Money's 2024 Non-Bank Lender of the Year
La Trobe Financial has been named Money's 2024 Non-Bank Lender of the Year as part of the Consumer Finance Awards.
Borrowers who can't tick all the boxes that major banks require, including many self-employed people, often find solutions from non-bank lenders such as La Trobe Financial, 2024's winner in this category. La Trobe, which has been part of Australia's lending landscape since 1952, has won this award five years in a row.
"As Australia's longest standing non-bank credit lender of size, with seven decades of experience building and innovating finance products, and now with more than $19 billion of assets under management, we have the heft and scale to be regularly considered as top choice by brokers and borrowers across Australia," says Cory Bannister, La Trobe's chief lending officer.
The breadth and depth of its product range - the broadest in the non-bank market - provides a product for every life stage, Bannister says.
"We continue to write loans based on our ability to look at a scenario and provide an appropriately tailored solution for a borrower. We do not walk away when the scenario is complex or does not quite fit the box. In fact, that is where we excel."
Automated lending, a feature of the major banks, is great for those who want to make a square peg fit into a square hole, Bannister says: "But there are a lot of 'round peg' borrowers who still need access to capital, and that has presented a unique opportunity for La Trobe to service those borrowers and segments that have been left with little credit availability or support."
One of the most popular products continues to be the Lite Doc loan, developed in the early 1990s. This caters for a wide range of self-employed, from sole traders through to individuals.
"For the self-employed, meeting the traditional income verification requirements (tax returns, payslips etc) can be challenging, but using the alternative methods of verification available under our Lite Doc loans, we are often able to assist what is a sizeable, and critical part of our economy, says Bannister.
La Trobe's Bridging loan also continues to be popular.
"There is a growing number of Australians looking to upgrade, or downsize, but who are reluctant to make a move in case they are left stranded, says Bannister. "Our Bridging loan can provide a buffer that provides the confidence required to initiate the transaction."
In the current environment, La Trobe also sees some potential opportunities developing for investors, particularly self-managed super funds (SMSFs), looking to purchase residential property. "With property values having moderated, combined with record low vacancy rates providing a boost to rental yields, it can make residential property investment increasingly attractive," says Bannister.
"And for SMSFs, there is an additional benefit that they are somewhat insulated from the current inflationary pressures on living expenses."
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