About the independent broker

Who is The Independent Mortgage Broker?

Hi, I'm Craig Morgan ~ The Independent Mortgage Broker

I'm a farmer. I live on 1,400 acres in a remote area of the NSW mid North Coast hinterland with my partner Dianna, our Belted Galloway cattle, bees, dogs, horses, chooks, ducks and a cat.

We're also fortunate to have a lot of hardwood forest and rainforest areas with platypus, koalas, echidnas, all manners of snakes and lizards, and some of the purest dingo packs I've encountered on mainland Australia.

I know - weird introduction from a bloke who's supposed to have the skill and knowledge to help you win the mortgage game.

As you'll see below I haven't always been a farmer - although it was a large part of my childhood and is definitely "in my blood".

Most importantly - good old-fashioned farming values inform all of my decision making and the only thing that fires me up enough to spend time away from the farm is educating and empowering people with regards to winning the mortgage game.

Thankfully - technology now allows me to be an (almost) full time farmer as well as a "40 hour a week" mortgage guru.

Background (before farming)

I graduated from the Royal Military College (Duntroon) when I was 21 and served in over a dozen operational, training and personnel roles.

Since retiring from the Army in 2000, I've been a Consultant to Financial Planning companies, Non-Bank Lenders, Major Banks and Mortgage Originators. I have also been the Managing Director of a number of Financial Services and Property Investment companies.

Those companies have provided Licensing Services to other Mortgage Brokers as well as Loan Products and Investment Properties to a range of Third Parties. So I have intimate knowledge of enough Mortgage Brokers, Financial Planners, Accounting Firms, Property Groups and Lenders to have developed some meaningful insight.

I've seen firsthand how the commission and sales culture - coupled with Bank tactics, increasing Bank ownership of Mortgage Broker groups, and just pure corporate greed - negatively affects the outcome for the Consumer.

With a background of over 15 years as a Military Police Officer my personal ethic and integrity is very important to me and I was increasingly of the view that it's not possible to keep swimming with the sharks without getting eaten alive (or becoming one of them).

So I made a decision to 'walk away' from the standard practices in the Mortgage Broking Industry and shut down a number of my companies - despite them being profitable.

I now focus all of my 'corporate' efforts on developing the only independent mortgage broking company in Australia.

I've launched this personal blog site in order to share some of the concepts regarding mortgages that are not well understood and that are intentionally misrepresented or repressed by the Big Banks and, in turn, the Mortgage Broking Industry collectively.

All of this is not to say that there aren't some wonderful people in the industry - many with hearts of gold and an ethical approach to life. It's simply that most of the people at the coalface of the industry (mortgage brokers and bank staff) are generally unaware just how badly the odds are stacked against the consumer.

If you want to read more on this subject (or you just need a cure for your insomnia) you can read my White Paper - titled "Don't Hate the Player - Hate the Game" .

Finally - in the interests of full disclosure - it is important to note that I am still the Managing Director of Independent Mortgage Planners Pty Ltd. That means I am running a mortgage broking business and, like all businesses, we want to make a profit. The really big difference is that we make money at the service of others and not at the expense of others.

Whether you ever do business with us or not - I truly hope this blog helps you to win the mortgage game.