Consumer lending guidance may be longer and more prescriptive pretty soon, and continue to change."More direct" was the phrase used by Richard McMahon, ASIC's senior manager deposit takers, credit & payments, speaking at the Finance Brokers Association of Australia conference in Brisbane on Friday.So more direct guidance about what counts as "reasonable" inquiries by lenders, and about the steps to undertake to comply with the National Consumer Credit Act. Those are themes in ASIC's close studies of mortgage funders and retail lenders.RG 290, the chief regulatory guidance from ASIC, is under review. A new version will reach lenders by mid-December."Industry accountability has to be a critical part of remedying the trust deficit," McMahon told the FBAA throng.And ASIC perceives market failure in market research.Collecting data to track and evaluate attitudes, behaviour and financial situation of consumers across a range of financial service and products, is on the ASIC to-do list, notes for McMahon's talk on Friday show."Reform is underway," McMahon's told the FBAA, meaning within the industry."But beyond this, we encourage industry participants to look at the experiences of consumers set out in our report and consider what else can be done to improve consumer experiences. "We are supportive of measures to help consumers make informed decisions," he said - and he meant including via finance brokers."The home loan journey is complex, multifacted and non-linear."ASIC took the FBAA back to Report 628, published in August."Consumers who use brokers expect brokers to find them the 'best' loan.""Our survey suggested that consumers who used brokers were more likely to be first home buyers and to have less knowledge about the loan they'd like."Regardless of channel, consumers had a strong tendency to take out a loan with a lender they had an existing relationship with. This tendency was most prevalent in consumers that took out their loan directly with a lender.  "We found that by far the strongest factor influencing this behaviour was convenience."