In this week’s podcast we talk to Tim Akinnusi, the CEO of MortgageMarket.co.za. Tim is originally from Nigeria but has resided in South Africa for 30 years. He is the former Managing Executive of ABSA Home Loans, and prior to that he was the Executive Head of Sales and Client Value Management at Nedbank Home Loans.

Tim is a seasoned property finance expert with over 15 years’ experience in the financial sector. Tim started MortgageMarket in 2020 to help ordinary South Africans get the best loan to value.

MortgageMarket is the first online marketplace for home loans to give customers direct access to the Top 7 banks in SA and has done more than 2000 homeloans; they pay customers R5,000 cash back just for getting their home loan through the platform.

MortgageMarket will also help you find a property, understand if the property is priced correctly so you are not over-paying for the property. They also help you get the best deal for your mortgage by being able to compare deals across banks and negotiate better.

MortgageMarket also works with property developers who are buying land in good areas to partner with them to help them make sure they are packaging the properties in a way that allows the banks to see value in what they are offering.

MortgageMarket is also expanding into insurance and bridging finance.

In this podcast episode Tim also shares how to increase your credit score without a credit card or taking on more debt. The higher your credit score, the more like you are to qualify for a home loan.

He lost out on buying his first home for R345,000 off plan because he had too much debt (an expensive car), so he ended up buying his first home for R600,000 and ended up paying transfer costs.

He has started to build a strong property portfolio because he can see properties before they hit the market, from working with property developers.