Credit Guide

Credit Guide

About Us :

This document provides you with information relating to our activities.  It contains information about various fees and
charges that may be payable by you to us, as well as about certain commissions we may receive from a licensee, or we
pay to certain third parties.  It also contains information about what you should do if you have a complaint or dispute in
connection with our services as a credit representative.

WHAT IS CREDIT ASSISTANCE?

We give you credit assistance when:

• we suggest you apply for a particular loan or lease (or suggest you apply for an increase to an existing loan); or
• we suggest you remain in your current loan.

THE ASSESSMENT WE NEED TO DO BEFORE GIVING YOU CREDIT ASSISTANCE

Before we provide credit assistance to you, we assess whether the particular loan or lease is suitable for you. To do this, we need to make reasonable inquiries and verify that:

• the loan or lease or increase will meet your requirements and objectives; and
• you can meet the proposed repayments.

We won’t be able to give you credit assistance if our assessment shows that:

• you won’t be able to meet the proposed repayments without substantial hardship; or
• the loan or lease won’t meet your requirements or objectives.

GETTING A COPY OF OUR ASSESSMENT

If we provide you with credit assistance, you can ask us for a copy of our assessment any time up to 7 years after we provide you with a credit assistance quote. To request a copy please contact us. We will provide you with a copy:

• within 7 business days after the day we receive your request – provided you make the request within 2 years of the date of our credit assistance quote; or
• otherwise, within 21 business days after the day we receive your request.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE LICENSEE

Subject to meeting credit criteria, we are able to assist you to obtain loans for you from a broad range of lenders and
through our broker group.

The following are the lenders with whom we generally conduct the most business:

• ANZ
• CBA
• NAB
• St George Bank
• Westpac Bank
• Macquarie Leasing

FEES AND CHARGES

FEES PAYABLE FOR THE PROVISION OF CREDIT ASSISTANCE

We will not charge you any fees for providing credit assistance to you. We will however charge a submission fee $200.00 which will be refunded upon settlement. If you withdraw your application after an approval is granted, the submission fee will be forfeited. Your loan has to stay with us for minimum 2 years; otherwise a claw back commission has to pay back to the lenders of your loan providers.

OTHER FEES AND CHARGES

You may have to pay other fees and charges (such as an application fees, valuation fees and other fees) to the lender, or
other parties. You should review the disclosure documents and your loan contract for further details of any such fees and charges.

COMMISSIONS

COMMISSIONS WE RECEIVE FROM OUR LICENSEE

We has appointed our broker group as its agent to receive commissions from lenders and to pay us commission in relation to loan contracts for which we act and provide credit assistance. The total amount of commission we may receive in relation to your loan may vary depending on the lender, the term, the features, the amount of the loan you ultimately choose and the amount and timing of the repayments that you make.
Loan Contracts such as Home Loans, Investment Property Loans and Personal Loans
Upfront commission payable by lenders in relation to loans is calculated as a percentage of the loan amount and is
generally in the range of 0.33% and 0.77% of the loan amount.  It is usually paid after settlement of the loan.
Trail commission payable by lenders in relation to loans is generally calculated regularly (monthly, quarterly, bi-monthly or annually) on the outstanding loan balance and is paid in arrears. The trail commission payable by lenders is generally in the range of 0% and 0.165% per annum of the outstanding loan amount.

Further details of the commission earned by us will be included in the credit proposal disclosure document we will provide to you at the same time as we provide you with credit assistance.

You can request information from us about the fees that we are likely to receive, how those fees are calculated, and our
reasonable estimate of the fees or commissions that will be payable.

VOLUME BONUS ARRANGEMENTS

Our broker group has volume bonus arrangements in place with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the Westpac
Banking Corporation and the Australia and New Zealand Bank Group Limited.  From time to time we or our broker group
may receive a benefit, directly by way of cash bonus or additional commissions or indirectly by way of training,
professional development days or sponsorship, if we or our broker group write a particular volume of loans offered by
those lenders.

COMMISSIONS PAYABLE BY US

We are not likely to pay a commission to any third party for the introduction of credit business or business financed by the loan contract.

DISPUTES OR COMPLAINTS

WHAT TO DO IF YOU HAVE A DISPUTE OR COMPLAINT?

We are committed to providing our customers with the best possible service.  If at any time we have not met our obligations – or you have a complaint about any of our services – please inform us so we can work towards a resolution.

THIRD PARTY PRODUCTS OR SERVICES

If your complaint relates to a product or service acquired through a third party (for example, a lender) we may ask you to contract the relevant third party.  They will deal with your complaint under their complaints resolution process.

If you are not satisfied with the resolution of your complaint by the third party under their complaints resolution process, you are entitled to have your dispute considered by their External Dispute Resolution Scheme.  Please contact the third party for further details.

KEEPING YOU INFORMED

STILL NOT SATISFIED?

If you do not think we have resolved your complaint to your satisfaction, you may take the matter – free of charge – to the relevant External Disputes Resolution Scheme (provided it is within the scheme’s terms of reference) as detailed below.  You may also refer the matter to the relevant External Disputes Resolution Scheme at any time, but if our internal process is still in progress, they may request that our internal processes be complete before considering the matter further.
Our external dispute resolution service provider is the Credit Ombudsman Service Limited, which can be contacted via:

• Telephone:  1800 138 422
• Online complaint form:  http://www.cosl.com.au/Make-a-complaint-intro
• Website:   http://www.cosl.com.au
• Mail:   PO Box A252, Sydney South NSW 1235
• Fax: 02 9273 8440