Banks pay real estate agents for home loan referrals

That includes Bank of New Zealand, despite its current aggressive advertising campaign using the slogan: "We’ve cut out brokers to give you a great home loan deal."

BNZ spokesman Owen Gill says his bank has not and would never pay cash for referrals. However, "there are some instances where we give people some Flybuys." Flybuys points can be redeemed for a wide range of goods and services, including travel and accommodation.

That suggests BNZ’s campaign really should be making it clear that although it has cut out some middlemen, it hasn’t cut out others.

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