Loan Ranger Closes Net

Sun Herald

Sunday February 6, 2000

By JOHN SYNNOTT

IT sounds like an e-version of the American dream.

Chris Larsen has a $2 billion home loans business in a rise from relative obscurity that proves little guys can make it big on the Internet.

Mr Larsen and partner Janina Pawlowski started out as just another mortgage brokerage in California in 1992.

Nothing much happened until the Internet arrived in 1995. They were quick off the mark, customising a big range of loans and giving buyers lots of information.

They did what the Internet does best cut out the middle men, the commissioned loan agents.

``It was a brand new business it is hard for old businesses to switch old channels so it was an opportunity to carve out a new way of doing things," Mr Larsen said.

``On the Internet you have to be number one or two being known matters a lot more in e-commerce. And the competition is fierce because it is so close."

Mr Larsen admits he was lucky with timing. There were other brokers who started on the Internet earlier but before investors began putting in big money.

This allowed a cashed-up E-Loan to spend up big on advertising to project its name a known name boosts trust, often a bigger issue than price for customers. ``In e-commerce trust is important are you reliable? Buying a home is an anxiety-ridden transaction and people are handing over a lot of information about their lives," Mr Larsen said.

He had some good global luck, too, in July, when Rupert Murdoch decided to get into Internet business via e-partners, and invested $34 million in Mr Larsen's E-Loan in a tie-up with the Japanese investment house Softbank to spread their electronic commerce outfit eVentures to Australia, New Zealand, Britain and India.

It arrived here during the week and Mr Larsen helped launch the local E-Loan. Consumers can pick from 140 loan packages from 10 lenders, with E-Loan working on a commission.

It joins local online brokers eChoice, Lenders Online, Loan Net, Bankchoice and a growing number of bank and non-bank loan sites, including the Packer-backed Wizard.com.au

© 2000 Sun Herald

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