Morning Briefing: First electronic mortgage signed

Bank Australia claims 'Australian first' as broker-arranged customer signs deal, completes paperwork and bank lodges deal all electronically... ANZ to refund 390,000 customers...

First electronic mortgage signed
Non-major Bank Australia has claimed to have completed the first fully electronic mortgage in Australian mortgage history. On Friday Carmel Grant signed the mortgage electronically; Bank Australia will now lodge the paperwork via online property exchange network PEXA. Furthermore, as Bank Australia confirmed to MPA, the loan was organised by a broker and brokers can use the online signature process.

Bank Australia Deputy CEO John Yardley said moving to fully electronic mortgages would save customers time and effort.
“Previously customers had to wait to receive the documents in the mail, find a witness to sign, post the documents back, and then wait again for a reply. The whole process used to take at least seven days and much running around – now we will be able to complete a mortgage on the same day that it gets approved,” said Mr Yardley.

At present only customers in Victoria taking out certain types of loans are able to complete the process electronically, due to recent changes in the Land Act affecting PEXA.

ANZ to refund 390,000 customers
Customers who were charged fees to transfer funds to their own accounts will be refunded, the major bank has confirmed. Some ANZ customers were being charged fees - on average $50 - for periodical transfers between their accounts with the bank. On discovering the error, ANZ reported itself to ASIC, who described the fees as a "significant breach of its (the bank's) financial services obligations".

Periodical transfers are an increasingly popular alternative to direct debits and ANZ's own terms and conditions mandate fees for transfers to another person or business. A total of $28 million is being paid that includes fee refunds and around $3 million in additional compensation. ANZ has already refunded around $11 million to 192,000 accounts, with the bank expecting all refunds to completed by the end of September.