Broker or Banker – Which is Best?

Well, according to new research from Roy Morgan, home loan customer satisfaction with banks when using a mortgage broker was only 77.3%. This compares to 80.3% when home loans were obtained in person at a branch. So Banker is best….

Even among more recent home loans (held for under six years) satisfaction with going directly into branch was 81.7% compared to 78.7% for mortgage brokers. This is an important finding because it illustrates the potential impact that a third party can have on the satisfaction level of customers with their banks.

These results cover the six months to January 2018 and are from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey of over 50,000 consumers per annum, including over 12,000 mortgage holders.

Nearly all of the largest banks home loan customers have higher satisfaction with their bank when they obtained their loan in person at a branch, rather than through a mortgage broker. Home loan customers of Bendigo Bank who obtained their loan in person at a branch had the highest satisfaction with 92.6%, followed by Bankwest (87.3%) and St George (86.8%). The best of the big four was NAB with 82.4%, followed by ANZ (79.7%). All of the largest banks, with the exception of Westpac, had higher satisfaction when going direct rather than using mortgage brokers.

Home Loan Consumer Satisfaction: Obtained through Branch vs Mortgage Broker2 – Largest Home Loan Banks1

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia). 6 months to January 2018, n= 6,052 Base: Australians 14+ with home loan. 1. Based on largest number of home loans purchased at a branch. 2. Excludes other methods of obtaining home loans. 3. Includes brands not shown.

Satisfaction when using mortgage brokers was highest for St George with 85.6%, Bankwest (82.1%) and Suncorp Bank (82.0%). Each of the big four were below the market average (77.3%) for home loan customer satisfaction when using a mortgage broker, with the best of them being NAB (76.4%) and Westpac (75.7%).

Home loan customers go in person to branch

Despite many channels available to obtain home loans, over half (52.4%) of all current loans were sourced from going in person to a bank branch. This is well ahead of the 34.3% who purchased their loan through a mortgage broker. With these two channels accounting for 86.7% of the current market, it is important for banks to know how they perform in each in terms of customer satisfaction.

Method Used To Obtain Home Loan

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia). 6 months to January 2018, n= 6,052. Base: Australians 14+ with home loan
Other channels used to obtain home loans were, ‘in person with a mobile bank representative’ (8.7%, satisfaction 78.9%) and ‘over the phone’ (4.0%, satisfaction 80.3%).

Author: Martin North

Martin North is the Principal of Digital Finance Analytics

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