Australian Franchise News – 22-07-14
Highlighting the ongoing strength and growth of the third party distribution channel, Mortgage Choice has taken its franchise total to more than 400.
Mortgage Choice chief executive officer Michael Russell said being able to surpass the 400 franchise mark was a real milestone for the network.
“This is the first time since January 2009 that Mortgage Choice has had more than 400 franchises,” Mr Russell said.
“Today, we have a total of 405 mortgage broking franchises – a fact we are very proud of.”
On top of taking its franchise number to 405, Mr Russell said the company has also significantly grown its network of loan writers thanks to its recent Plus One initiative.
The Plus One initiative, which was launched on the 1st January 2014, offered Mortgage Choice franchisees a monetary incentive to bring a new loans consultant into their business. The monetary incentive was further supported by an expanded suite of HR resources readily available to the franchise network.
“At Mortgage Choice, we know how hard it is for our franchisees to find the time and the resources to recruit an additional loans consultant, which is why we launched the Plus One initiative. We wanted to make it as easy as possible for our franchisees to grow their business. In addition, we wanted to capitalise on the positive market conditions,” he said.
“When we launched the Plus One initiative, we set ourselves a target of recruiting 50 additional loan writers for our franchisees by the end of September and we are currently on track to exceed that goal.
“The fact that we have grown our loan writer and franchise network so considerably over the last six months is not only a testament to the Mortgage Choice network, but just goes to prove that with broker usage now over 50%, today is a great time to be a mortgage broker.”
Mr Russell went onto say that Mortgage Choice’s recent growth has helped the company significantly lift its productivity and activity levels.
In June, Mortgage Choice approved more than $1 billion in mortgages – the eighth month this financial year.
“It seems the stars are aligning for Mortgage Choice. The property market is strong, interest rates continue to hover around record lows, lenders are competing aggressively for business and we are expanding our mortgage broking network at a cracking pace. Given the ferocity of these prevailing tailwinds, we are hopeful of recording our biggest settlement numbers yet this year,” Mr Russell said.