Martins View On Using Mortgage Brokers...

rossontheweb

I've used the same mortgage broker twice and recommended him to all my friends.

He isn't the 'whole market'
He charges a fee.

But i'm very satified - why?
Because i'm self employed and without him I would have been turned away by most providers.
His advice has been well worth it and the mortgage products have always beaten those on the high street. Plus he is good at being 'candid' and honest with financial ideas such as how much debt to take on or using an offset account.

Anyone need his number, PM me!!

dunstonh

He isn't the 'whole market'
He charges a fee.

Bar small fees for low cost areas where mortgage commissions are low, if you are going to pay a fee the you should aim for independent. That way you get commission back and a wider choice.

Service is great and is often undervalued nowadays with people looking at low cost instead. However, the typical starting point for mortgage advisers is to either use whole of market or independent and then look for service quality after that.

brownylad

We are currently in the process of buying a house, we've had the offer accepted, but we've been informed by our broker that the mortgage application has been selected for auditing, therefore delaying the process.
Does anyone have any previous dealing with this situation? Length of time this takes? (Even though the offer has been accepted, the house is still on the market!!)
Likelyhood of being declined or accepted?

PS. It is a 85% LTV mortgage and have a very good credit rating.

Bit stressed!!

kingstreet

Audit means the documentation you provided to the broker will be sent to the lender and the case will be more thoroughly checked. It normally adds a couple of days to the process if the broker has obtained everything in advance.

adey42

I'm right in the middle of buying my house and went through a independant broker who got me a great deal,,, or so i thought. His key facts document about the loan showed he was charging me a £195 fee and commision of £55 from the santander. I thought well, thats not bad, general rule of thumb the fees and commision to a broker should be around 1% of the mortgage and signed up, only latter when I got the key facts document from santander did I find out that there were differences in ,the total amount to pay back, the rate of intrest, and a commision of £265 he is not offering any commision back and insisting on the £195 fee as well. I feel so ripped off and foolish to have trusted this P.O.S any ideas what can I do? Fsa says complain and wait 8 weeks before they can do anything and by that time the deal will have been done.:(

dunstonh

His key facts document about the loan showed he was charging me a £195 fee and commision of £55 from the santander. I thought well, thats not bad, general rule of thumb the fees and commision to a broker should be around 1% of the mortgage

Commission is usually lower than 1%. By quote some way.

Fsa says complain and wait 8 weeks before they can do anything and by that time the deal will have been done.

The FSA do not handle consumer complaints. If you are not happy with what they have done then contact the firm to complain.

I will just state though that if you employ an adviser on independent basis then you pay a fee and the adviser does not keep the commission unless it is used to offset the fee. Are you sure you employed them on independent basis and not whole of market basis instead?

I would suggest you dont complain yet. Go back to the broker and tell them what you have here and ask why the figures are different. There could be a genuine reason (such as deal withdrawn and new one substituted or lending criteria not met etc). If you go straight to complaint, you will sour the relationship and you dont want that. Especially if there a genuine reason that can be resolved in minutes without complaint.

adey42

Thank you dunstonh. Not 100% on the independant or whole of the market basis, the broker is advertised as "independant brokers" what it says on the tin type of thing I thought, If its a whole of the market deal does he get the fee and commision? and sorry not FSA was financial ombudsman service FOS.

Commission is usually lower than 1%. By quote some way

Wow £265 commission is much higher, the mortgage which is for £15000 so that is about 1.7% plus the £195 fee takes it to about 3%.
I will contact him again tomorrow and see what he says.

Again thanks very much good advice is hard to get:T

adey42

MDL74 wrote: »

Quick question - i have reviewed a hell of a lot of available information so i am quite familiar with the products that are out there and the available rates and i am quite financially savvy.

My question is, is there a benefit in using a mortgage broker to remortgage rather than going direct myself? Are they able to 'smooth' the process and also do they have access to 'deals' that i wouldn't necessarily be able to find?

I have a complicated financial history due to being a self employed company director but nothing that will prevent me from getting the loan i require to remortgage

Thanks

I am dealing with a broker myself and to be honest if you have the time to shop around do it yourself paying a broker is just saving time and thats all. the products available to the broker are available to you as well it just takes time, phone and patientence, contact each lender individually to see what they offer and as for a broker smoothing the deal , if the lender doesn't like youre history it won't matter if you or a broker submit it you will still get turned down. If you do go with a broker get quotes from as many as possible and do not commit or sign to anything as I have found out what a broker tells you and what the bank tells you can be two different things. good luck.

dunstonh

Not 100% on the independant or whole of the market basis, the broker is advertised as "independant brokers" what it says on the tin type of thing I thought, If its a whole of the market deal does he get the fee and commision? and sorry not FSA was financial ombudsman service FOS.

An independent has to offer fee basis as an option. However, most consumers don't actually pick fee basis. They prefer whole of market basis. So, whilst they may be independents, chances are they were not doing it on independent basis but whole of market basis. Independent would mean commission rebated. Not retained. (although it can be used to offset fee with any surplus repaid or difference made up by you if short).

Commission is normally around the 0.3% mark. Maybe one of the mortgage brokers will verify what sort of rate Santander's is.

kingstreet

Abbey is 0.33% standard, 0.4% for flexi, 0.5% for BTL and 5+ years fixed rate and 0.7% for 10 year fixed.