Homeloans Ltd has become the first non-bank lender to overhaul the way it pays mortgage brokers to align commissions with the interests of borrowers in terms of size structure and affordability. From 12 November brokers that originate sales of Homeloans' line of Ultra Plus mortgages will receive upfront commissions that are calculated on the drawn loan balance, rather than the value of the total facility approved. In a notification sent to mortgage aggregators on Tuesday, Homeloans said the change was in line with reforms recommended by the Combined Industry Forum and ASIC's broker remuneration review year. National Australia Bank announced its revised broker commissions last week. Australian prime home loan arrears in July have remained unchanged month on month at 1.38 per cent since May, but have increased from 1.17 per cent a year earlier, according to Standard & Poor's Global Ratings. While acknowledging high household indebtedness and low wage growth have increased borrowers' sensitivity to interest-rate rises, S&P stated that there was no cause for concern as 80 per cent of the loans underlying Australian RMBS portfolios have a loan-to-value ratio at or below 75 per cent, while the proportion of loans with an LTV ratio in excess of 80 per cent is just 13 per cent. A senior claims assessor at Youi deliberately distorted the meaning of documents submitted to the financial services royal commission, reports the New Daily. These related to the poor treatment of a man unable to claim on cyclone damage to his home for 18 months. The Youi customer, Glen Sutton, is still waiting for repairs to his Cannonvale, Queensland home damaged so badly by Cyclone Debbie it remains unliveable. He employed consultants Solve My Claim to try to expedite the repairs in October last year, and they later submitted a description of his experience with Youi to the royal commission because Sutton was so unhappy with his treatment. An internal memo at Youi stated he was trying to get more than he was entitled, a description Youi CEO Jason Storey conceded was a misrepresentation. New Zealand MPs were briefed yesterday on the Hayne royal commission and heard that there were fewer concerns about the culture of the Kiwi subsidiaries of the Big Four banks. Although the select committee was told by First Union and Consumer NZ of concerns over frontline staff feeling pressured to "upsell" and some customers being sold products, such as life insurance, that were clearly unsuitable, the chair of the Banking Ombudsman scheme told the committee that its caseload "suggests none of the systemic abuses" seen across the Tasman. The Hayne commission also prompted a probe into banking culture which currently underway by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and the FMA but has yet to report back.