Public Disclosure

Important information about our business

Better Choice Financial Services Ltd holds a Financial Advice Provider license issued by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) to provide financial advice services.
Our Financial Services Provider (FSP) Number is 1000984.

Our office contact details:

Nature and Scope of Financial Advice Services

Our advisers provide financial advice about mortgages and insurances provided by the following product providers:

Mortgages:

  • AIA GO Home Loans
  • ANZ
  • ASAP Finance
  • ASB
  • Avanti Finance
  • Bank of China New Zealand Limited
  • Basecorp Finance
  • BNZ
  • Cressida Capital
  • DBR Property Financiers
  • First Mortgage Trust
  • Funding Partners
  • KiwiBank
  • Liberty
  • Unity (Formerly NZCU)
  • Pepper Money
  • Plus Finance
  • SBS Bank
  • Southern Cross
  • The Cooperative Bank
  • TSB
  • Westpac

Insurance:

  • AIA
  • nib
  • Chubb

Our Fees

Generally, we do not charge you any fee for the advice that we provide to you. This is possible because, on settlement of a mortgage or when an insurance policy is issued, we usually receive commission from the applicable product provider. There are some exceptions to this general position which are explained below.

  • When we don’t receive commission from the lender: If you request that I provide financial advice and I do not receive a commission from the lender, I may charge you a one-off fee. Any such fee would be agreed and authorised by you in writing before we complete the services and would be based on an estimate of the time spent providing the advice. This may arise in the rare event that you request that we provide services in relation to either a product that is offered by a lender that we do not hold an accreditation with, or a product that is outside our usual arrangements with my approved lenders.
  • When we have to repay commission to the lender: In the event that, in the 28-month period following drawdown of your loan, your loan is fully or partially repaid or the terms materially changed, and a lender requires that we repay the applicable commission to them, we may charge you a one-off fee. Any such fee would be no more than $3,000 (plus GST, if any) and would be calculated based on a rate of $250 (plus GST, if any) per hour of our time spent providing financial advice to you in connection with the applicable loan. The fee we charge you will not exceed the amount of commission we have to repay to the lender. You will be invoiced for any one-off fee and will be given 30 days to make payment.
  • In the event the Financial Adviser obtains a formal letter of offer from the Kainga Ora or the lender based on the information provided by the applicant(s) and for whatever reason the applicant(s) do not proceed with the letter of offer from the financial Adviser, the applicant(s) are required to reimburse the financial Adviser a sum not less than $1200 including GST for the time & costs incurred by the financial adviser. This is refundable if you decide to come back to Better Choice within 6 months of the time frame and you settle the loan through the financial adviser

Other costs:
 Where additional costs are incurred in the process of providing our advice and services, you will be liable for these costs.
 (We will always agree with you in advance.)

Commissions

Better Choice Financial Services Limited may receive commissions at settlement from the relevant lender if you choose to take out a mortgage following our advice. The commissions are between 0.5% and 0.85% of the initial mortgage balance or amount funded. Better Choice may also receive 0.1% to 0.15% of the mortgage balance on each anniversary. These commissions are shared between Better Choice and the financial adviser for the services provided.

 

How We Manage Conflicts of Interest

To ensure our advisers prioritize clients’ interests:

  • We follow an advice process that bases recommendations on your goals and circumstances.

  • Our advisers undergo annual training on managing conflicts of interest.

  • We maintain registers of conflicts, gifts, and incentives, which are regularly monitored.

  • We undertake an annual independent Compliance Assurance Review.

Our Duties and Obligations to You

We are bound by the Financial Markets Conduct Act to:

  • Meet the standards of competence, knowledge, and skill set out in the Code of Conduct.

  • Give priority to clients’ interests.

  • Exercise care, diligence, and skill.

  • Meet the standards of ethical behaviour, conduct, and client care.

Complaints Process

Internal Complaints Process
 If you have a problem, concern, or complaint, please tell us so we can try to fix the issue.

Our internal complaints manager is Rohit Sachdeva who can be reached at:

  • Email: rohit@betterchoice.co.nz

  • Phone: 021 180 1007

We will acknowledge your complaint within 24 hours and aim to resolve it promptly.

External Complaints Process
If we cannot agree on how to fix the issue, you can contact our external disputes resolution scheme, Financial Services Complaints Limited (FSCL). FSCL provides a free and independent dispute resolution service that may help to resolve your complaint.

To contact FSCL:

Call: 0800 347 257

Email: info@fscl.org.nz

Visit: www.fscl.org.nz