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Date Published : Wednesday, February 27, 2008
The rise in fortunes of Wizard across Australia has been impressive as, in little over a decade, the home loans company has gone from having one branch to more than 250 and becoming the largest non-bank mortgage lender in the country.
Formed in 1996 in Sydney, Wizard initially aimed to break up the banks' monopoly on the home loan market, as no other financial institution could get a look in throughout Australia.
Early on, Wizard secured the backing of GE Money - a branch of General Electric - which has substantial presence in Australia and New Zealand with a number of mortgage lenders.
Through this partnership, Wizard was able to expand its business rapidly and offer home loans to a number of buyers who had previously thought that they could not secure the money.
Since then, Wizard has won many industry awards including the Mortgage Industry Association of Australia's mortgage manager of the year (2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007), Money Magazine's cheapest home loan - for six years in a row - and has been voted best non-bank lender by Australian Banking and Finance Magazine three times.
Recently, Wizard's profile has been heightened by the sponsorship of the Wizard Home Loans Cup - the AFL pre-season competition for 2005 - along with a franchise policy which has helped more branches spring up across the country.
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