Finding a Mortgage Broker

samaudio

Hello,

I recently contacted London and Country mortgage advisors and got a decision in principle for how much we could borrow.

Now I have registered with a few estate agents to start viewing properties, a couple of them have enquired about my decision in principle and then said that it's not a valid decision in principle as it doesn't involve a credit check and they don't examine your documents etc. Mann Countrywide suggested that I have a meeting with their own in-house mortgage advisor and that will provide me with a reliable decision in principle that estate agents will be happy to trust.

I'm not that keen on showing an estate agent all my financial details, but I'm not sure how to find an independent fee-free advisor.

Would anybody have any advice for me at all? Is it ok to use an estate agent's in-house advisor to find a mortgage? Or could anyone recommend another advisor (we are in South East London)?

Many thanks in advance.

GMS

It's a ploy from the agents to get you in front of their adviser. Point out to them that you have an adviser and you are under no obligation to speak to theirs.

How do they know they wouldn't apply to the same lender for a DIP without doing a fact find? If they decided to proceed with the same lender it would be duplicatiing what has already been done for one, and secondly would it then render their DIP useless too?

Typical estate agent tactics.

samaudio

Many thanks for your reply.

The thing that I'm not sure about is that I don't think L&C did a credit check on me, and also they certainly didn't look at any of my financial documentation, as we only spoke over the phone.

It seems that they just use a standard mortgage calculator to work out how much the average lender will allow you to borrow and then write you a letter saying "most lenders will lend you this much and some may lend you as much as this much"!

Don't you need to prove your income to get a proper decision in principle?

Many thanks again for your help - I'm very confused and (as I'm sure you've worked out) I am a first time buyer.

kingstreet

samaudio wrote: »

Mann Countrywide suggested that I have a meeting with their own in-house mortgage advisor

I'm not sure how to find an independent fee-free advisor

Avoid Countrywide at all costs.

Charge a fee
Sell their poor/expensive conveyancing service
Single tie for insurance
Limited panel of lenders.

Worst of all possible worlds for a borrower.

You won't find an independent who does not charge a fee.

A whole market adviser may be fee-free but will only select from products which pay a commission.

An independent will charge you a fee, but will rebate any commission to you if such a deal is best for you. You will however be able to choose from non-commission paying products/lenders.

samaudio

Many thanks indeed for your reply.

So, do you know how I could find a decent local advisor? Is there a listings website or something?

I haven't been able to find any friends/family locally who can recommend one, so any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

kingstreet

https://www.unbiased.co.uk

Switch off the "website/email only" option as this will only give you paid-for advertisers' listings.

Once you have a list, have a ring around and see who sounds like you'd like to deal with them and how they work out their costs.

dunstonh

estate agent adviser have the worst reputation of all mortgage brokers (exception being the small independent agents). Most estate agent brokers are also tied agents of one insurer which also makes them poor value.

samaudio

Looking around, I've seen that Which? do mortgage advice.

Would they be able to give me a reliable decision in principle?

GMS

Which lender did L&C get you a decision with?

Provided you have been 100% accurate with the information given to them then your DIP will be as reliable as it can be.

Why do you not want to proceed with L&C?

Personally I would have requested all documentation prior to submitting a DIP but many don't. All documentation needs to be provided for a full application. In my opinion it is better to have it at the outset as this helps minimise issues.

Don't be put off by the agents shocking tactics. As I said previously they have no idea of your situation so cannot possibly say they will get you a 'reliable' DIP as they may well end up placing you with the so called unreliable lender.

Obviously you are free to go to whichever broker you choose but be careful of using too many as duplication of DIPS will not do you any favours.

samaudio

GMS wrote: »

Which lender did L&C get you a decision with?

L&C didn't ask any specific mortgage provider, they just got an idea of what I should be able to borrow. This is what they said in the decision in principle:



Following our discussion, we are pleased to provide you with an L&C Decision in Principle which will help you when it comes to finding and making an offer on a property.

Decision details:

This is a certificate to confirm that based on the information you have given, you should be able to borrow approximately £x over 30 years with most mortgage lenders and some may be able to lend you up to £xx.

In assessing how much you could borrow, we use the affordability calculators of a number of major mortgage lenders. Please note that this does not represent a formal mortgage offer or agreement and a credit score has not yet been carried out. The lender will only carry out a credit score once you have found a property and have made a full mortgage application.

GMS

samaudio wrote: »

L&C didn't ask any specific mortgage provider, they just got an idea of what I should be able to borrow. This is what they said in the decision in principle:



Following our discussion, we are pleased to provide you with an L&C Decision in Principle which will help you when it comes to finding and making an offer on a property.

Decision details:

This is a certificate to confirm that based on the information you have given, you should be able to borrow approximately £x over 30 years with most mortgage lenders and some may be able to lend you up to £xx.

In assessing how much you could borrow, we use the affordability calculators of a number of major mortgage lenders. Please note that this does not represent a formal mortgage offer or agreement and a credit score has not yet been carried out. The lender will only carry out a credit score once you have found a property and have made a full mortgage application.

Formerly known as a Chocolate Teapot!!

Waste of time as they do not lend the money so their DIP is pointless.

Get copies of credit reports from Experian, Equifax and Call Credit (£2 statutory ones) and get them to a broker along with ID, proof of address, 3 mths payslips, latest P60 and 3 mths bank statements.

You will then get a proper DIP from a lender and paperwork from the broker detailing why the chosen lender was selected.

The 'finger in the wind' approach is never going to work and I don't blame the estate agents for their dismissing of the so called DIP.