Recruiting a loan processor: compare the replacement guarantee

When comparing recruitment proposals for a loan processor or broker assistant, turn the replacement guarantee into a worked remedy: what event qualifies, what you must do, what the recruiter will provide and what happens if a replacement is not appointed. A longer headline period is not automatically a more useful remedy. Check the actual terms before treating a placement fee as protected.

This guide is for an Australian brokerage buying a recruitment placement. It is a purchasing worksheet, not a conclusion about contractual entitlement, enforceability or an employee’s rights. It does not describe Mortgage Talent’s guarantee terms. If you are buying ongoing staffing or a managed workflow instead, first use the recruitment-versus-managed-outsourcing responsibility map.

Read the remedy, not just the number of days

Public supplier descriptions show why the wording matters. Cox Purtell’s guarantee page describes a refund or replacement for permanent placements within its stated period, and directs clients to its terms of business. By contrast, Hudson’s September 2026 terms, clause 20, describe a conditional, one-time replacement undertaking and expressly address circumstances where no credit or refund is available. These are different suppliers’ published descriptions, not standard mortgage recruitment conditions or promises about your proposed engagement.

Ask for the documents that would apply to your vacancy, including the proposal, engagement letter, terms and any agreed amendment. Note the version and the clause beside each answer. A sales email can identify a question to resolve; it should not silently replace an inconsistent provision in the proposed agreement. Have your authorised reviewer resolve that inconsistency before acceptance.

Build a three-layer replacement card

Keep eligibility, remedy and operational coverage on separate rows. Otherwise a useful recruitment undertaking can be mistaken for a promise that next week’s lender follow-ups will be staffed.

Replacement-remedy record for a processor vacancy

Layer	What to establish from the proposed terms	Evidence or answer to retain
Eligibility	Covered placement type, qualifying departure, start event, end date, notification route, payment conditions and exclusions.	Clause references, actual dates, invoice status and the owner who will give notice.
Remedy	Replacement search, appointment, credit or refund; search exclusivity; time limits; extra costs; changed remuneration or role; treatment of a second departure.	The specific service or amount offered, unresolved conditions and what happens if the search ends without an appointment.
Operational coverage	Whether interim support, handover, access preparation and training are included at all.	Named work owners and separately approved arrangements; do not enter “included” without evidence.

For example, Hudson’s clause 20 makes payment, exclusive replacement instructions, notification and an unchanged role specification relevant to its undertaking. It also addresses additional sourcing costs and increased replacement remuneration. That is a reason to inspect these fields, not a conclusion that another recruiter has the same conditions. Do not infer a universal refund rule from either supplier example.

Test a complete fictional offer

The following exercise is entirely invented. It is not a summary of either supplier above, a Mortgage Talent offer, a market benchmark or legal advice. It uses numbered days to avoid implying a real calendar deadline.

Fictional Proposal A promises one replacement search if the appointed processor leaves during the first 90 calendar days after starting. The original fee must have been paid on time. Written notice must reach the named recruiter within five calendar days of departure. The vacancy must retain the same duties, hours and location. The search lasts 30 days from accepted instructions and carries no additional placement fee; any extra advertising needs separate approval. No appointment is guaranteed. If no hire is made, the replacement clause promises neither a refund nor a credit; separate legal rights are not assessed. Interim processing support is excluded.

Before relying on this fictional proposal, the brokerage’s reviewer would still clarify how its day counting, receipt and search-start wording operate. For the arithmetic below, assume the parties have expressly agreed the day numbers and receipt events shown.

Three outcomes under the stated fictional assumptions

Situation	What the record shows	Buyer’s next action
Processor leaves on day 42; written notice is received on day 44; fee was paid on time; role is unchanged.	The stated eligibility facts are present. The proposed remedy is a replacement search, not an appointed processor or returned fee.	Obtain confirmation that the search has been accepted, record its start/end and organise interim file coverage separately.
Same departure, but the brokerage now wants full-time credit-analysis work instead of part-time document coordination.	The replacement brief no longer matches the stated same-role condition.	Ask for the treatment of the changed vacancy before authorising a new search or assuming a free replacement.
The qualifying search starts, runs its agreed 30 days and produces no appointment.	The promised search can end without restoring staffing. No refund or credit is promised by this fictional replacement clause; separate legal rights are not assessed.	Review the search evidence and decide whether to revise the role or commission further work; do not book an assumed receivable.

The second case is particularly useful before signing. A brokerage may already suspect it needs a more experienced processor. If the likely response to an unsuccessful hire is to redesign the role, ask about that scenario now. Do not compare guarantees solely against the easier case in which nothing about the vacancy changes.

Compare the remedy with the risk you need to cover

Write the reason the guarantee matters to your purchasing decision. Is the concern paying a second recruitment fee, losing the ability to choose another search route, or having nobody to manage active files? Different concerns need different answers.

For the fictional offer, the search remedy addresses a possible second placement fee within its conditions. It does not solve immediate capacity. A refund option, if actually offered in another proposal, would answer a different financial question but still would not allocate the lender requests already in the queue. Keep those differences visible rather than assigning a single “guarantee quality” score.

Use a simple exposure list: original fee already paid, any agreed additional search costs, separately approved temporary cover and manager time needed for another assessment and onboarding. Leave unknown amounts unresolved. Do not add an anticipated refund as cash received, and do not include the original paid fee again as a new unpaid charge.

Keep the employment decision separate

Do not let an approaching recruitment deadline become the reason for an employment decision. The hiring manager should use the organisation’s appropriate performance and employment process; the person reviewing the supplier agreement should handle the commercial remedy. Escalate questions about either process to the relevant adviser rather than asking the recruiter’s guarantee to answer them.

If a departure occurs, give active preparation tasks an accepted owner, preserve the current broker instructions and organise the approved access handover. The mortgage support offboarding checklist covers that operational work. Acknowledgement of a replacement request is not confirmation that these tasks have been transferred.

Finish with a purchasing decision and a usable record

Keep the completed card with the agreed recruitment search mandate. Record which uncertainty was resolved, which condition remains unacceptable and who may accept the final terms. If the guarantee is central to the purchase, do not leave its remedy or exclusions as an unanswered post-start question.

Bring your processor or assistant brief and replacement questions to a Mortgage Talent hiring discussion. Ask for the terms applicable to the proposed arrangement. The useful outcome is not the longest guarantee label; it is knowing what you are buying, what would trigger it and what your brokerage must still organise.