Ultimate name change for bond originator

The company's fully integrated homeowner services offerings have been re-branded oobasearch, oobabond, oobainsure, and oobacard, respectively.

Says Saul Geffen, chief executive of ooba, “The name MortgageSA no longer reflects the diversity of services and expertise that the company offers its clients. The offerings have for some time extended well beyond mortgage origination, and our name needed to change to facilitate our vision.”

“We've developed our bond origination expertise into a complete home-ownership solution that offers convenience, expertise and savings for the homeowner. With the addition of the oobacard, ooba is the only company in South Africa able to offer homebuyers a complete solution from searching for a home, to financing it, insuring it and ultimately enjoying living in it,” he adds.

‘Super', ‘the ultimate', ‘the best'

“ooba” is derived from the universally used word über, meaning ‘super', ‘the ultimate', ‘the best'.

“The oobacard is unlike any credit card offered in South Africa as it is specifically geared to save homeowners money when moving into their home,” says Geffen. "The oobacard is exclusively available to customers who have sourced their home loan finance through oobabond".

The oobacard gives cardholders discounts of between 7.5 – 35% at leading national retailers and providers of home-related products and services, including Mr Price Home, Weylandts, ADT Security, SA Paving, Pickfords, Glasfit, Wonder Flooring, Water Comfort, House of Paint and MWEB. The entire discount programme is automated, and cardholder discounts either reflect at point-of-sale, or on the cardholder's statement, depending on the merchant.

“When a customer buys a house they will go through the costly exercise of moving into the home and spending on household contents, services and improvements,” says Geffen. “The oobacard provides access to credit to manage the costs of moving, and gives substantial savings on everything from the move, to improving the property, buying necessary household goods and securing vital services like security and internet connectivity.”

Partnership with Absa

The oobacard offers all the benefits of a gold card, as well as the additional advantage of a garage card with free roadside assistance. The oobacard is issued in partnership with Absa Bank, under licence of MasterCard.

• ooba, an authorised financial services provider, currently offers a spectrum of homebuyer-related financial services, including bond origination and all related insurance and assurance products. The company also operates one of the country's largest online property search portals for homebuyers, with over 144 000 homes from leading estate agencies.