First time Buyer - a bit confused

Curly_Wurly

Hello,

Been a long time reader of this forum but this is my first post. I have been saving up for a while now and have managed to secure a 10% deposit for a house in the price range I am looking for.

I decided to see a independent financial advisor so I could get the best advice on mortgages. So far so good. I trawled the internet for the advisor's in Edinburgh and chose one that offered 'Whole of Market' and went in to see them.

The advisor discussed all the options and as there was a house we had viewed that we were really interested in she got me a 'Mortgage in Principle' with the Halifax. After the second viewing, I made an offer and after a bit of negotiation agreed a reduction in the sale price. Great stuff!

Now this is the frustrating part. I went back today to finalise the mortgage and i mentioned that I had seen a couple of mortgages on the internet that seemed really good deals and could she look at them any maybe and other good deals? The mortgages I had seen were with the Nat West and Britannia Building Society. She said that she could not do any deals with them because they would only deal with the customer direct.

The difference in repayments is significant. We are not talking a couple of quid, it was closer to £100 a month difference to the deal she had recommended.

I was under the impression that a mortgage advisor who worked with the 'Whole of the Market' would do just that - work with the whole of the market. Is it a case that certain banks will not deal with mortgage advisor's? I am pretty confused to be honest!

Thanks

CW

Mrs_Bumble

Whole of market means that the broker has access to the whole of the market that will deal with them.

Britannia don't deal through brokers and Nat West dual price, different rate for direct customers.

morg_monster

It is a shame you didn't realise this before you got the AIP, the terminology is a bit confusing I agree.
Our WOM broker told us about the deals that he could not get for us, named quite a few companies, he was very open with us. Unfortunately for him after researching these we found a better deal among them. We found in particular the deals for 10 and 15% deposits were better direct from these banks than from the broker.

GSXRCarlos

Was it an AIP or a mortgage offer?

If it was a mortgage offer, all it means (someone in the know please confirm) is that you're financially viable for a mortgage, not the details.

Is an AIP binding?

herbiesjp

Wrong way around

An offer is binding if you sign it

morg_monster

Yes you're not obliged to take the mortgage up, an AIP is not binding. (Your mortgage advisor might be a bit !!!!!! with you though but she will understand £100 a month is worth that). I hope you asked her to hold off on doing the final application. Make sure you do your research fully before you decide on your next mortgage product, as each AIP leaves a footprint on your credit file. If you've got good credit a couple of these isn't a problem, but you don't want to go getting an AIP again before you're sure you've got the right rate.

Curly_Wurly

Thanks for all you responses

I just assumed that if I went to a mortgage advisor then they would be able to advise me about all products, hence my interpretation of 'whole of the market'. The alarm bells rang when I was told that there was only one mortgage I would be eligible for and this was a 'fixed' mortgage. When I asked if I could look at some tracker mortgages I was told that because I only had a 10% deposit then there would be none available. It was then that I decided to have a look myself and used a few comparison sites and went onto the website of every lender I could think of.

I have told the mortgage advisor not to continue with the mortgage application and I have not signed anything so I assume I am ok there.

The upside of all this is that I have now arranged a mortgage direct with another lender saving me a significant amount of money per month. If was not for the internet and websites like this I would of just gone along with the offer from the advisor.

It is not the advisor's fault that they can only offer certain mortgages and maybe I was a little nieve to think that the advisor would of recommended me to go direct if none of the mortgages they could offer were competitive.

I think I will do the research myself in future

VKay

Hi,
Glad it's worked out for you.
I was surprised to find out that our broker couldn't access the cheapest deals too- however the 'hand holding' that she has done for us as FTBs has been worth a lot to us so i don't regret using a broker!

I figure that when it comes to finding another deal when our fixed term runs out i will have the confidence to deal with mortgage lenders direct and hopefully save some money then!

Bufger

Curly_Wurly wrote: »

Hello,

Been a long time reader of this forum but this is my first post. I have been saving up for a while now and have managed to secure a 10% deposit for a house in the price range I am looking for.

I decided to see a independent financial advisor so I could get the best advice on mortgages. So far so good. I trawled the internet for the advisor's in Edinburgh and chose one that offered 'Whole of Market' and went in to see them.

The advisor discussed all the options and as there was a house we had viewed that we were really interested in she got me a 'Mortgage in Principle' with the Halifax. After the second viewing, I made an offer and after a bit of negotiation agreed a reduction in the sale price. Great stuff!

Now this is the frustrating part. I went back today to finalise the mortgage and i mentioned that I had seen a couple of mortgages on the internet that seemed really good deals and could she look at them any maybe and other good deals? The mortgages I had seen were with the Nat West and Britannia Building Society. She said that she could not do any deals with them because they would only deal with the customer direct.

The difference in repayments is significant. We are not talking a couple of quid, it was closer to £100 a month difference to the deal she had recommended.

I was under the impression that a mortgage advisor who worked with the 'Whole of the Market' would do just that - work with the whole of the market. Is it a case that certain banks will not deal with mortgage advisor's? I am pretty confused to be honest!

Thanks

CW

The problem here is you dont think the broker will take a cut (they dont work for free!) Your best bet is to always see who they're getting the deal with and then go to the lender direct, chances are you can always get a better deal.

I would thank your broker very much and then approach Natwest. I'm thinking you're looking at the first time buyer 5 year fixed rate at 5.99%? It is one of the best around and has no arrangement fee. Also have a look at the Coventry building society - its the same deal plus £500 to spend at Ikea.

The brittania one has a large arrangement fee and doesnt work out as good as the other 2.

:cool:

Curly_Wurly

Hi Bufger,

Thanks for your comments - Like I said, I think I was a little 'wet behind the ears' with all this and in hindsight I think I would of actually paid a fee to the advisor for his services and that way I would of got 'entire' whole of market advice.

The deal you mentioned at the NatWest, the 5 year fixed rate at 5.99% did initially interest me as did the 2 year Tracker at 4.69% with the option to switch to fixed rate after three months.