Moneysupermarket mortgage timewaster

DaveStaines33

Hello,

I've been trying to get a mortgage and thought that I would steer people away from certain aspects of Moneysupermarket dot com.

I searched for mortgages and the best deal by miles was with Yorkshire BS. I clicked the "proceed" button and was shown a telephone number, for "London & Country Mortgages". I called the number. The bloke who answered the phone ("Rahul") asked how we got the number, and he seemed nonplussed when I informed him. He introduced himself as an independent mortgage advisor and said that he would take some information from me and then discuss suitable products.

I agreed, but first I said: "the product that I am interested in is from Yorkshire BS. Can you arrange this mortgage for me? Yorkshire is one of the lenders that our Conveyancer deals with". He said that yes, he could, so I then let him collect information for 20 minutes and review products. Aside from clearly liking the sound of his own voice and openly sneering at my admittedly meagre salary, he was a fairly typical indpendent mortgage advisor (!), so I decided to give him a chance.

So after 20 minutes of him attempting to confuse me with figures (all of which I had in front of me anyway so I knew that he was being unnecessarily verbose), he declared that the best mortgage for us was with ING. Over the life of the product offer, this was indeed about £100 cheaper than the Yorkshire BS product. However, I had previously mentioned to him that our chosen and highly recommended conveyancer did not deal with ING which is why we wanted the Yorkshire product. When I politely declined the ING product and asked him to arrange the Yorkshire mortgage for us he said, "actually I cannot arrange the Yorkshire product because they only deal direct", at which point I hung up.

:silenced: :mad:

dunstonh

he was a fairly typical indpendent mortgage advisor (!),

Seeing as there are only a very small number of independent mortgage advisers out there, how have you been able to tell if he is typical?

When I politely declined the ING product and asked him to arrange the Yorkshire mortgage for us he said, "actually I cannot arrange the Yorkshire product because they only deal direct", at which point I hung up.

Which means he was not operating on independent basis.

L&C never used to market themselves as independent but as whole of market. I just checked their website and couldnt see any reference to independent on there. Indeed, they state they are fee free. So, that means they are not independent. Their key facts about their services indicates they are not independent either.

L&C offer a specific type of service that can be very good for some people. They have monitored this board in the past given the volume of business this site generates for them (some would argue unfairly against local brokers/advisers who can do the same job). So, they may pick up on your post. However, you may also wish to point out to them that the person you spoke to said they were independent when they are not. It misrepresents their service.

kingstreet

Other than pre-application prep I'm not sure any broker could "arrange" a mortgage for you with YBS. They don't accept introduced business, so the best they could do is find the deal and provide advice that this is the best one for you.

dunstonh

Other than pre-application prep I'm not sure any broker could "arrange" a mortgage for you with YBS.

Agreed. Research, information and helping with paperwork but NOT dealing with the application process would be the order of the day. Plus, charging for it as any independent should.

Conrad

I feel for the OP. He has been the 'victim' of what I term 'robotic adviser' mentality. They have a script and seem unable to deviate in a common sense adult manner.

I'm afraid the larger borkers do tend to operate such a system.I liken dealing with them as akin to getting building advice from Homebase.......

handytips

The OP clicked the wrong button, should have clicked straight through to the yorkshire, or even better, should have logged out of Moneysupermarket and then log int Yorkshire BS direct. Oh well by clicking the wrong button probably cost L and C money for this not so good lead. Moneysupermarket are what they are, and the internet is a dangerous playground.

dimbo61

You knew what you wanted so why not ring them direct
Nice people to deal with but tough lending policy so good luck

poppy10_2

handytips wrote: »

The OP clicked the wrong button, should have clicked straight through to the yorkshire

I've tried it and I can confirm that when you click on the proceed button for a Yorkshire BS quote, you get the interstitial asking you to speak to their 'partners' L&C instead. Same thing happens for Skipton BS, Leeds BS and presumably anybody else who doesn't pay up commission for moneysupermarket - everybody else gets a direct link through to their website.




Have to say this seems like pretty shady behaviour by MoneySupermarket - it is never made clear that the intermediary is unrelated to the lender you were trying to access, and might well try to sell you a different product to the one you were trying to buy. If someone clicks on 'proceed' on a quote they should have a reasonable expectation that they are going to be passed on to someone who can proceed with the product they were attempting to buy.


Personally I never click through on comparison sites, I always get the best quotes and then contact the companies direct. If nothing else it cuts down on the amount of spam they inevitably send you.

mcc100

poppy10 wrote: »

Have to say this seems like pretty shady behaviour by MoneySupermarket - it is never made clear that the intermediary is unrelated to the lender you were trying to access, and might well try to sell you a different product to the one you were trying to buy. If someone clicks on 'proceed' on a quote they should have a reasonable expectation that they are going to be passed on to someone who can proceed with the product they were attempting to buy.

I totally agree and find it strange that there has been no comment on this thread by MoneySupermarket .......