FTB - Should I stick with Brokers recommendation

Wildsurf

Hi all,

I am a prospective first time buyer. Up until now I have been using a mortgage broker as I wasn't confident on my credit history as I have lived in 4 different properties in the last 3 years and had a dispute with my credit card provider which dragged on for a year but wsa resolved in my favour.

The mortgage broker has been very helpful and we have an offer in principle for a mortgage (85% LTV) with Santander. Over 2 years on a fixed rate repayment mortgage this resulted in the lowest cost of the mortgages the broker was able to offer.

Since then with the added confidence that I can probably get a mortgage I have done a bit of research of my own and found various mortgages not available through brokers that would be cheaper still. The Post Office being my favoured option (assuming it allows some overpayment).

What are the risks (aside form annoying the broker) of going it alone and applying for the Post Office mortgage? Can I rely on the Santander/broker option as a fall back or would being turned down by the post office impact on this?

The difference over 2 years in cash terms is approximately £1,000 between the 2 mortgages.

Thank you in advance for any replies and advice.

Ben

shortchanged_2

Is your broker an independent whole of market broker?

They may not be offering you all the deals available.

On the other hand the fact that you have a not too perfect history may mean some of the lenders who are very strict at the moment may not consider you. I don't know if the Post Office are strict lenders.
There are plenty of people on here who can offer you good advice.

Think carefully about this though because being rejected for credit can have an impact on further applications.

Wildsurf

Thank you for your reply.

The consequences of being refused credit are the only thing putting me off. Other than that and a the interest rate, the Post Office and Santander mortgages are identical.

The only other minor difference is that Santander (according to the broker) allow overpayment by monthly standing order whereas the Post Office have a minimum overpayment of £500 each time.

Is there anybody out there who knows how strict the Post Office are with their lending criteria?

powerwin

When asking for Mortage Agreements in Principle, tell the lender that you do not want them to do a credit check. A Mortgage Agreement in Principle does not require a credit check, and is NOT legally binding on the lender to provide the loan, so is no guarantee you have the loan.

Rgds

Senior_Paper_Monitor

Mr Win - the lender will do whatever it deems fit to for its procedures on a DIP (its the Lender's choice not the applicant).

Some lenders do a soft footprint, some do a hard footprint search and a couple do none - the skill is selecting the appropriate lender for circumstances.

powerwin

Senior_Paper_Monitor wrote: »

Mr Win - the lender will do whatever it deems fit to for its procedures on a DIP (its the Lender's choice not the applicant).

Can't you say to them you would like a Decision in Principle only if they are prepared to give one without a credit search?

Rgds

Senior_Paper_Monitor

You can say whatever you wish !

Stepping away from the mortgages (which I deal with every day of the week - and am not adverse to giving any lender a good shallacking when they step out of order) I recently had a stand-up ding-dong with Virgin media/mobile, with whom we have had three items on credit accounts for three years previous with 100% payment performance, about their wanting to conduct 4 credit searches on our proprietor (who has a stunning credit rating) for four new (3 replacement + 1 addition) contracts which would decrease rather than increase our spend ....

Their response .... do you have Sky and Vodaphones sales numbers ?

Company policy is company policy these days - and any lender will continue to verify whether they want a borrower's business anyway they choose within the law.