Credit Guide

This Credit Guide is given to you under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth). It sets out the credit assistance we can provide, the way we are paid for providing it, the arrangements we have with people who refer clients to us, and the two paths open to you if you are unhappy with something we have done.

It is a short document by design. If you go on to apply for a loan through us you will also receive a credit proposal disclosure, which sets out the specific product, the specific lender, the specific fees and the specific commission attached to your application. That document is about your loan. This one is about us.

WeL’nd is a finance and mortgage brokerage based in Port Melbourne, Victoria. We arrange credit for people and for businesses. We are not a lender. We do not lend our own money, we do not make credit decisions, and we cannot approve a loan. What we do is assess your situation, work out which lender is a realistic fit, prepare the application properly, and manage it through to settlement.

Our details

The licensee we act for

A credit representative is authorised to provide credit assistance on behalf of a licensee. The licensee holds the Australian Credit Licence, sets the compliance framework we work inside, and is responsible for our conduct in providing credit assistance.

We are a member of the Finance Brokers Association of Australasia. External dispute resolution is provided through the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. Both of those are explained further down this page.

We provide credit assistance. In plain terms, that means we suggest that you apply for a particular credit contract with a particular credit provider, or that you increase the limit on one you already have, and then we help you do it.

• Home loans, refinancing, cash-out refinancing and construction lending.
• Debt consolidation, including business and tax debt refinanced into a secured facility.
• Business, commercial and development finance.
• Private lending, caveat lending and second mortgages.
• Car, equipment and asset finance.
• Self-managed super fund lending, where the fund has its own advisers in place.

What we do not do

• We are not a lender and we do not issue credit.
• We are not a debt management firm and we are not a credit repair service.
• We do not negotiate debt waivers or remissions with the Australian Taxation Office on your behalf.
• We do not give tax advice, legal advice or insolvency advice. Where you need that, we will say so and we will tell you the kind of adviser to speak to.
• We cannot guarantee that any lender will approve your application, and we will never tell you that one will.

The lenders we use most

We have access to a panel of more than forty lenders. The law requires us to name the six credit providers with whom the most business is conducted. Those six must be confirmed by the licensee from settlement records before this page goes live, and they will be listed here. They will also be reviewed at least annually, because a panel shifts.

Having access to a panel does not mean every lender on it suits you. Some will not lend on your security type, some will not accept your income evidence, and some will not touch a file with tax arrears on it. Part of our job is knowing that before an application is lodged rather than after.

Some clients come to us through an accountant, a bookkeeper, a financial adviser, a real estate agent or another business we have a referral arrangement with. Where a person or business has referred you to us, we may pay them a referral fee or share a portion of the commission we receive on your loan.

If that applies to you, we will tell you who referred you and what they are being paid, in writing, before you apply. A referral fee is paid out of our commission. It is not added to your loan, it does not change your interest rate, and it does not change the lender we recommend.

We may also refer you out. If we send you to an accountant, a solicitor, a registered tax agent or an insolvency practitioner, we will tell you whether we receive anything for that referral. In most cases we do not. You are never obliged to use anyone we suggest, and you should satisfy yourself that they are the right adviser for you.

Before we suggest that you apply for a regulated credit contract, or that you increase an existing limit, the law requires us to make a preliminary assessment. We must make reasonable enquiries about what you want the loan for and what you can afford, take reasonable steps to verify what you have told us, and satisfy ourselves that the contract is not unsuitable for you.

A loan is treated as unsuitable if it does not meet your requirements and objectives, or if you could only repay it with substantial hardship. That is a floor, not a target. We would rather tell you early that a structure does not work than lodge an application we do not believe in.

What we will ask you for

• Identification, and evidence of residency or citizenship status where it matters to the lender.
• Income evidence. For a wage, that is payslips and often a group certificate. For a business, expect two years of financial statements, business and personal tax returns, and current activity statements.
• A recent record of your business tax account position if the application involves tax debt.
• Bank statements, usually the last three to six months across trading and personal accounts.
• Statements or payout figures for every debt you want consolidated.
• Rates notices, leases and existing loan statements for any property offered as security.

You can ask us for a written copy of our preliminary assessment. If you ask before your credit contract is entered into, we must give it to you before you enter into it. If you ask afterwards, we must give it to you within a set period, and that right runs for seven years from the date of the assessment. There is no charge for it.

To arrange finance we collect personal information about you, and in most cases credit information as well. We handle it under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Australian Privacy Principles and Part IIIA of that Act, which governs credit reporting.

We disclose your information to the lenders we approach on your behalf, to the licensee, to the aggregator whose systems we use, to credit reporting bodies where the law permits it, and to service providers who help us run our business. We may obtain a credit report about you where you have consented to it. Our Privacy Policy sets all of this out in detail, along with how to access your information and how to have it corrected.

If you would prefer not to receive marketing material from us, tell us and we will stop sending it. That does not affect the service we provide on your loan.