Turf battle looms over reverse mortgage advice

Both the National Information Centre for Retirement Investments (NICRI) and the Senior Australians Equity Release Association of Lenders (SEQUAL) are currently lobbying the Government to fund advice on reverse mortgages, but disagree on one major point.

NICRI has put itself forward as the sole body for providing legal and financial advice to prospective borrowers, while SEQUAL chief Kevin Conlon opposes such a service becoming exclusive to one agency.

“Let’s not build barriers as to who can provide this advice. It should be available as widely as possible — where the borrowers are,” Conlon said.

While he supports every effort to deliver competent and affordable advice to seniors and strongly encourages the Government to fully fund NICRI, Conlon believes access to the aforementioned services should go beyond this agency.

However, NICRI chief executive Wendy Schilg said the need for uniformity of advice is paramount.

“[The Equity Release Information Centre] would employ solicitors and advisers and train them under one roof, so they all specialise in this one area: reverse mortgages,” Schilg said.

“Uniform advice and information for every borrower out there is the only way we can eliminate the issues coming through our phone lines at the moment. If you give it to several players, it won’t be efficient,” she added.

However, the SEQUAL chief said while he does not question NICRI’s ability to provide quality service, uniformity of advice could be effectively achieved through more than one agency.

“With appropriate accreditation standards and protocols put in place, clients will be getting the same scope of advice everywhere, not just at NICRI,” Conlon said.

He added that NICRI’s proposal did not always address the needs of the type of clients they will deal with.

“There is also a tendency to deliver this service over the phone, which may not be suitable for this type of demographic. For some seniors, face-to-face interviews are a superior outcome in getting all the information they need,” Conlon said.

NICRI proposed legal advice be conducted face-to-face while financial counselling be done over the phone.

“It won’t be a five-minute talk, it will be an in-depth conversation and many lenders are on board,” Schilg said.

Both Conlon and Schilg have agreed that finding a scope of appropriate advice for equity release customers remains a priority.