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Jessica Darnbrough
The impact of Refund Home Loans' voluntary administration would appear to have hit sister companies Refund Financial Planning and Refund Real Estate.
The Adviser, the sister publication to Real Estate Business, received a number of tip offs that the general managers of both companies had moved on from their positions last week. This was later confirmed by a source previously associated with the company.
“There is an expectation that both companies will follow Refund Home Loans into administration,” the source said.
It's unclear whether Refund Real Estate is still accepting franchisee applications. Real Estate Business contacted the Refund Real Estate franchisee hotline but was yet to hear back from the company at the time of writing.
The sole South Brisbane Refund Real Estate franchisee declined to comment when contacted by The Adviser yesterday.
Only last week, a spokesperson for Refund Real Estate told Real Estate Business that the company still had plans to open 50 offices by July next year.
Two weeks ago, Refund shocked the broking industry when it announced it had entered into voluntary administration.
According to a communication sent from the administrators SV Partners to Refund Home Loans' franchisees, increasing pressure from creditors forced the company to call in administrators to complete a clean and quick sale of the business.
Refund Home Loans franchisees are currently in discussions with the administrator about the future of the business and outstanding commissions, with the first creditors meeting held in Brisbane yesterday.
One of the key areas of contention involves broker commissions. However, the outlook for franchisees looks positive for now.
Speaking to The Adviser, SV Partners director David Stimpson said all commissions would continued to be paid to brokers upon settlement.
“Brokers will continue to receive their commissions on loans settled from now onwards, however, we are currently trying to work out the logistics surrounding commissions on loans that were settled prior to my appointment,” he said.
Mr Stimpson said he was hopeful a decision around this would be made by the end of the week.
