Guide ✦ Mortgage broking

What a broker
should delegate first

Brokers do not have a lead problem. They have a processing problem that looks like a lead problem — because the week is full, so nothing new gets written.

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Alfie Quiming
Alfie QuimingAccount manager, Manila
Last reviewed August 2026
Looking for VA work yourself? Apply at staffingsolutions.ph — this guide is written for businesses hiring.

Almost every broker we talk to believes their constraint is volume of enquiry. Then you look at the week: document collection, application assembly, lender portals, being on hold to a credit assessor, chasing a valuation, updating a nervous client.

None of that is credit advice, which is the only part requiring the licence. It is administration with a deadline, and it is consuming the hours that would otherwise be spent in front of clients.

Start with document collection, because it is the most annoying part of the job for both broker and client and requires the least product knowledge. Then work forward through submission and settlements as they learn your lender panel.

Before you read on

Who this is for

✓Worth your time if

  • You are spending hours a week chasing payslips and statements
  • Files go to lenders incomplete and generate queries
  • Post-approval files go quiet and clients ring for updates
  • Your back book has fixed rates expiring with nobody calling

✕Probably not if

  • You want anything resembling credit advice delegated
  • Your aggregator or licensee has not been asked about outsourcing
  • You have no CRM discipline for the person to work within
  • You are looking for a way to write more without more processing capacity
The work, in order

What comes off the broker's week

Ordered by how little product knowledge each needs. The first one is live in days.

Document collection

Payslips, statements, IDs and everything else chased from clients persistently, checked for currency and completeness, and filed. The most universally hated part of broking, and the easiest to hand over.

Application assembly

Applications built in your aggregator software from the fact find, complete and internally consistent before anyone submits.

Serviceability preparation

Income and commitments entered accurately, calculators populated, ready for your assessment — never your conclusion.

Lender submission

Files submitted to each lender's requirements with the supporting bundle indexed the way that lender wants it, so queries drop.

Lender follow-up

Daily chasing through to conditional and unconditional, with every query answered or routed same day.

Post-approval and settlements

Conditions cleared, valuations chased, loan documents tracked to signing and dates confirmed with all parties.

Client status updates

A scheduled update whether or not there is news — which is what stops the anxious calls and drives referrals.

Back book programmes

Fixed-rate expiries tracked and annual reviews booked into your diary. Highest revenue per hour of anything on this list.

The credit advice line

Under the NCCP Act, credit assistance and the not-unsuitable assessment are the licensed broker's. This is the hardest line on any of our pages because the pressure to cross it is constant — clients ask direct questions.

  • Credit advice and recommendationsWhich product suits a client, and whether a loan is not unsuitable, is your regulated assessment. Never delegated, in any form, including informally.
  • Preliminary assessmentThe responsible lending assessment and its documentation are yours.
  • Rate and product discussionNo indicative rates, no product comparison, not even helpfully. This is where well-meaning people cross the line.
  • Structure and strategy conversationsChasing documents is fine. Discussing structure is advice.
  • Credential sharingAggregator and lender system access follows your aggregator's rules. No shared logins.
ASIC — credit licensing (NCCP) ↗ASIC — responsible lending conduct ↗MFAA — professional standards ↗
From the handovers we run

The first three months

Documents first. Lender panel knowledge takes a month, so the sequence follows it.

1

Week 1: document collection only

Immediate relief, no product knowledge required, and it teaches them your clients and your checklist. Give them your document list and your chase cadence.

2

Weeks 2–4: application assembly

Building files in your aggregator from the fact find, with you reviewing every one before submission. This is where lender-specific learning starts.

3

Month 2: submission and lender follow-up

Now they submit to requirements and own the follow-up. Query rates drop noticeably once submissions are consistently complete.

4

Month 2: post-approval and settlements

The stretch where files go quiet and reputations are made. Scheduled client updates start here and are the most commented-on change.

5

Month 3+: the back book

Fixed-rate expiries and annual reviews. Give them a script that books a conversation and never mentions a rate — the compliance line matters most here because they are contacting clients unprompted.

The mistake that costs a fortnight

Not asking your aggregator or licensee first

This is the only genuinely serious risk on this page, and it is entirely avoidable with one email. Aggregator and licensee agreements vary on outsourcing, data handling and who may hold system access, and some require notification or approval before you engage offshore support. Brokers who ask first almost always get approved and get on with it. Brokers who do not ask, and are later found to have given a third party access to lender systems in breach of their agreement, have a problem that has nothing to do with the quality of the hire. Ask before you hire. If your licensee has conditions, we will work within them — we would much rather build the arrangement around your rules than find out about them in month four.

Keep reading

Related guides

All guides →
Role

Loan processor

Application to approval.

Read it →
Role

Settlements coordinator

Post-approval coordination.

Read it →
Guide

What you can't delegate

The NCCP line in context.

Read it →
Questions

Frequently asked

Do they know Australian lenders and aggregator software?
It is what we screen for, and there is a real pool with years of Australian loan processing behind them. Lender policy detail is deep, though — expect a month before they are genuinely quick across your panel.
Can they talk to clients?
For document collection and status updates, yes, and clients appreciate the responsiveness. Anything touching product, rate, structure or suitability comes to you — not as a courtesy but because it is regulated advice.
Will this let me write more volume?
That is the usual outcome, because processing rather than enquiry is what caps most brokers. But be honest about where your own time goes first: if the week is genuinely full of client conversations rather than paperwork, a processor changes less than you would hope.
Should the first hire do processing or the back book?
Processing, almost always. The back book is higher revenue per hour but needs someone who knows your clients and your systems — it is a month-three project, not a week-one one.
Is there a minimum term?
Three months, then month to month. It's the same runway you'd give a new local hire to learn your systems, your clients and your standards — and the team members who get a fair run are the ones who stay for years. There are no exit penalties at any point, and if the issue is the person rather than the role, the first-week refund and free replacement cover that separately.
How do you handle confidentiality?
The same way you'd treat any remote team member. Every placement signs an NDA and a confidentiality clause before day one, and they work inside your systems — your email, your CRM, your file storage — so you control what they can see and can revoke access instantly. No client data is stored on our side.