Broker guide
Mortgage Broker CRM: Compare Workflows in 2026
When choosing a CRM for an Australian mortgage brokerage, compare broker software by client ownership, follow-up, permissions and migration.
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A mortgage broker CRM is the customer relationship management (CRM) system that holds each client, their household and every loan file. The consents, follow-ups and lender handoffs belong on that same record. Compare one by how it models the record, carries a file to settlement, controls access, imports your old data and costs over a year.
For most Australian brokerages, the best CRM for mortgage brokers starts with the platform your aggregator supplies. Connective’s Mercury Nexus, for example, includes client management, compliance workflows and application lodgement at no extra cost for members. Add a workflow CRM such as BrokerEngine when several staff share each file and need task queues, role permissions and review triggers.
Check which system will hold the client record before you buy a second one. Salestrekker’s own FAQ says it can run beside an aggregator’s CRM but can’t replace it. The mortgage broker software guide shows where the CRM sits among your other tools.
Model the Client Record
Build the client record around people, grouped into households, with each loan as a separate opportunity linked to those people. Liabilities and consents attach to the person, so every opportunity can read them without copying the client.
| Record | What it holds | Links to | Why it’s separate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Person | Name, date of birth, contact details, ID check, employment | Households and opportunities | One person record prevents duplicate clients across loans |
| Household | The people who apply or live together, plus shared assets and expenses | People and opportunities | Joint borrowers share living costs without two copies |
| Opportunity | One loan request: purpose, amount, stage, lender, owner | People, documents, tasks | A refinance three years later is a new opportunity, not a new client |
| Liability | Debt type, lender, limit, repayment | The person who owes it | One credit card appears in every scenario that person is part of |
| Consent and disclosure | Privacy consent, plus the date the credit guide was given | The person it applies to | Each applicant gives their own consent and receives the guide |
Avoid Duplicate Clients
A duplicate appears when a returning client enquires through a new channel and nobody checks for an existing record. Match new enquiries on mobile number, email and date of birth before the CRM creates a record.
- Incorrect: Ava returns to refinance, and the assistant creates a new client called “Ava Chen (refi)”. Her ID check, consents and three years of notes now sit on an older record.
- Correct: The assistant finds Ava’s person record and adds a refinance opportunity to her household. The new file starts with her history and asks only for what has changed.
Finance CRM and Mortgage Broker CRM
In finance, CRM means customer relationship management: the system that tracks clients, conversations and follow-ups. A general finance CRM is built for a different business. As at October 2026, Salesforce describes its Financial Services Cloud as joining data from core banking, wealth and insurance platforms around each customer.
A mortgage broker CRM adds the records a broker’s file needs. Test it against the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s (ASIC) Regulatory Guide 273, issued on 24 June 2020 for the best interests duty. RG 273 expects records such as the credit guide given, information sent to the lender and application outcomes.
| Record a broker needs | Generic sales or finance CRM | Mortgage broker CRM |
|---|---|---|
| Fact find and living expenses | Custom fields you build yourself | A structured fact find linked to each applicant |
| Credit guide and privacy consent | A file attachment with no delivery date | A dated consent record for each applicant |
| Annual and fixed-rate reviews | A manual reminder | A review task created from the loan’s settlement and rate-expiry dates |
| Lender handoff | An email in someone’s inbox | The application data and lender reference stored on the opportunity |
The best interests duty guide explains the obligation itself. Here, the test is narrower: each RG 273 record needs a place on the client or opportunity, not in an inbox.
Follow the Client Journey
Every stage of a loan file needs one owner, one required record and one trigger that moves it on. Put those three on the opportunity so any authorised staff member can see who holds the file and what it’s waiting for.
Reminders, Reviews and Reassignment
Ownership, reminders and annual reviews belong to the opportunity, not a person’s calendar. As at October 2026, BrokerEngine’s Reviews dashboard triggers a client review at interest-only expiry, fixed-rate expiry and periodic milestones. LMG describes post-settlement automations in MyCRM for reviews, referrals and repeat business.
Test reassignment before you commit to a CRM system. Move a file from one broker to another, then check that the notes, emails, tasks and documents stay on the opportunity with their original author and date. Deactivate a departed staff member’s login and confirm their activity history remains.
Keep marketing preferences in their own field, so an unsubscribe in a campaign tool updates the client record. The marketing tools guide covers the campaign tools themselves.
Follow One Synthetic File
This fictional file follows Mei and Daniel Ortiz, who are buying a $720,000 home with a $576,000 loan, a loan-to-value ratio (LVR) of 80%. Daniel earns a salary, and Mei has worked casual shifts for 14 months.
| Stage | Handoff owner | Required record in the CRM | Approval trigger |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fact find | Client services officer | Completed fact find, ID check, privacy consent and the date each applicant received the credit guide | The broker reviews the fact find before research starts |
| Policy research | Broker | Policy answers with the lender’s quoted wording in the file notes, saved against scenario 1 | The broker approves a lender shortlist |
| Assessment | Loan processor prepares, broker checks | The lender calculator output and preliminary assessment, labelled with the scenario number | The broker signs off the assessment |
| Recommendation | Broker | The options considered, the recommendation and the reasons, in the credit proposal | Both clients accept the recommendation |
| Lodgement | Loan processor | The application reference and submission acknowledgement | The broker approves the final application data |
| Conditions | Loan processor | One task per lender condition, with a due date and the document that clears it | The broker confirms every condition is met |
| Closure | Client services officer | Settlement date, loan details, fixed-rate expiry and the first annual review task | Settlement is confirmed and the review task exists |
Mei’s casual income makes lender policy the first question in this file. The broker loads the scenario from the CRM into Bulma, which checks it against 52+ lenders.
Bulma ranks the lenders into three groups: fits standard policy, fits with conditions and needs an exception. For each lender, it shows borrowing power, the conditions to meet and the documents to gather.
Bring External Results Back to the CRM
Return every output produced outside the CRM to the opportunity, with its scenario number and date. Save a servicing calculator result as a document named for the lender and scenario, such as “Lender calculator, scenario 2, 14 October 2026”. ASIC’s RG 273 lists calculator and comparison tool outputs among the records a broker keeps.
Copy each policy answer into the file notes with the policy it relied on. A Bulma answer quotes the policy wording, with the lender, the policy area and the date Bulma last updated that policy. The note then shows which rule the shortlist rested on.
When a fact changes, create a new scenario and keep the old one. Suppose Mei’s shifts drop after scenario 1: scenario 2 holds the new income, the new calculator output and a note on why the shortlist changed.
RG 273 says notes taken as you go help capture your reasoning at each point. Notes drafted only at the end may not be as effective.
Record the application reference from your lodgement platform on the opportunity. The loan origination software guide covers how lodgement and status tracking work.
Compare Access and Automation
Role permissions decide which staff can see ID documents, payslips, bank statements and credit reports. Set automation to create tasks a person reviews, so no client receives a lender or product recommendation the broker hasn’t approved.
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) explains the security duty in its Australian Privacy Principle 11 guidelines. APP 11 requires reasonable steps to protect personal information from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. The OAIC’s security guide adds access controls, prompt removal of access when someone leaves and audit logs that record system activity by each user.
Apply the Same Criteria to Each CRM
Score every shortlisted CRM against the same five criteria. The table below applies them to what each vendor documents, and a demo confirms a control before you sign.
| Criterion | What to check | Passes when |
|---|---|---|
| Privacy | Where client data is stored, encryption and independent security certification | Data location and certification are stated in writing |
| Consent | A dated privacy consent and credit guide record for each applicant | A new opportunity shows existing consents and flags missing ones |
| Role | Permissions by role for viewing, editing and downloading documents | An assistant can’t open a credit report the role excludes |
| Audit | A log of who viewed, changed or deleted a record | The log names the user and time for each action |
| Approval | Automated messages separated from advice | Advice drafts wait in a task until the broker approves them |
What Each CRM Documents
The table records what each vendor’s public pages describe, as at October 2026.
| CRM | Role and access controls | Security and data | Consent, compliance and approval tools |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mercury Nexus (Connective) | The product page doesn’t detail role permissions | The product page doesn’t detail certification or data location | Guided compliance workflows, notes captured as you work and DigiSign |
| BrokerEngine and BrokerEngine Plus (AFG) | Controls over who can see, create, edit and download data, plus custom team roles | Two-factor authentication and Australia-based hosting | BrokerEngine Plus has an integrated credit guide, privacy consent and credit proposal |
| Salestrekker | User permission settings by role | Multi-factor authentication (MFA), encryption, SOC 2 Type 2 certification and data stored in Australia | An enterprise portal gives aggregators user management, reporting and audit access |
| MyCRM (LMG) | The technology page doesn’t detail role permissions | SOC 2 Type 2 | Integrated best interests duty (BID) notes and audit-ready records |
| Infynity CRM (Finsure) | Finsure’s CRM page doesn’t detail role permissions | Finsure’s CRM page doesn’t detail certification or data location | Inbuilt compliance functionality |
Keep Automation to Reviewable Tasks
Automation is safe when it moves work to a person. BrokerEngine runs automated tasks, emails and SMS messages inside its workflows, and LMG’s MyNoteWriter drafts BID notes and client summaries in MyCRM.
- Incorrect: A fixed-rate expiry triggers an email telling the client to refinance with a named lender. Nobody checked the client’s current circumstances or the lender’s policy.
- Correct: The same expiry creates a review task for the client’s broker. The broker checks the file, then sends a message they’ve approved.
Status updates, such as “We’ve received your payslips”, can send automatically. Hold any note or message that recommends a loan, lender or product as a draft until the broker signs it off.
Move Existing Records
Run a migration trial with synthetic records before you move a single real client. The trial shows how the new CRM handles duplicates, attachments and your custom fields while mistakes are still cheap to fix.
Build the Synthetic Test Set
Create about 20 fictional clients in your current system, with no real names or documents. Include each case below, because each one breaks a different part of an import.
| Test record | What it exposes |
|---|---|
| The same client entered twice, with different email capitalisation and mobile formats | Whether the import merges, rejects or duplicates matching people |
| Joint borrowers in one household | Whether household links survive or the couple arrives as two unrelated clients |
| One client with a home loan and an investment loan | Whether both opportunities attach to one person |
| A 40-page scanned statement, a phone photo and a password-protected PDF | Attachment size limits, file types and documents that fail to open |
| Custom fields for fixed-rate expiry, referral source and trail start date | Whether each custom field maps to a field in the new CRM or is dropped |
| A settled file with notes, emails and completed tasks | Whether activity history keeps its dates and authors |
| A record missing a required field, such as date of birth | What the import does with incomplete data |
Run the Trial and Record Every Field
- Export the synthetic records from your current CRM. BrokerEngine’s pricing page, as at October 2026, says customers own their data and can export it in CSV format at any time.
- Map each exported column to a field in the new CRM, and list any column with no match.
- Import that file into a trial or sandbox account.
- Count each field’s results as imported, rejected, duplicated or exported.
- Export the same records from the new CRM and compare them with the originals.
Keep the log as a table with one row per field. Record the number sent and how many were imported, rejected or duplicated. Then note whether the field exported back out unchanged.
Make a migration claim only from that log. “All client notes moved” is safe when the notes row shows every record imported and exported with matching dates and authors.
Plan the Exit From the Old System
Connective says, as at October 2026, that its onboarding specialists help brokers move from other aggregators and CRM platforms. Use that help for the real move, but run your synthetic trial first so you know which fields need manual work.
Keep the records your best interests duty requires after the move. RG 273 says how long you keep records can depend on the loan term, any interest-only period and refinancing.
Old exports and backups still count as personal information you hold. APP 11 asks you to destroy or de-identify personal information you no longer need, including archived and backup copies, unless a law requires you to keep it.
Evaluate the Cost
Count the cost of a mortgage broker CRM in annual terms. Separate what your aggregator membership already includes from paid CRM seats, onboarding and add-ons. The price structures below are as at October 2026.
| CRM | How it’s charged | Included or extra |
|---|---|---|
| Mercury Nexus | Included in Connective membership | Connective charges membership by partner group or commission split, plus a monthly fee for each loan writer |
| BrokerEngine Plus | Per user per month, for AFG brokers | BrokerEngine’s pricing page notes a bundled Suite360 fee that includes BrokerEngine Plus with other AFG tools |
| BrokerEngine | Per user per month, as Broker or Support users, with any aggregator | Kickstart onboarding is a one-off fee per broker group and includes data migration. There’s no free trial or fixed-term contract |
| Salestrekker | Per user per month | eSignatures, ID verification and premium tools cost extra, and aggregators using Salestrekker set their own pricing. There’s no free trial |
| MyCRM | LMG’s in-house platform for its brokers | Covered by LMG membership terms |
| Infynity CRM | Finsure’s CRM for its brokers | Covered by Finsure membership terms |
Count Seats by Role
BrokerEngine sells Broker seats for accredited brokers writing deals under their own broker codes, and cheaper Support seats for everyone else. Support users collaborate fully but don’t connect directly to integrations, so match each staff member’s seat to the integrations they use.
Count every person who needs a login, because BrokerEngine’s pricing page expects each team member to have their own user licence. Shared logins also break the audit log that ties each action to a person.
Annual Cost Worksheet
This fictional brokerage has two brokers, one loan processor and one client services officer. The worksheet counts units, so you can multiply them by each vendor’s current terms.
| Cost line | How to count it in annual terms | Fictional brokerage |
|---|---|---|
| Included aggregator functions | List the CRM, compliance and lodgement functions your membership already covers | Client record and lodgement come with membership |
| Paid CRM seats | Seats multiplied by 12 months for each user type | 2 Broker seats for the brokers and 2 Support seats is 48 seat-months |
| Onboarding | One-off setup, migration and training fees, plus staff hours | Year one only, then training for each new starter |
| Add-ons | eSignatures, ID checks and SMS messages, counted per use | Signatures and ID checks for each application written in a year |
| Storage | Documents per file multiplied by files a year, against any plan storage limit | About 60 documents for each of 80 files is 4,800 documents |
| Exit work | Export, mapping, re-import and checking, plus months running both systems | Two months of overlap while the trial and move finish |
If you’re comparing CRMs across aggregators, put each aggregator’s membership fee on the included line. The included CRM comes with that membership, so it isn’t free when you compare a move.
Manage an Asset-Finance File
An asset finance CRM records the asset, the supplier’s quote, the business borrower, any guarantors, the finance structure and the settlement dependencies. Each sits as a linked record on the opportunity, so the deal can settle without searching through emails.
What the Asset File Records
In this fictional case, Daniel Ortiz from the home loan file is the sole director of Coastline Joinery Pty Ltd. The company is buying a used CNC router, and Daniel will guarantee the loan.
| Record | What to capture | Example in the fictional file |
|---|---|---|
| Asset | Type, make, model, year, serial number, new or used | A used CNC router with its serial number |
| Supplier quote | Supplier name and Australian Business Number (ABN), price, GST, deposit or trade-in | The supplier’s quote, then the tax invoice in the company’s name |
| Business borrower | Entity type, ABN, GST registration, trading history, directors | Coastline Joinery Pty Ltd, with Daniel as director |
| Guarantors | Each guarantor’s person record, ID and consent | Daniel’s existing person record from the home loan |
| Finance structure | Chattel mortgage, finance lease or other structure, with term and any balloon or residual | A chattel mortgage with a balloon at the end of the term |
| Settlement dependencies | Tax invoice, insurance, signed documents, delivery and supplier payment | Insurance and the signed guarantee before the lender pays the supplier |
The Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR) records security interests over goods such as vehicles and equipment, not ownership. A lender that takes the equipment as security can register its interest there. For used equipment, a PPSR search on the serial number shows whether another lender already holds an interest.
Share Client Data Across Both Opportunities
Keep Daniel as one person record, with the mortgage and the equipment loan as two opportunities linked to it. His contact details, ID check and director role are shared, so nobody re-enters them.
Keep the documents and permissions separate. The company’s financials and the supplier invoice belong to the asset opportunity, while Mei and Daniel’s payslips and bank statements stay with the home loan. Each lender handoff stays on its own opportunity, because the asset lender and the mortgage lender receive different applications.
Bulma’s policy research covers 52+ residential lenders and no asset finance. The asset side of this file therefore relies on the asset lender’s own guidelines and your CRM’s asset workflow.
Which CRMs Handle Both
As at October 2026, LMG says MyCRM manages residential, asset and commercial finance on one platform, with workflows for quoting asset deals. Salestrekker includes home loan, asset finance and commercial lending tools, and Connective Asset Finance brokers use Mercury Nexus for clients, deals and commissions. BrokerEngine adds separate dashboards for home loan, commercial and asset deals.
Choose finance broker CRM software that keeps one person record across both loan types, with separate documents and permissions for each opportunity. If your brokerage writes equipment loans regularly, the asset finance software guide compares the tools built for that work.
