Financial advisors - are they worth it??

aallank

Just wanting a bit of advice on Financial Advisors, are they worth using? who pays them, the mortgage company or is it hidden in the costs to us?
Many thanks..

VIGILANT22

Do you mean Financial Advisor or Mortgage Advisor......

aallank

An Independant Financial Advisor,
He will: visit to arrange the paperwork, submit it to the lender and get to mortgage offer ASAP and deal with any queries your solicitor may have in the process

VIGILANT22

Hmmm.....No, an IFA doesn't necessarily offer Mortgage Advice!...IFA's advise on savings & investments.........

aallank

Yes, he does all that aswell, but what i put above is what he is offering to do for us, and we're just wondering if its worth it??

VIGILANT22

If you want advise you use an advisor....if not you do it yourself............

worriedindebt

some are good and some not so, its a case of buyer beware really.
how did you find him/her?
were they recommended?
do you feel comfortable?

as for who pays them, ask the advisor.. they are obliged to reveal where they get paid, and what percentage/amount they will receive from your sale

Dan_1976

They will disclose how they are paid when they first meet you.

They will either charge a fee or take commision from the lender. They may also charge a fee but refund the amount from the commission, its best to ask as I have not covered that all or that clearly.

They can be worth it, if your busy and cant spend the time on it, if your case is complicated and so on.

But, in the age of the net you can do it all your self.

If you have a good one, I dont doubt it will be worth it.

aallank

We asked our advisor who paid him, us or the lender and this is what he said:

'Just to let you know I dont charge fees for arranging the mortgage for you as the lender will pay me a fee of 0.34% of the loan for introducing the mortgage to them'

so does this mean we don't pay him anything at all?? i don't quite understand how he can be working for us, and then we not pay him, or are his charges hidden somewhere!?

magpiecottage

Ultimately, you WILL pay for the adviser's services, by means of a fee or commission or something called a "procuration fee" (which is a form of commission and will be paid out of the money you pay to a product provider).

That doesn't necessarily mean it will cost you any more than going direct to the provider, though.

Your adviser should provide you with initial documentation which explains the basis on which he does business and how he is paid. If he is truly independent it will state this for investments, insurance and mortgages. Some are only independent for one or two of these sectors, so watch out.

Ritchie74

If you buy a £100,000 house for eg, he gets £340 from the lender.