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Public disclosure

This page sets out the information our business must make publicly available under the Financial Markets Conduct Regulations 2014, to help you decide whether you want to seek our advice.

Licensing information

We operate as an Authorised Body under a Financial Advice Provider licence issued by the Financial Markets Authority in the name of NZ Financial Services Group Limited (NZFSG) (FSP286965).

There are no conditions attached to this licence on the advice that may be given.

Our duties

Mortgage Pundit, and anyone who gives financial advice on our behalf, have duties under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013. These duties are to:

• meet the standards of competence, knowledge and skill, and the standards of ethical behaviour, conduct and client care, set out in the Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services;
• give priority to your interests;
• exercise care, diligence and skill.

Our products and product providers

We give advice about home loans, business loans, commercial property loans and asset finance. We do not give advice about insurance or investments.

We give advice about products from the lenders we hold accreditation with: ANZ, ASAP Finance, ASB, Avanti Finance, Basecorp Finance, BIZCAP, BNZ, CFML, Cressida Capital, DBR, First Mortgage Trust, Heartland Bank, Kiwibank, Liberty Financial, NZCU, Pepper Money, RESIMAC, SBS Bank, Select Home Loan, The Co-operative Bank, Westpac, Zip Business.

The specific product types and providers each adviser can advise on are set out in their individual Disclosure Guide. Your adviser will give you their Disclosure Guide when you engage them, or you can ask for a copy at any time.

Fees and expenses

Generally, we don’t charge you a fee for advice on home loans. This is possible because, if you act on our advice, we usually receive commission from the lender when your loan settles. There are some exceptions, explained below.

Business lending. We usually charge a fee for advice on business loans, commercial property loans and asset finance. Any fee will be agreed with you in writing before we start work.

We may also charge a one-off fee in these situations:

(a) No commission. If you ask us to provide services for a product and we do not receive a commission. This may happen in the rare case that you ask for help with a product from a provider we are not accredited with, or a product outside our usual arrangements with our providers. Any such fee would be agreed and authorised by you in writing before we complete the services, and would be based on an estimate of the time spent providing the advice.

(b) Repayment of commission. If a lender requires us to repay commission within 28 months of your loan settling. Any such fee would be no more than $3,000 (plus GST, if any) and would be calculated at $250 (plus GST, if any) per hour of the adviser’s time spent on your loan. The fee will not exceed the amount of commission clawed back by the lender.

If we need to charge you a fee, we will send you an invoice and give you 30 days to pay.

Commissions and other incentives

If you take out a loan based on our advice, the adviser, our business and/or the licensee usually receives commission from the lender when the loan settles. We may also receive a commission or referral fee for business we refer to other businesses. The types of payments we may receive include:

• upfront commission, calculated as a percentage of the loan at drawdown;
• renewal or trail commission, calculated as a percentage of the loan balance at the relevant time;
• a fixed rate rollover fee, from some lenders, if we help you refix your loan;
• referral fees;
• other incentives or rewards, such as gifts or tickets to events.

Your adviser will give you more information about the commissions and incentives relevant to the advice you receive, including the maximum percentages used to calculate them.

Commission pays the adviser who gives the advice and the costs of running our business, such as rent, staff and IT. From it we also pay NZ Financial Services Group Limited for the services it provides to us under its licence from the Financial Markets Authority.

Conflicts of interest

We may attend events hosted by industry associations, lenders and NZFSG, where lenders discuss their products. We manage this potential conflict by following an advice process that puts your interests first and recommends products suitable for you, regardless of what we hear at such events.

We take steps to make sure conflicts of interest, including commissions and other incentives, do not influence our advice, and that our advisers recommend the best product for your purpose regardless of the type or amount of commission. We do this by:

• making sure our advisers follow an advice process that ensures they understand your needs and goals, and that their recommendations meet them;
• making sure our advisers receive regular training on managing conflicts of interest;
• giving you a schedule of commission amounts and types by lender, in your adviser’s Disclosure Guide.

Any other conflicts of interest that could influence the advice we give will be shown in your adviser’s Disclosure Guide.

Complaints

If you have a complaint about our service, please tell us. You can contact our internal complaints service by phoning 0800 PUNDIT (786 348) or emailing info@mortgagepundit.co.nz with the heading “Complaint – (your name)”.

Please set out the nature of your complaint and the resolution you are seeking. We will acknowledge it within 24 hours, record it in our complaints register and notify our licence holder. We may want to meet you to understand the issue better. We will then investigate and respond within 7 working days of receiving your complaint. If we need more time, we’ll let you know.

If we can’t agree on a resolution, you can refer your complaint to our external dispute resolution service. This service is free and independent, and will help you resolve things with us: