Wayne Ormond – From the bush to top mortgage broker in five years

Refund Mission Statement

When Wayne Ormond launched Refund Home Loans (Refund) in April 2004 with the promise to refund its customers a share of its commissions, it was just another small broker with no market share or reputation.

Five years later, Refund is acknowledged by its peers as a leader in the mortgage broker industry, as demonstrated by an array of industry awards and respect for its professional and ethical standards.
      
Wayne Ormond’s success in the competitive mortgage market comes as no great surprise to those who have come to know him over the years and have developed a respect for his commitment and application to whatever takes his attention.
      
Having been born and growing up on his family’s cattle property in Far North Queensland and schooled in neighbouring Innisfail, Wayne worked with local businesses before moving to Brisbane at the age of 21 to begin a career in what he saw as his future at that time – property.

In four years with LJ Hooker Queensland Investment Homes, Wayne became General Manager responsible for both Queensland and NSW sales teams and for their marketing, lead generation and staff development and training.

Wayne then moved to Raine & Horne where for the next three years he controlled four divisions including Investment, Residential and Project Marketing to become a Group Managing Director before the age of 30.

His property experience led Wayne to develop a preference for property financing and in 2001 he joined Suncorp Metway in Brisbane with the specific objective of honing his property funding expertise. Wayne soon realised that he had found his business calling.

While becoming a highly successful lender of home loan products and services and receiving a number of performance awards, Wayne became concerned seeing his bank customers struggle under the pressure of high interest rates and increasing bank fees.

“This was when I realised there was a better way for borrowers, that we should be able to give something back, to say ‘thank you’ to customers who trust us with the biggest financial commitment most families make – their home loan,” says Wayne.

That realisation was the genesis of the business model for Refund Home Loans – the promise of a real cash refund for every loan taken out with the company. The company entered the competitive mortgage market in April 2004 with the promise to refund its customers up to 50% of the commissions it receives from its lenders, which often amounts to more than $1,000 per loan.

As with many small businesses, the early days were far from easy. The mortgage broker market is tough at the best of times and Wayne faced up to, and overcame, some harsh resistance from the mortgage “establishment”, including some of the largest and publicly listed brokers and three of the Big Four banks. They apparently resented his ”intrusion” into “their” market – and no doubt recognised the potential of his business concept.

Wayne demonstrated his strength of purpose and commitment to his new venture; he stood his ground against odds that would have discouraged many and threats that could well have put an end to his ambitions within days.
As a consequence of his resistance, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) for the first time ever took action under restraint of trade provisions of the trade practices legislation against one of the Big Four banks (a decision is expected this year, 2010)

Wayne could not have taken Refund to the top of a very tough market in less than five years without his evident mental toughness and willingness to make the hard decisions.

Today Refund has access to a panel of more than 35 lenders, including all Australia’s major banks, providing Refund’s customers with the widest range of funding options. The company has a Head Office staff in excess of 30 providing full corporate back up and support for the company’s national network of franchisees.

Refund’s “product” has proved increasingly popular in the tighter economic environment as homebuyers have responded to the opportunity to gain a saving on the purchase of their home. With Refund’s loan volumes continuing their annual incremental growth, the company has exceeded $5 million in total refunds to its customers since commencing business.

Franchisee Growth a Significant Factor

The other component of Refund’s business model, which is an equally significant factor in the company’s success and market acceptability – that of conducting its business through the company’s Australia-wide network of work-from-home Franchisees, all fully professional accredited brokers – was also conceived by Wayne on the basis of his industry experience
                       
The research conducted by the company before launching clearly indicated people wanted to discuss their mortgages in the security of their own surroundings. This preference grew noticeably stronger as market conditions became more challenging and an increasing number of customers understood the advantages of dealing with a mortgage broker in the privacy of their home where they feel able to ask questions and express concerns which they might not be comfortable to raise in an impersonal office environment.

Current economic conditions have also encouraged an increasing surge of people looking to work for themselves as franchisees for a successful and reputable company to join Refund.

As at June 30 2009 the company had some 300 franchisees, an increase of 163% over the 114 two years prior, and growing. This effectively provides Australia-wide coverage, with a further 40 franchisee territories available currently managed by company staff.

Additional Services

Wayne Ormond has always seen the benefit of adding professional and qualified synergistic services alongside its Refund mortgage broking service in order to provide further and related benefits to homebuyers. In 2008 Property and General Insurance were added and in August 2009 Wayne will announce an alliance with the largest financial planning group in Australia, Professional Investment Services (PIS), under which Refund Finance Advisory Service will add PIS’s financial planning products to their existing home mortgage products in marketing to their customers.

A Market Driven by the Australian Dream

Australia’s desire for home ownership has resulted in home loan volumes increasing every year for the past 30 years, through years of recession, the Millennium scare, the Asian market collapse and the Global Financial Crisis.

Total industry loans outstanding reached over $1 trillion in 2008 with housing finance forecast to grow at 12.6% over the medium term.
In the current environment Refund is performing as never before. Families still want to, or have to, buy homes and the market conditions favour those in employment – interest rates the lowest in 45 years with the cash rate maintained again this month by the RBA at 3.00%, while rentals are increasing housing prices are declining, and Refund offers a cash payment!

The drivers of mortgage growth are also expanding with Government policies and population and demographic changes encouraging a new generation of better informed and aware consumers increasing demand for housing.

A Changing Marketplace

While the current economic conditions have not adversely affected Refund – in fact they have had the opposite effect – they have certainly contributed to a structural change in the marketplace with the Big Four banks gobbling up some of the larger mortgage brokers. In the past year Aussie Home Loans and Wizard were taken over by Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and Rams by Westpac.

When Refund commenced business in 2004, the industry statistic was that 20% of home loans were handled by mortgage brokers. Today the mortgage broking channel market share is more than 40% and in Western Australia an estimated 60% of home buyers source their mortgages through brokers.
One consequence of these movements is that Refund is today positioned as the leading mortgage broker unaligned with a major bank.

Bush Values Guide the Man

Having grown up in rural Far North Queensland, it is not surprising that respect for the traditional values of the Bush – honesty, loyalty and hard work – play such an obvious and important part in Wayne’s approach to business. His achievements throughout his career are attributed to his focus on detail, his enthusiasm and his liking for people.

Wayne involves himself in every aspect of the company’s operations including the recruitment, briefing, appointment and training of every one of the company’s franchisees and visiting them regularly in their own areas.

Maintenance of Industry Standards

Typical of Wayne’s commitment to the highest standards of operation, adherence to the highest business and ethical standards has been fundamental to Refund’s operational policy since its very first days.

Since 2004, it has been Refund’s requirement that, as part of their training, franchisees must obtain a Certificate IV in Mortgage Lending to meet legislative requirements. Refund’s franchisees are now attending courses to add the professional qualification RG146 to qualify them to promote financial planning products. This will make Refund Brokers some of the best qualified in the industry.

Wayne Ormond is not only an outspoken supporter of his company but also a keen advocate for the standards of his industry. Currently he is leading a push for increased regulation of the mortgage broking industry to protect those homebuyers who he alleges are increasingly being taken advantage of by some segments of the industry as a result of their lack of awareness of what should be standard industry practices. 

Particularly, he emphasises that Refund’s training and qualification policies are in marked contrast to those of the major banks, most of whose “Lending” staff have no such qualifications and that the situation in which inexperienced bank staff act as brokers or advisers creates serious problems for their customers and must be addressed as a matter of priority.

With his regular appearances on the media, Wayne works to bring to public notice examples of unethical and dishonest practices among brokers and lenders.

Industry Recognition and Awards

Refund takes pride in its performance in industry surveys and awards, with Wayne Ormond commenting that the company’s consistent achievement in such events is a significant endorsement of its operational performance.

In January 2009 Refund added further to its performance credentials when it topped the rating for “Fastest-Growing Franchises by Revenue” in the prestigious BRW magazine annual survey (Flagship edition January 29 – March 4 2009). This was the second successive year Refund had achieved a highest rating in the BRW survey, having topped the “Fastest-Growing by Outlet” category in the publication’s 2008 survey.

Refund’s most recent recognition in industry ratings and awards includes:

Refund franchises are fully accredited members the Franchise Council of Australia.

 

© 2008 Refund Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.