Community First sees record lending

Key facts:

• Community First recorded net loan growth of $100 million in the first six months of the financial year.
• Community First and its online subsidiary Easy Street funded a total of $140 million in residential mortgages in the final quarter of 2020. 
• The annualised net lending growth as at December 2020 was 25.0%, which outperformed the industry average of less than 5%.

Sydney, January 2021:  Community First Credit Union has bucked demanding lending conditions created by COVID-19 by funding over $140 million in residential loans in the December 2020 quarter.

John Tancevski, CEO of Community First Credit Union, said, “This is an incredible result for Community First as this dramatic growth was achieved during a pandemic and despite our credit assessment and loan processing teams working remotely since April 2020. We have proven to be a real alternative to the Big 4 Banks.

“In total we lent over $140 million in the 2020 December quarter to both new and existing members, while recording a 25% increase in annualised net lending growth in December 2020 compared to the same month in December 2019. 

Refinancing and first-timer action

Several external factors including strong growth in house prices in some capital cities and regional centres, combined with some excellent internal sales and marketing initiatives from Community First contributed to the spike in mortgages in 2020. In fact, we continue to fund strong volumes of loans in to 2021 off the back of our success, noted Mr Tancevski.

“Many loans written last year were the result of refinancing applications by owner-occupiers taking advantage of record low interest rates, and competitive deals with interest rates starting from sub 2%.

“We also launched an innovative feature for eligible professional community workers to borrow up to 90% of a property’s value without the need to pay Lenders’ Mortgage Insurance.”

New buyers taking advantage of the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme, which enabled borrowers with deposits as little as 5% to buy a home were also a considerable borrowing segment in 2020. 

“The $25,000 Home Builder Scheme that was part of the Federal Government’s economic response to the pandemic also encouraged some first-time buyers into a mortgage last year,” said Mr Tancevski. 

Focus on marketing and customer value

In 2020, Community First ramped up its multi-channel home loan marketing strategies using a series of digital and social media marketing, retail marketing and a renewed focus on content marketing strategies. 

“Many opportunities we also sourced and originated by our highly engaged and motivated Community First sales teams through both our financial services stores and our direct channels to provide our extensive range of lending products.” confirmed Mr Tancevski.

“Overall, in 2020, we delivered value to our members through service standards superior than our competitors, an extensive range of lending and banking products, lower fees and very competitive interest rates.” 

While Community First Credit Union stores are NSW based, people can apply for an extensive range of lending and banking products from anywhere in Australia by visiting www.communityfirst.com.au or calling 1300 13 22 77 or trying www.easystreet.com.au