Countrywide mortgage consultants - are they good?

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Comments

  • betmunch
    betmunch Posts: 3,126 Forumite
    kingstreet wrote: »
    You can have a good adviser who is constrained by his/her employer's practices so he is unable to do what a good adviser with a whole market broker can do.

    Who benefits from a restricted panel of lenders?

    Thank you KingStreet, that is all I wanted to hear.

    In my opinion there a tons of good advisors in Countrywide group. (and tons more sharks to be fair.)

    You are right though, they are constrained by their employers practices, which is a huge shame. There is no denying that Countrywide benefit from having the constrained panel. But that does not mean the advisor himself, or the advice is bad.

    I agree that, that same advisor given access to the whole of the market can in many cases get better products.

    I just didnt like that ALL Countrywide Advisors are not good, and I thank you for having a more balanced view of the situation.
    I am a Mortgage Adviser
    You should note that this site doesn't check my status as a Mortgage Adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice.
  • betmunch
    betmunch Posts: 3,126 Forumite
    koexelek wrote: »
    Often estate agents do not work in the best interests of their vendors....

    The Corporate ones in general will ONLY work in their own interests and rely on the fact that in many cases (not all) this will tie in with the best interests of the Vendor.

    Having said that I have recently been to a meeting and told that buyers doing a mortgage through our in house advisor should get preference over cash buyers!!!
    I am a Mortgage Adviser
    You should note that this site doesn't check my status as a Mortgage Adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice.
  • dunstonh
    dunstonh Posts: 116,041
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    Personality of the individual is not something that that is unique to one type of adviser. You could have a very nice tied agent and a horrible independent/whole of market or vice versa.

    However, the limitations of what a limited panel/tied agent can offer are unique to that type of adviser. Also, a salesforce mentality can slip in to even the nicest of advisers. Hence why national/regional salesforces should be avoided along with limited/tied advisers. It doesnt matter who they are. Even a salesforce IFA should be avoided.
    I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.
  • johnmd
    johnmd Posts: 10 Forumite
    I'm a FTB and new to this but I spoke to a countrywide mortgage adviser on Saturday.

    Worst I've dealt with so far. He glossed over the section that mentioned he was whole of market and when I asked him about the rather high figures he was giving it was put down to anyone else I had seen only showing me the cheapest rates, not the ones that I could actually get, no explanation why.

    Would use him if a house depended on it.
  • We used a countrywide adviser when we bought our first house, young and naive and needed the hand holding. To be fair, he did get us a good mortgage (but we couldn't have been a more straightforward case as far as clients go - two incomes, married, both good credit, had saved a good deposit, modest property).

    BUT

    With it he managed to sell us an endowment. (This was in 2000.) What he failed to explain to us (or at least when we looked back at the paperwork it was all there, so he hadn't done anything 'wrong', but he had certainly glossed over it at the time when speaking to us) was that the (countrywide) endowment and the mortgage were separate products. So whilst he was seeking out mortgage deals from a range of lenders, the endowment was from the company he worked for. There was no searching the market for that at all.

    Yes, I'm embarrassed to admit that we didn't realise this and we have learnt many lessons as a result. Clearly with hindsight an endowment wasn't the best move but that's not what makes me cross a decade later. We were happy with the risks at the time, and they were explained. What makes me cross is that we trusted him to guide us through the minefield and he was clearly not acting in our interests but his own. We were unsure whether to go repayment or endowment. We didn't realise it would make a difference to him and thought he was impartial but in hindsight, looking back at the conversations, he was clearly very biased which he hoped we'd go for, and bigged up the endowment just enough to get us to sign. Whether or not we made an appropriate decision for our circumstances at the time, had we realised, we would never had based such a huge decision on advice from someone who had such a vested interest. Also, we didn't realise he was simply selling us one of his own products. We didn't even realise that having decided to go down the endowment route, there would be any choice of endowments - we thought it was tied to the mortgage in one product and he was seeking out the best deal for that. We knew and accepted that he would be earning a commission on the mortgage (I wouldn't expect him to work for nothing and that's why we trusted him) but we weren't aware at the time that he would be earning an extra even heftier commission on the endowment if we took it (and all the associated life cover) as a separate product.

    Yes, we should have read and made sure we understood everything before we went ahead, but what's the point in using a broker with a conflict of interests? If he only makes sure you understand the bits that *he* wants you to understand? We even thought we were being clever as this broker was tied to a different estate agent than the one we eventually used. (The first property we tried to buy fell through but by then we had a relationship with him and trusted him, so continued to use him, having also learnt by then that using a broker connected to the estate agent isn't wise.)

    I accept that not all brokers are like this. For our next mortgage we used a family friend and he was wonderful. (We weren't such an easy case then, young family, down to one income...) Since then we've done it ourselves.
  • betmunch wrote: »
    Thank you KingStreet, that is all I wanted to hear.

    In my opinion there a tons of good advisors in Countrywide group. (and tons more sharks to be fair.)

    You are right though, they are constrained by their employers practices, which is a huge shame. There is no denying that Countrywide benefit from having the constrained panel. But that does not mean the advisor himself, or the advice is bad.

    I agree that, that same advisor given access to the whole of the market can in many cases get better products.

    I just didnt like that ALL Countrywide Advisors are not good, and I thank you for having a more balanced view of the situation.


    Hi countrywide do use a preferred panel and this is disclosed in their IDD however that do have access to whole market lenders who accept introduced buz and often they do use off panels lenders if this is best suits their clients .Its worth noting that no one has access to all lenders as there are an increasing numbers of lenders who only accept direct applications so a supposed independant will not recommend the best product because he wont earn anything sothere is NO such thing as an independant whole market advisor .Countrywide charge a fee of 199.00 paid when completed which isnt bad.Like all advisors the lender pays a commission to the advisors company .. countrywide target their advisorsbased on same commission whichever lender - to give a balance view and not to be swayed by a higher commission paying lender.. unlike an indpendant who will be swayed by commission amounts in most cases .The panel lenders use countryide surveyors for the vals and come with a pledge which is good. Countrywide advisors work for a seperate co. to the EA albeit both owned by the same parent co .. the advisor cant disclose his clients personal details and finances to the Estate agency people its against data protection and can have severe consquences if in breach. Their is no reason why you wouldnt use an advisor in an Estate agent and you will find very experienced advisors but as with any walk of life there will be bad apples or trainees.
  • asheranti wrote: »
    We are currently shopping around to see what mortgage deals would be available to us and an estate agent we visited suggested we spoke to their mortgage consultant as he considers deals from the entire market.

    He turned out to be from Countrywide and gave us a lovely brochure to go with a very glossy sales pitch! He seemed very helpful and even in our first meeting was giving us lots of explanations, tips and advice. His services sounded great as Countrywide can look after the whole process, includiing negotiating for you with estate agents on house prices, arranging surveys etc, or you can just use them for the mortgage and arrange for them to use people of your own choosing eg solicitors.

    My only issue was that a I had a little nagging feeling inside that it was all just a bit too good to be true. I asked him about charges as he made it clear that there were no charges until the mortgage is arranged, and then it is a straightforward fee of £199. He insisted that this was definitely it and that there are no other charges apart from those you have to pay to other people. This doesn't seem right to me. Surely they get money from elsewhere? Maybe a commission from the mortgage lenders? While thinking this he seemed quite keen on pushing us towards a Halifax mortgage which may just have been that he thought it was the best deal, but on his computer screen it was quite far down the list (it had ordered them in terms of best interest rates) so I was a little sceptical.

    I was just interested to know what people think about Countrywide? Has anyone used them before and were your thoughts? Is the £199 really all they charge or do they get other payment from elsewhere?

    Will get a comission as well just like any other advisor and will disclose this in the recommendation made 199 fee is cheap most IFAs charge 1 per cent of loan
  • Any adviser MUST issue you with an IDD (Initial Disclosure Document) before providing any formal illustrative quotes or providing mortgage advice. This will detail the following key points to answer your questions:
    1)what level of service they offer - where its advice, non-advice, or if you have a choice of either
    2)whose products they offer - whether its one lender (usually only the case with high street banks), a 'panel' of lenders (products from a limited number of lenders), or products from across the market.
    3) details of any fees you pay for their services - e.g. there may be an option of paying a 'broker' fee or opting that the adviser is paid in commission by the lender, or both
    The idea of this document (the reason its so important) is to enable to you make an informed decision whether to use their services or not. If you feel you would benefit more by going to a different provider, the estate agent MUST NOT decline viewing of properties - if this happens, please speak to someone senior. However, if you decline their mortgage service, its ultimately not in their interest to turn away potential buyers (especially considering how much they are struggling at the moment)
    Regards,
    D
  • kingstreet
    kingstreet Posts: 38,691
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    1967vike wrote: »
    Hi countrywide do use a preferred panel and this is disclosed in their IDD however that do have access to whole market lenders who accept introduced buz and often they do use off panels lenders if this is best suits their clients .Its worth noting that no one has access to all lenders as there are an increasing numbers of lenders who only accept direct applications so a supposed independant will not recommend the best product because he wont earn anything sothere is NO such thing as an independant whole market advisor .Countrywide charge a fee of 199.00 paid when completed which isnt bad.Like all advisors the lender pays a commission to the advisors company .. countrywide target their advisorsbased on same commission whichever lender - to give a balance view and not to be swayed by a higher commission paying lender.. unlike an indpendant who will be swayed by commission amounts in most cases .The panel lenders use countryide surveyors for the vals and come with a pledge which is good. Countrywide advisors work for a seperate co. to the EA albeit both owned by the same parent co .. the advisor cant disclose his clients personal details and finances to the Estate agency people its against data protection and can have severe consquences if in breach. Their is no reason why you wouldnt use an advisor in an Estate agent and you will find very experienced advisors but as with any walk of life there will be bad apples or trainees.
    1. Countrywide's website says advisers can step outside panel when "there are no suitable products on our panel" not "to ensure our client gets the best deal possible" which is completely different.

    2. Many intermediaries have access to ALL lenders including those paying no procuration fee. For example, I have the option of charging a fee (which is lower than that charged by Countrywide!) to advise a borrower to apply to a lender paying no procuration fee and the "sale" will be accompanied by KFI and suitability letter and will be fully "advised" affording them full regulatory protection.

    So this;-
    no one has access to all lenders as there are an increasing numbers of lenders who only accept direct applications so a supposed independant will not recommend the best product because he wont earn anything sothere is NO such thing as an independant whole market advisor

    is inaccurate.

    3. Countrywide gets survey kickbacks from panel lenders? That answers my question about who benefits from restricted panels, surely?
    I am a mortgage broker. You should note that this site doesn't check my status as a Mortgage Adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice. Please do not send PMs asking for one-to-one-advice, or representation.
  • Meeper
    Meeper Posts: 1,394 Forumite
    1967vike wrote: »
    most IFAs charge 1 per cent of loan
    What world are you living in?
    I am an Independent Financial Adviser
    You should note that this site doesn't check my status as an Independent Financial Adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice.
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