Better has fully rolled out a business partnership it has been testing with LPL Financial, which aims to give independent financial advisors access to particularly competitive mortgage rates for their clients.
The lender is offering the advisors’ clients up to one eighth of a percentage point off their interest rate, with a maximum of $5,000, according to Joey Staniford, senior director of partnerships at Better. In addition, Better is offering digital interfaces aimed at addressing advisor-specific needs like longer-term refinance savings calculations tailored for retirement planning.
"We're delivering a rate discount, education materials and integrated tools to LPL, and positioning Better to continue to expand its partnership offerings, which leverage its existing core strengths in technology and customer service," Staniford said.
Better has sought to attract a broad range of marketing partners, having previously formed arrangements with
LPL supports more than 19,000 financial advisors and those who are not affiliated with a particular institution have been in need of a competitive mortgage option for their clients, executive vice president of investor experience Scott Belous said. The company works with 800 institution-based investment programs and 450 independent registered investment advisor firms nationwide. The addition of Better as a partner helps to round out a broader improvement of the company’s digital platform and its services, the LPL executive said.
“What we heard from advisors when clients had a need for mortgages was that they often had to send them over to somebody who was potentially a competitor. Now the independent advisors can provide this offer from Better to their clients instead of, saying ,’Go to the local bank branch because I don’t have an option for you,’” said Belous. “We really scoured the market and wanted to find a partner, No. 1, didn’t compete with [them] and, No. 2, probably more importantly, provided … really competitive rates and as simple of a user experience as possible.”
