Aussie stretches into personal loans

Aussie Home Loans is aiming to win a market share of between two and three per cent in the personal loan market, which means the mortgage brand will have to do between two and three times better than it has fared in the credit card market.

Aussie selected GE Money as funder and marketing partner for the personal loan. (ANZ is Aussie's partner in the credit card product).

Aussie chair John Symond said of the choice of GE: "We go out to tender every time, and GE came in with a better all round solution.

"It's not just pricing, but everything including from service standards to processing. It's taken two years to put the deal together, as we give them a brief and then scope it down to service levels.

"We are quite demanding, and it's about having an outsourcing partner that can stack up to what we specify, rates can't move without us approving."

Marketing costs will be shared by both companies, with the campaign moving away from the traditional Aussie slogan "we'll save you", targeting a different demographic.

"We have moved away from the 'we'll save you' campaign after 15 years, which gives the perception that you had to be in strife, such as a first home buyer or struggling, to deal with us.

"We now want to enter into the demographic which wasn't using our products, with our marketing now all about confidence, and whether you want to borrow $5 million or $50,000, Aussie can do that.

"We are moving away from there, but the advertising will still feature my voice at the end.

"In the future we do want to get to the full suite of financial products, as we have such a strong brand."

Symond estimates market share in personal loans at a conservative two to three per cent in the first year, before stronger growth.

"We already have a couple of hundred thousand loyal customers, so just marketing them will create a lot of business.

"What we are trying to do is come up with the right loan for the right purpose, and arm people with a car loan approval before they go shopping for a car."

Car loans will be offered at from 8.29 per cent to 10.49 per cent, subject to a $249 application fee and a $3.95 monthly service fee, with personal unsecured loans between 10.99 per cent and 12.99 per cent, with a $149 application fee and no monthly service fees. The fixed rates will vary depending on the quality of the applicant credit scoring.

Aussie already has 130,000 credit card customers, equal to one per cent of the market.