Martins View On Using Mortgage Brokers...

underthematress

Hi looking for some advice even though I am getting so much advice that my head has gone to mush!

The broker (who charges a fee) will do a mortgage with the abbey fee free which we ahve negotiated but a deal with the woolich he will charge a fee (£200) he says because the woolich are harder to deal with and more hassel.

I am buying with someone else who is against the idea of using a broker and my brother has also said go straight to the woolich for the deal it wont make a difference if we have a broker or not as we will be just a number to them and at least we know if dealing with the lender that the application is not sitting on someones desk all day

I thought maybe using the local broker would help speed up the application.

Any thoughts as now very confused!

herbiesjp

Or find a fee free broker - one happy to get paid commission only

stockbridge123

Sorry Martin, the mortgage markets are changing. Lenders are paying less and less in commissions (proc fees) to brokers, so to charge a fair fee for the service should be acceptable to most clients, providing the broker can show they are giving value for money. Companies that are charging 2.7% of the Mortgage loan are unethically greedy, but, a flat fee of around £500 to cover time, staff, travel (I travel to clients) seems fair, especially as so many cases, due to the market are becoming unplaceable, so they do not complete, so no commission is paid at all. I only get paid on successful completion of a case, so compared with some companies charging the earth for the same service, I believe I am offering exceedingly good value. With regards to Whole of Market and Panel lending, again the changing market means that there are fewer lenders and some of the smaller ones only lend within allocated postcodes, so if your client isn't in those areas why bother with them?
Its all about good advice and putting your customers first, not fees and panels

(Text removed by MSE Forum Team)

katsu

Our previous brokers have received commission and cost us nothing. This time we are using a mortgage advisor who will charge £150 after we accept the new deal (we are remortgaging). My OH was a bit sceptical at first, but her advice has been first class - she has found us a good deal, been responsive and quick with calls and emails etc, polite, helpful, given good advice. I can't praise her enough (am I allowed to say she is from Castleton Financial Planning in Sherborne?). I have to say that I'm not clear if she is getting commission too.

I just wanted to say sometimes you need to look at the experience - I wasn't happy with the advice and service last time we remortgaged and this time we are getting good advice (we've been able to discuss how overpayments work, merits of different types of mortgages etc, I really do feel advised), and I will save more than the £150 in the first month, so I'm happy to pay.

bbruce

Moneyback Mortgages did me proud.
My circumstances didn´t qualify me for the mortgage I applied for so they found others to choose from.
They didn´t give advice but knew the ropes very well.
The application went in, a couple of weeks went by and my mortgage was there! I know they kept a weather eye on the progress.
A couple of weeks later, half of their commission arrived in my bank.
Job done!
I´d recommend them any day.

hugh2908

Just had a quote from a broker we had some adverse credit history in the past (4 years ago)but the broker has secured a offer from the high street (Abbey) 3.64% for 2 years and we will save approx £235 a month on the repayments. I am a little concerned the amount we need is £102 K but with fees
Booking Fee £995 (to Abbey)
Telegraphic transfer fee £35
Mortgage account fee £225
Legal Fees £126.50
Broker Fees £1950.00
This pushes up the amount we are borrowing to £104995 Does this seem a high fee for the broker ?? Also the broker was not whole of the market broker
Should i try another broker or does another search do my rating damage ??

Many Thanks
H

dunstonh

Broker Fees £1950.00
This pushes up the amount we are borrowing to £104995 Does this seem a high fee for the broker ??

extortionate. For a mainstream borrowing proposition with a high street lender that fee is disgraceful. Especially as Abbey will be paying commission as well.

Should i try another broker or does another search do my rating damage ??

Put it this way, you can get the same deal with a whole of market broker or IFA without any explicit charge (ie.. no £1950) or maybe just a few hundred at most (low value property areas tend to have small fees as there isnt enough in the commission to cover it).

You shouldnt have a problem going elsewhere at this stage.

hugh2908

Many thanks for the response just read the paperwork i recieved and Abbey would pay £353.60 to the broker in commission on top of the £2 k that i would be paying them !!! Would you recommend any whole of market brokers that have zero or low fees ?? Many thanks H

VIGILANT22

hugh2908 wrote: »

Many thanks for the response just read the paperwork i recieved and Abbey would pay £353.60 to the broker in commission on top of the £2 k that i would be paying them !!! Would you recommend any whole of market brokers that have zero or low fees ?? Many thanks H

Try asking family/friends/colleagues etc to refer you to somene they have used and been happy with...Phone the other broker and ask him how he can justify a four figure fee....

webbit

I always used a broker and thought i got the best deal, but a couple of years ago i used 2 brokers, both came up with different deals available, ut none of them came up with the deal i found myself, whicj was right in front of my nose. My current bank first direct were offering 0.49% above the base rate tracker for life of mortgage, so have been paying .99% for a while now. The fee was £399. When i asked the brokers why they had not reccomended this they said that HSBC/First direct do not pay broker fees.
This deal i am on should see me through as even if interest rates go up to 8%, we will struggle but still be able to afford it