protected] | |
| Australian Credit Licence Number | 389792 |
| Your Best Interests |
Our priority is to you, our customer. We are required to place your finance needs above those of anyone else.
We are required to be transparent about products, your options, applicable fees, and charges as well any conflicts of interest. We will communicate in simple to understand language and act with the highest standards of integrity. We are committed to ensuring the product selected will meet your needs, requirements and be in your best interests at the time of assisting you obtaining finance.
| Credit Guide |
This Credit Guide contains important information about us, the services we provide and the activities of the credit representative operating under our credit licence. It also contains:
- information about fees and charges that may be payable by you to us;
- commissions that we may receive when we are acting as a credit representative;
- commissions that we may pay to third parties for introduction of business, and information about what you should do if you have a complaint or dispute regarding our services and activities.
We are required to provide this document 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:
- Suggest or assist you in applying for:
- a particular loan with a particular lender;
- an increase to an existing loan with a particular lender; or
- Recommend that you remain in an existing loan contract.
| Preliminary Assessment |
Prior to providing credit assistance to you, we must assess whether the particular loan is “unsuitable”. A loan will be “unsuitable” based on the information you provide to us if:
- You will be unable to repay the proposed loan or will only be able to repay the proposed loan with substantial hardship, or
- The proposed loan does not meet your requirements and objectives.
We are required to document our findings that the proposed loan is not unsuitable by way of completing a Preliminary Assessment. The Preliminary Assessment will set out your:
- requirements and objectives;
- financial and relevant personal situation; and
- ability to repay the proposed loan repayments.
We are also required to take reasonable steps to verify information provided by you to us. This verification may include:
- requesting 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.
Obtaining a copy of the Preliminary Assessment
If we provide you with credit assistance, you may request a copy of our Preliminary Assessment anytime for up to 7 years and we must provide you with a copy of the assessment within the following timeframes:
| Your request is made: | We will give you your assessment: |
| Before the Credit Day* | As soon as possible after we receive your request |
| Up to 2 years after the Credit Day | Within 7 business days after we receive your request |
| Between 2 to 7 years after the Credit Day | Within 21 business days after we receive your request |
*The Credit Day is the date the credit contract (i.e. the loan) is settled or the loan amount is increased.
There is no charge for requesting or receiving a copy of the Preliminary Assessment.
| Fees and charges that are payable by you in relation to our credit assistance |
We may charge a fee for providing credit assistance to you. If applicable, details about those fees payable by you will be set out in a Credit Quote which we will give you prior to submitting your loan application.
Other fees and charges
You may have to pay other fees and charges (such as application fees, valuation costs and other applicable fees) to the lender or other parties. You should review the particular loan contract documentation for further details of any such fees and charges.
| How I get paid |
Our aggregator receives commission from the lenders and then pays us commission in relation to loan contracts (such as home and investment property loans) for providing credit assistance.
An upfront commission is payable by lenders in relation to settled (drawn-down) loans and is calculated as a percentage of the loan amount. It is usually paid after settlement of the loan.
Trail commission is payable by lenders in relation to settled (drawn-down) loans. It is calculated monthly on the outstanding loan balance and is paid in arrears.
The upfront and trail commissions that we are paid by lenders are not payable by you. Details of commission to be received will be included in the Summary of Requirements and Credit Proposal document that we will provide you with when credit assistance is provided.
From time to time, I may receive a non-commission benefit by way of training, professional development, entertainment, gift`, conference attendance, sponsorship, or entry into a competition run by a lender or my aggregator, at no extra cost to you. The nature of such arrangements are temporary, and the occurrence and amounts are often not readily ascertainable, however if they are apparent as a result of assisting you with credit assistance, this will be disclosed to you.
| Other people we deal with |
Our aggregator
We have approval to utilise credit providers and their lending products through the services of our aggregator ‘Connective Broker Services Pty Ltd ABN 77 161 731 111, Credit Representative 437202 authorised under Australian Credit Licence 389328’. The aggregator charges us a fee depending on our contract arrangements, consisting of:
- a share of commission that is paid by the particular credit provider;
- a membership fee for our business;
- a monthly fee for each of our accredited loan writers.
We have access to a panel of lenders through Connective. Macquarie Bank Limited is a 25% shareholder of Connective. We have access to products including those from Macquarie Bank Limited.
Commissions paid by Connective’s lender panel are transparent and do not influence the broker or consumer choice. Connective is committed to quality consumer outcomes in all circumstances.
Referrers and referral fees
We obtain referrals from a range of sources, including accountants, financial planners, real estate agents and other people. If you were introduced or referred to us, we may pay the referrer a commission or a fee.
Details of any commission or fees being paid to the referrer will be included in the Summary of Requirements and Credit Proposal document.
| Dispute resolution and complaints |
We are committed to providing you with the best possible service, however we understand there may be times where you are not satisfied. If this occurs please inform us verbally or in writing with the exact details of your complaint, so we can work towards a prompt and fair resolution.
We are mindful of the need to ensure that consumers are treated fairly and with respect during the complaints handling process. Any dissatisfaction will be handled in an efficient, timely and effective manner in accordance with ASIC regulations of Internal Dispute Resolution (IDR).
We hope that you will be satisfied with how we deal with your complaint. However, if your concerns remain unresolved, or you have not heard from us within 45 days, then you can have your complaint heard by an independent party. The complaint can be lodged with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA):
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 1800 931 678 (free call)
Mail: Australian Financial Complaints Authority, GPO Box 3, Melbourne VIC 3001
Time limits may apply to complain to AFCA and 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 provide legal or financial planning 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 planning advice before you enter any loan contract.
| Our lender panel |
We are authorised to engage in credit activities and therefore provide assistance to obtain loans for you from a panel of lenders. The following are the lenders through which we have conducted the most business over the last 12 months.
1. ANZ
2. ING
3. Ubank
4. Newcastle Permanent
5. Suncorp Bank
6. Bankwest
| Lender data |
This section provides information about the lenders I am accredited with and loans settled with these lenders in the last financial year.
The top six lenders and their respective share of loans settled in the last financial year:
| Lenders | % of total settlements |
| Commonwealth Bank | 16.30% |
| Gateway Bank | 13.08% |
| Macquarie Bank | 14.80% |
| Newcastle Permanent | 9.04% |
| Resimac | 8.20% |
| Ubank | 9.97% |
The total number of lenders I have settled loans with in the last financial year:
| Number of lenders used |
| 13 |
Panel lenders available and those with whom I hold accreditation:
| Lenders available |
| AMP |
| ANZ |
| Aussie Bonds |
| Auswide Bank |
| Bank of Melbourne |
| Bank of Queensland |
| Bank SA |
| Bankwest |
| Better Choice Home Loans |
| Bluebay Home Loans |
| Commonwealth Bank |
| Connective Advance |
| Connective Elevate |
| Connective Essentials |
| Connective Select |
| Connective Solutions |
| Deposit Power (Deposit Bonds) |
| Firefighters Mutual Bank |
| Firstmac |
| Gateway Bank |
| Health Professionals Bank |
| Heritage Bank |
| ING |
| La Trobe Financial |
| MA Money |
| Macquarie Bank |
| ME Bank |
| MyState |
| NAB |
| Newcastle Permanent Building Society |
| Paramount Mortgage Services |
| Pepper Money |
| RedZed |
| Resimac |
| St George Bank |
| Suncorp Bank |
| Teachers Mutual Bank |
| Ubank |
| UniBank |
| Virgin Money |
| Westpac |
| Entertainment and hospitality register |
We hold and maintain an entertainment and hospitality register. A copy can be provided on request.
| Preferential service offerings and programs |
I have access to tiered servicing programs through the lenders listed below. These programs give you, as my customer access to preferential services. Access to these programs is not based solely on the volume of loans submitted and does not entitle me to any additional commission outside of what I will disclose to you if a loan is submitted to one of these lenders. It should be noted that these preferential services do not provide customer discounts.
Suncorp
| Further Information |
For more information regarding this Credit Guide or anything else about our services, just contact us at any time. We’re here to assist you.
