Broker advice

sarkin

If this a direct broker deal then look for another broker with lower fees. There are brokers who dont charge fees but as Arkie said they will go out of business soon. They maybe more pushy on insurances to cover no broker fee.

minimike2

Im finding more and more now the need to charge a fee, even on prime cases, which I havent done in the past...usually about £250 on completion, unless its a purchase case where I still dont charge.

With the average mortgage size here only £70k, its almost not worth wile doing it without one with the rate of proc fees now.

No doubt that the future will be fees only.

dwsjarcmcd

The broker is taking the p**s at that amount, ditch him/her quick and save yourself £1500. Simple as that!

Either go find yourself another broker or if yours is a straightforward case (lower LTV, no bad credit etc) and you know what type of product you want e.g. 5 year fix, 3 year tracker etc. check out a site like moneyfacts.co.uk and you can do it yourself.

PhilipCalvert

Check out IFA Life to help you find an IFA, mortgage broker or financial planner. It's a social network for financial advisers, but it has a link with My Local Adviser which has access to every adviser in the UK.

www.ifalife.com

Phil

Conrad

Dunstohn, something oft overlooked is that brokers face a constant wall of risk. A high proportion of prospective clients want us to turn a blind eye to all sorts, from ingoring the maintenance paid to the ex, to not delving too deeply into how they plan to repay the capital on an interest only plan, or people that you know are planning to work abroad for a year but still want the best resi rate and free valuation!
Or then there are those that have been self employed 2 years, but only officially formed thier LTD co 6 months ago.......

How about the nice lady that secretly lets a room out? Do we turn her straigth forward cheap resi mortgage into some more expensive exotic loan?

What about the retiree that cant sell his house without taking a £50,000 hit, who wants to move to a small bungalow now as he cant use stairs / needs to be closer to family? Officially he might not have enough income - but he cant access the B2L deals for many and complex reasons. What to do with him? Tell him he must sell for £50,000 less - how is that treating customer fairly?

Are we to turn away these hoardes of ordinary, pretty honest people and resign them to be renters to make middle class B2L LLs rich?


Poeple have complex lives, and decent brokers can help, but income levels must be comensurate with the expertise and risks.

With respect to IFAs managing portfolios - a large percentage of highly qualified fund managers deliver very poor returns, so what hope is there for the IFA, not as highly trained or well educated in delivering any better?

Most IFAs I know aren't all that wealthy, which doesn't say much for thier ability to deliver above par worthwhile financial outcomes.

dunstonh

Most IFAs I know aren't all that wealthy, which doesn't say much for thier ability to deliver above par worthwhile financial outcomes.

Depends on what you mean by wealthy. Most of the IFAs I know earn over 100k a year. However, we deal with clients that earn far more and that doesnt make you any more or less capable of dealing with them.

It appears that the subject of high fees has made a couple of mortgage advisers feel uncomfortable and put them on the defensive.