John Charcol ?

monkeydust_2

Any comments on them? They seemed to have found me a good rate - they are charging £500 which is a bit but if they take care of all the hassle then it may be a price worth paying since I am fairly time-starved at the moment.

Appreciate your comments

dunstonh

Charcoal is well known and there is nothing to suggest they wouldnt give you a good service. However, they only operate from a limited panel and are not whole of market. You could easily see a whole of market mortgage advisor and pay less than £500 for the advice.

stanmoresaver

monkeydust wrote:

Any comments on them? They seemed to have found me a good rate - they are charging £500 which is a bit but if they take care of all the hassle then it may be a price worth paying since I am fairly time-starved at the moment.

Appreciate your comments

Are they doing the deal over the phone, or face-to-face, because, unless it is a complicated one, i would expect a face to face meeting for that.

From your perspective, a face to face meeting will often result in a smaller time investment.

KTF

I would approach another broker who wont charge you and see if they can match the rate (or even find you a better one). There is little point paying the fee if you can find the same deal for nothing.

MickKnipfler

I once told a mortgage advisor the best deal I could find then he wanted to charge me £500 to confirm it was the best deal available!!

herbiesjp

MickKnipfler wrote:

I once told a mortgage advisor the best deal I could find then he wanted to charge me £500 to confirm it was the best deal available!!

If you knew it was the best deal, then why did you go to the mortgage adviser?

MickKnipfler

I didn't. It was the best I could find.....

I didn't pay him though

monkeydust_2

thanks - reading the small print I can see that JC will mak £700 from the lender plus £500 for me - OK granted they will handle the paper work BUT is the effort really justified by the cost, given that I beleive theres nothing stopping me going to lender directly since I have not given them final sign-off.

dunstonh

OK granted they will handle the paper work BUT is the effort really justified by the cost,

A lifetime liabitility on the advice given, responsibility to get the transaction completed without problems or resolve problems if they arrive. The costs of getting staff and advisors qualified, ongoing regulation and document storage, computers, software etc.

Many firms will just take the bit the lender pays. If you want someone to help you, then go to an independent mortage advisor who charges no fees.

MortgageMamma

I would suggest you call your advisor at John Charcoals and ask why the £500 fee is necessary if they are making £700 commission. See if they are prepared to negotiate on the fee, perhaps giving you some back on completion.

From an advisors perspective, I wouldn't just walk away and go direct to the lender. Its behavior like this from "clients" that can put small firms under huge strain and can often make them go under. I charge most of my clients a returnable deposit for work that the mortgage procuration fee (commission) will cover if it is sufficient. I think this is the best way forward, as in my opinion any genuine client who could afford to do so would not reject the idea of a returnable payment.

Good luck whatever you decide.

monkeydust_2

No I agree with your MM - I have asked them to reduce their upfront cost which is too high for me anyway - given that there is also a £500 arrangement fee + £300 surveyor fee - anyway will do my own digging around next week