Do brokers get better deals?

brock-cruse

Hi
I am quite internet savy and have been looking at trying to get a new mortgage deal when we move house (currently with coventry and need to pay redem fees of about 1k if we leave. Was going to stay with them but chain fell through TWICE and mortgage offer just expired now.This was a good deal at 5.2% capped rate but looking at them now they have not got very competitive rates). Hence been looking at 5 and 10 year fixed rate deals and so far it seems Brittania, Derbyshire are quite good. I have also taken into account new set up fees, survey fees,redemption also and on a good fixed rate of about 5.2% say with a 5 yr fixed rate it would be 2 yrs before we paid off these costs (hope im not confusing you!).
Anyway back to my question. When we first sold many moons ago my agent suggested i saw their mortgage broker who said he was independent. After doing all my research on the net i knew the best deals around already. In fact it ended up with me telling him i had found a better deal than he could come up with. Is this unusual? Is it true that brokers can get better deals than i may find? Could i go to a broker and say i want x deal with x and let him sort all the paperwork out? Mind you that would be another person to chase up i suppose! Is it pretty straight forward when you go from one company to another? I will be sorry to leave the coventry as they have given me great customer service over my numerous mortgage offers since our chain has fallen through. Would it be worthwhile trying to contact them and get a better deal or do building socs not deal!??? Any info appreciated.

MortgageMamma

Hi There

all brokers have different market access - for example

1. tied to one lender
2. tied to a panel of lenders and unable to go off panel
3. Access to all of market, or panelled and able to go off panel freely

A panel, for clarification is a pre selected number of lenders the broker will be able to use. The problem with estate agency advisers is they are usually panelled without the ability to go off panel, which restricts the amount of lenders they may look at for you, and this is very likely the reason you found a better deal than your broker. However in a brokers favour there may have been factors in your circumstances which made his/her recommendation more favourable over cost

The problem currently within the mortgage industry is that all brokers in category 2 and 3 are able to call themselves whole of market, which is wrong and misleading to the general public as it should only be brokers in catergory three. Its a grey area which needs addressing

so, when looking for a broker you need to ask if they can approach ANY lender on the market not just a select few and ask them to disclose any restrictions they may have. It would also be preferable if the broker did not charge you a fee.

Ask coventry what the best is they can offer you and then approach a brokr. For information Britiannia do not market their products through brokers so very few brokers would in fact recommend that product. HSBC, ING DIRECT, EGG, Directline and Yorkshire Bank also do not sell through brokers so make sure you check these out seperately or ask your broker if they can be included in his/her research