Which Mortgage Aggregator Suits a New Broker in 2026?

The mortgage aggregator that suits a new broker gives you a mentor who checks your files before lenders see them and helps you through lender accreditation. It also charges fees you can carry for months before your first commission arrives. For most new brokers, that means a commission-split plan, because Connective’s flat monthly fee needs about $677,000 of settlements a month before the upfront commission it saves covers it.

As at October 2026, Finsure’s Broker Academy suits a broker who wants the aggregator itself to provide the mentor. If you want your website, email marketing and customer relationship management (CRM) system set up for you, Loan Market Group (LMG) fits. If you already have a mentor, Connective’s Variable plan keeps fixed costs low with no lock-in.

Practices with an established book can compare panels and commercial terms in the mortgage aggregator comparison. This guide covers the first two years, when mentoring rules and cash flow decide the choice.

Establish the Starting Position

Your licensing status, qualifications and mentoring obligation decide which arrangements you can join. The Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) publishes an aggregator guide. It says you must either hold an Australian credit licence (ACL) or be appointed as a credit representative of an ACL holder.

Aggregators typically hold an ACL and appoint brokers as credit representatives, according to the same guide. Holding your own licence means you also carry the licensee’s obligations, including monitoring compliance and keeping records.

Qualifications and Mentoring Rules

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) credit representative guidance, updated May 2025, sets the minimum at a Certificate IV in Financial Services (Finance/Mortgage Broking). It also requires credit representatives to belong to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) and complete 20 hours of continuing professional development (CPD) each year.

Industry membership adds a mentoring rule. As at October 2026, the MFAA’s FAQs say a broker with less than two years’ experience must engage a mentor for about two years. The same FAQs require a Diploma within one year.

The Finance Brokers Association of Australia (FBAA) co-produces and endorses a mentoring program offered through elevateB. The program’s page says the FBAA requires new member brokers to be mentored for their first two years. Pick an aggregator whose support lasts those two years, not only through onboarding.

Who Checks Your First Submissions

Each arrangement gives the same three jobs to different people: checking lender policy, signing off the recommendation and handling a file the lender sends back. You keep the best interests duty in every arrangement. ASIC’s Regulatory Guide 273, published June 2020, expects the licensee to train its brokers, monitor their compliance and keep records of the steps it takes.

Arrangement	Who checks lender policy	Who signs off the recommendation	How a rejected file comes back
Aggregator mentoring program	You draft, and the program mentor reviews the file before lodgement	Your mentor reviews it, and you sign off as the broker on the file	The lender returns it to you, and you take the fix to your mentor before resubmitting
Aggregator plus external endorsed mentor	You, with the external mentor’s review	You, after the mentor’s review	The lender returns it to you, and you arrange a further review with the external mentor
Franchise or broker group under a principal	You, with the principal or group mentor	The principal broker, under the group’s file-review rules	The lender returns it through the group’s processing team, and the principal reviews your correction
Loan writer employed by a brokerage	The senior broker or credit team	The senior broker under the brokerage’s procedures	The lender returns it to the senior broker, who decides who corrects it

In the first two arrangements, you’re the one who finds the lender’s rule, so record it where your mentor can check it. Bulma’s Policy Advisor answers lender policy questions across 52+ lenders and quotes the policy wording behind each answer. You can attach that wording to the file before your mentor reviews it.

Inspect New Broker Support

Mentoring works when the file-review scope, turnaround and escalation path are written down before you join. “Access to a mentor” can mean a monthly call or a review of every file before lodgement. That difference decides how safely you can write your first loans.

File Review, Turnaround and Escalation

Ask for the file-review scope in numbers. A useful answer says which files the mentor reviews before lodgement, such as every file for the first six months, and when reviews move to a sample.

Ask how long a pre-lodgement review takes and who covers it when your mentor is away. A review that takes a week delays your client’s application and the commission behind it.

Ask for the escalation path in order. A clear answer runs from your mentor to the aggregator’s credit or compliance team. A policy question only the lender can answer then goes to the lender’s business development manager (BDM).

What the Named Programs Include

As at October 2026, Finsure’s Broker Academy is a 24-month course with a dedicated mentor for each entrant. It includes one-on-one meetings, group sessions, compliance support and remote mentoring for brokers outside the major capitals, with pricing tiered by qualifications and experience.

LMG runs the Loan Market franchise. It says its Brand in a Box package sets up a broker’s website, email marketing and CRM in less than 14 days, as at October 2026. LMG adds business coaching and its Brokerversity education platform.

Connective’s joining page describes a dedicated Partnership Manager, accreditation specialists and a 90-day onboarding roadmap, as at October 2026. It describes no mentoring program for new brokers, so pair Connective with an endorsed external mentor. As at October 2026, Outsource Financial lets members work as an accredited broker, a referrer or both, which suits a broker who starts part-time.

Support That Ends After the Introduction

Some support stops after onboarding, while your mentoring obligation runs for about two years. An onboarding roadmap, a setup package and a launch coaching block each have an end date.

Ask each aggregator which support continues after the first 90 days and which ends. Then ask what replaces it, and whether the replacement costs extra.

Budget the First Year

Budget for at least three months of fixed costs with no settlement income, because commission arrives only after a loan settles. The MFAA’s remuneration factsheet says upfront commission can arrive up to 90 days after settlement, as at October 2026.

Fixed Fees, Splits and Minimum Commitments

Aggregators charge in two ways, often combined. A commission split keeps a percentage of each payment, while a flat fee is charged every month whatever you settle.

Connective’s published fees, effective 1 November 2023, show both. Its Maximiser plan costs $880 a month per partner group of up to five brokers and passes on 100% of commission, with no volume requirements. The pricing page gives no GST basis for this plan fee or the Broker Fee below.

Its Variable plan has no monthly plan fee and pays 80% of upfront and 95% of trail in its lowest band, rising with volume. Both plans add a $150 Broker Fee each month per loan writer. Credit representatives also pay a Credit Rep Fee of $209 a month plus GST per loan writer, and group professional indemnity (PI) insurance from $63 a month plus GST.

The flat fee costs $880 a month more than the Variable plan and saves 20% of upfront commission. At a 0.65% upfront rate, that 20% is 0.13% of the loan, so on upfront commission alone the flat fee wins only above about $677,000 of settlements a month. The Variable plan’s 5% trail difference lowers that figure as your trail book grows.

Worked Example: Twelve Months From Joining

This fictional example follows Priya, a new broker who joins Connective’s Variable plan and pays for the FBAA mentoring program monthly. Her fixed costs total $592 a month at the published amounts. GST is added on top of the Credit Rep Fee, PI and mentoring amounts.

Monthly fixed cost	Published monthly amount
Connective Broker Fee	$150
Connective Credit Rep Fee	$209
Group PI insurance, lowest revenue tier	$63
FBAA mentoring program, 24-month payment option	$170
Total	$592

The program also asks for your mentor’s details, and giving that mentor access costs an additional $400 plus GST, which the table leaves out.

Software seats sit outside these figures. Add each subscription your aggregator doesn’t include to your fixed costs before you compare plans.

Priya’s first two lender accreditations come through in month 2, and she lodges her first application in month 3. Every loan is $600,000 with no offset balance. She earns 0.65% upfront at the 80% split, which is $3,120 a loan, paid the month after settlement.

Trail is 0.15% a year, paid monthly, at the 95% split, or $71.25 a month a loan, starting the month after the upfront payment. The example ignores repayments, clawbacks and GST on commission. Every loan stays in Connective’s lowest band.

Months	Loans settled	Upfront received	Trail received	Fixed costs	Cash position at end
1 to 3	0	$0	$0	$1,776	-$1,776
4 to 6	3	$6,240	$71.25	$1,776	$2,759.25
7 to 9	4	$12,480	$641.25	$1,776	$14,104.50
10 to 12	5	$12,480	$1,567.50	$1,776	$26,376.00

Priya’s lowest point is the end of month 4, at -$2,368, after four months of fees and no commission. With the full 90-day wait on every upfront payment, the first commission lands in month 7, leaving Priya $3,552 behind after six months.

On the Maximiser plan, the same year costs $10,560 more in plan fees and returns $7,920 more in commission. That leaves her $2,640 worse off over the year.

These are business cash flows before Priya pays herself. The mortgage broker business plan guide shows how to budget personal drawings and the years after this one.

Interview the Candidates

Ask every aggregator the same questions, then ask current members the same set. Identical questions turn sales answers into comparable facts.

Questions for Staff and Current Members

1. Which of my files will a mentor review before lodgement, and for how long?
2. How long does a pre-lodgement review take, and who covers when my mentor is away?
3. Which lenders will you apply to accredit me with in my first month, and what do they require from a new broker?
4. Which support ends after onboarding, and what does continuing support cost?
5. What fixed fees do I pay each month before I settle a loan?
6. Is there a minimum volume, and what happens if I miss it?
7. When I leave, who owns my trail and who keeps my client files?

Ask current members in their first two years, because their mentoring experience is the one you’ll have. A member’s answer to questions 1, 2 and 4 tests the support claim directly.

Track Accreditation and Dependencies

Track each lender accreditation separately, because each lender sets its own requirements. The MFAA’s aggregator guide lists accreditation support among the services an aggregator provides, and Finsure’s onboarding sends finished forms to its onboarding team to finalise accreditations, as at October 2026.

Fictional lender	What the lender needs	Submitted	Status	Unresolved dependency	Who acts next
Lender A	Certificate IV, membership, mentor details	Week 1	Approved	None	Not applicable
Lender B	Same, plus Diploma enrolment	Week 1	Pending	Diploma enrolment evidence	You
Lender C	Same, plus a BDM meeting	Week 2	Pending	BDM meeting date	Aggregator accreditation team

The tracker above is a fictional example. Review yours weekly with your aggregator’s accreditation contact. Each unresolved dependency names who acts next, so a stalled application doesn’t wait unnoticed.

Choose With Exit Visibility

Choose the arrangement whose exit terms you can accept now, because the trail book and records you build in year one are what you take or leave behind. Read the exit terms before you sign, not after your first settlement.

Trail, Client Files and Mentoring Costs

Trail is paid monthly for the life of the loan, according to the MFAA’s remuneration factsheet, so ownership of it is worth more each year. Connective’s pricing page says brokers own their trail book and can leave anytime without penalty, as at October 2026. Get the equivalent terms in writing from every candidate.

Client records sit with the licensee as well as with you. ASIC’s Regulatory Guide 273 expects records of how you acted, and it expects the licensee to keep records showing your compliance. Ask what copies you can take when you leave.

Ask whether mentoring bundled into an aggregator’s program continues if you leave before it finishes. As at October 2026, the FBAA program costs $170 a month plus GST over 24 months, or $3,600 plus GST upfront. The program is offered through elevateB with the FBAA’s endorsement, so it doesn’t depend on which aggregator you join.

The MFAA’s FAQs ask your current mentor to complete a Mentee Progress form before you change mentors.

Test a Difficult Policy Enquiry

Ask each candidate to walk through one difficult policy enquiry, from your first question to its documented answer. Use a real type of file, such as a self-employed borrower with one year of trading.

A strong answer names who you ask first, how the question reaches the aggregator’s credit team or a lender BDM and where the answer is recorded. It also says whether you can keep those records after you leave.

RG 273 expects records made throughout the process, not at the end. Choose the aggregator whose answer gives you documented escalation, mentoring that lasts your first two years and fixed costs you can carry through three months without a settlement.