Frequently asked questions

Q: Who owns Sherlok?

A: Sherlok was founded by award-winning mortgage broker Adam Grocke, who was sick and tired of the banks offering better interest rates to new customers while existing customers were being charged a ‘loyalty tax’ (a higher interest rate the longer they are with the bank). Today, Sherlok remains privately held by Adam, his founding team and some of Australia’s best fintech investors who have invested over $2mil to accelerate Sherlok’s mission to be the #1 platform for brokers to keep clients for longer by single click repricing & single click refinancing.

Q: How does Sherlok work?

A: Sherlok is an automated retention tool that detects quality refinancing and home loan repricing leads in your existing trail book, and delivers them straight to your inbox. It’s a win-win: your clients are more likely to stay loyal knowing they’re on the best possible rate, and because Sherlok works quietly in the background, you’ll look like the hero. You can watch a demo here.

Q: What’s the benefit for my business?

A: Sherlok boosts your business in two ways:

1. Reprices your existing clients’ loans without you lifting a finger
Every broker strives to keep their clients on the best rate, but lack of time and resources can often get in the way. Put Sherlok to work and it’ll not only detect when your clients could be on a lower rate with their current lender, but will automatically reprice the loan on your behalf. Your clients save money, and you’ll look like the hero = win win.

2. Generates valuable refinancing leads from your existing trail book
When you’re seeking growth, it can be easy to focus your attention on new leads and forget about the opportunities that could come from refinancing your existing clients, not to mention the benefits of protecting your trail book income. Sherlok solves this problem by automatically comparing your clients’ rates against other lender rates, and sending these valuable refinance home loan leads straight to your inbox.

Learn more here about how Sherlok helps mortgage brokers.

Q: Can anyone use Sherlok?

A: Not all brokers can use Sherlok just yet but the majority can. We’re hard at work building our data mapping across all platforms so every broker can help their clients save money through repricing. Check here to see if you can access Sherlok just yet, or if you join our waitlist we’ll let you know when you can.

Q: Do I need to have a certain amount of clients to use Sherlok?

A: Yes. For Sherlok to produce the best results, you need to have a customer base or loan book with approximately 100 customers or loans.

Q: Does Sherlok only offer lenders I’m accredited with?

A: Yes. Sherlok will default your accreditation settings to all the lenders that appear on your trail book. You can select more or less lenders in your profile settings.

Q: How does Sherlok know what my client’s current interest rate is?

A: We’ve built our own predictive algorithm that accurately calculates the current rate within 0.1%. We’re also developing an option for your clients to authenticate a connection to track their rate through their online banking portal.

In mid/late 2022, Sherlok will be connecting to the open banking platform. You’ll be notified when this is available, and you’ll be able to control if you want your clients to connect to open banking and our connector

Q: How do you calculate Sherlok retention scores?

A: It includes a lot of things. It’s a combination of interest rates, the savings per customer, the current LVR and their current property value. It also takes into account the loan amount. In the future, we’ll include digital and social behaviours, too, so Sherlok will be able to predict when a client is going to move away from you before they do, depending on what their online social behaviours are.

Q: How do I upload my clients’ data

A: There are two ways for Sherlok to collect your existing client data:

1. You can authenticate a connection to your CRM system for Sherlok to collect the data;
2. You may be required to upload your commission statements each month depending on who your aggregator is. You can email us at brokersupport@sherlok.com.au if you have any questions.

Q: Why aren’t all my loans showing up in the Sherlok portal?

A: Sometimes Sherlok can’t match all your data. This is because we collect your data from what’s been inputted into your CRM and its backend systems. Here are some of the reasons your data may not match: The data doesn’t exist in your CRM or backend systems

• You may have done a paper application
• The loan is no longer active
• You’re no longer being paid a commission for this loan
• You haven’t been paid a commission for this loan last month
• There are multiple cloned applications in your CRM and we weren’t 100% sure which one to collect

Q: Why does Sherlok need my CRM login details, and it is safe?

A: This allows us to verify that you’re the broker who owns the data, and allows us to import the data to Sherlok’s secure platform. Our broker onboarding process only takes 5mins as our tech does all the heavy lifting. Our bank level security ensures your data is encrypted using 256 bit encryption. Your data is also managed, tested and stored on Australian servers.

Q: Why does Sherlok need my lender portal login details, and is it safe?

A: Sherlok needs unique authentication to access certain lender data. This will allow us to automatically reprice your loans with these lenders. Our bank level security ensures your data is encrypted using 256 bit encryption. Your data is also managed, tested and stored on Australian servers.

Q: What if my lender password or CRM password changes?

A: Sherlok automatically knows when a password has been changed, and will notify you via email to update your password and login details. You can also do this at any time in your account settings in the Sherlok portal.

Q: How long does it take for my data to be connected?

A: Once you’ve authenticated the data connection and we’ve verified your ID, Sherlok starts working in the background right away. It usually takes 24-48 hours to collect, match and analyse all your data, and once it’s been uploaded to your portal, we’ll notify you via SMS and email.

Q: How often is my data updated?

A: We’ll automatically access and check your data with your CRM systems on a regular basis – this might be once a month or sometimes more. This process happens automatically in the background, so there’s nothing you need to do.

When we have a reprice response from the lender or your client indicates they want to refinance, Sherlok will automatically update your clients’ loan data in the portal.

Q: Can Sherlok update my CRM?

A: In an ideal world we’d love to be able to update your CRM and even trigger marketing campaigns in your CRM, but it’s just not feasible right now. This is because we’d need your CRM system to have a two-way API to do this, and the majority don’t have this. As soon as they do, we’ll be straight on to it.

If you believe your CRM has a two way API that we can access, give us a shout at hello@sherlok.com.au and we’ll work with you and the CRM provider to get connected.

Also – if this is something your business really needs, we can give you a quote for a custom connection that can write data back into your CRM. Let us know if you’re interested by sending an email to hello@sherlock.com.au and we’ll get in touch to arrange a time to chat.

Q: Can I have refinance leads sent to another broker or admin team member?

A: Absolutely. You can nominate who you want the refinance leads and notifications to be sent to. You can change this in your account settings within the Sherlok portal.

We recommend the leads are sent to someone who can action them quickly to increase the chance of conversion. You can only select one email and mobile for leads to be sent to, but in the portal, you can view all the clients who have been repriced and presented with refinance options.

Q: Can I set up admin access in the Sherlok portal?

A: Yes. Setting up admin access is currently free – you can do this in your account settings in the Sherlok portal.

Q: How much does Sherlok cost?

A: Sherlok offers a free trial period, after which you can choose which subscription option suits your needs. See our pricing and subscription options here.

Q: Can I turn Sherlok off or cancel my subscription?

A: Yes, you can delete your Sherlok account at any time. We’ll keep your data for 30 days, and you’re welcome to reactivate your account at any point during that 30 day cooling-off period. After 30 days, your data will be permanently and securely deleted.

When we’ve closed your account, we’ll let you know by sending an email to your registered email address. If you’d like to use Sherlok again, you’ll need to create a new account.

Before closing your account, consider sending us an email (hello@sherlok.com.au) to let us know why. We value every single one of our brokers, and we’d love to know if there’s anything we can do to help.

Q: Does Sherlok reprice or refinance mortgages during clawback periods?

A: Sherlok will only reprice your clients during a clawback period unless the loan is identified and scored as very high or high risk of refinancing away from you. We have an advanced algorithm that leverages machine learning to perfect this scoring system so rest assured, it’s very accurate. However, humans are funny creatures and some clients may leave to refinance with someone else because their mother, brother, sister, cousin is a broker and unfortunately, Sherlok can’t identify that… well, not yet anyway.

Q: What if I’ve spoken to a client recently about repricing or refinancing?

A: We recommend finding the client in Sherlok and clicking ‘reprice now’ (you’ll need to be on our Premier and Ultimate subscriptions to access this feature). Sherlok will do all the hard work and automatically communicate the reprice result and present two refinance options to your client if it’s financially beneficial for them to consider refinancing. This is all done on your behalf with your branding so you don’t need to do anything.

Q: Can I change the repricing and refinancing emails that are being sent?

A: Yes! Our email template editor allows you to customise the wording and branding of the emails your clients receive.

Q: Can I control my notification settings so I know when my clients have been repriced or offered refinances?

A: You’ll be notified when a client is ready to refinance and yes, you can control the notification settings within your account settings. If there’s any other notifications that you think would be helpful, we’re all ears. Give us a shout at hello@sherlok.com.au and we’ll be in touch.

Q: Is there a maximum number of leads I can request each month?

A: The maximum number of leads you can request each month is limited by your subscription, and also the size of your loan book. 

Q: What if I want more or less leads each month?

A: Sherlok has been built by brokers for brokers, so we understand that you may want less leads this month and more the next. That’s why we’ve made it easy to dial up or down the number of leads you want each month – you can do this via your account settings in the Sherlok portal.

We also know that brokers need proper holidays and time off, which is why you can pause the refinance leads at any time. You can do this through your account profile.

Q: Do you do bulk repricing?

A: Nope. We don’t go off and reprice 200 clients, because you’ll just be inundated with work. Our system automatically trickles in through at random points through the day. This means the lenders systems don’t become overload. Our repricings are trigger based on keeping the clients who are at risk of leaving you.

Q: What do you do with my clients’ data? Is it safe?

A: We take privacy and data security seriously. Sherlok is built on a secure platform, and we regularly run intrusion testing to ensure the platform is safe and up to date.

Q: Am I allowed to upload my clients’ data without their consent?

A: Yes. mortgage brokers have a privacy consent form that allows you to collect and provide your clients’ information to third parties as long as it’s being used to maintain their current loan or help them obtain a new one. Make sure you check the T&C’s in your privacy consent or agreements. 

Rest assured, we don’t provide your clients’ data to any third parties. We only provide the data to you, and the lender your client is currently with so that we can reprice their loan.