Independent Mortgage Advisors

Itismehonest

If anyone can give me an idea of the cost of a consultation (hopefully a one-off as I don't personally want a mortgage) with an IMA nowadays I'd be most grateful.

kingstreet

We (most of us) don't normally charge for advice.

There's usually a fee payable on application, or on completion.

If you want specific advice, you may have to negotiate a fee with your broker based on the time required to research the issue.

Paully232000

our mortgage advisor charged us £299 but only on actually applying for the mortgage.
The initial conversation over the phone and one in the office was free (but obviously it was clear that we wanted a mortgage).
Can you not just phone one up if you just want a bit of advice, or ask on here if people can help with advice. Assuming thats all you want.

Miss_Marple_2

I used Which ? Mortgage Advisors - free advice, £199 on application and £200 on completion. I found them very helpful.

ACG

The price really can vary.
A lot will depend on the broker through to the complexity of the application.

On an independent basis, they would have to rebate any commission paid by a lender and just charge a straight forward fee. If you go to whole of market broker they have the choice of charging a fee/being paid commission/combination of both.

Ive seen brokers take commission only, right through to charging £2k or upto 3% of the mortgage amount. The majority of brokers will be in the middle somewhere.

kingstreet

ACG wrote: »

The price really can vary.
A lot will depend on the broker through to the complexity of the application.

On an independent basis, they would have to rebate any commission paid by a lender and just charge a straight forward fee. If you go to whole of market broker they have the choice of charging a fee/being paid commission/combination of both.

Ive seen brokers take commission only, right through to charging £2k or upto 3% of the mortgage amount. The majority of brokers will be in the middle somewhere.

It seems to be "advice only," no arrangement, so the usual methods won't work, mate.

dunstonh

I used Which ? Mortgage Advisors - free advice, £199 on application and £200 on completion. I found them very helpful.

If the advice was free then how did you end up paying £399? Did you get your commission rebated as that is what an independent is required to do if you employ them on independent basis?

Itismehonest

Many thanks for the replies.

As I said, I don't need a mortgage myself. We'd be the vendors.

I'm after advice on the best course of action from a couple of options Planning has come up with which may help to get us out of a mixed use (home plus ex-holiday cottages) problem & would, hopefully, make it easier for prospective buyers to get a mortgage on our place.

I need to know which option would best fit the bill & thought an IMA might be the best person to ask.

Let_Us_See

dunstonh wrote: »

If the advice was free then how did you end up paying £399? Did you get your commission rebated as that is what an independent is required to do if you employ them on independent basis?

FREE advice. However, if proceeding to an application then £199 fee on application followed by another £200 on completion.

dunstonh

Let_Us_See wrote: »

FREE advice. However, if proceeding to an application then £199 fee on application followed by another £200 on completion.

So, not really free and where is the rebate? and with those fees, it wasnt on independent basis

A whole of market mortgage adviser typically prices their service on the whole thing from beginning to end. So, a fees free whole of market broker would not charge anything on advice, application or completion. An independent may break their service into chunks but if you read the Which website it says the following:

A consultation with Which? Mortgage Advisers is provided at no cost.However, if you select a mortgage and decide that you would like us to proceed with that mortgage application on your behalf we will charge you a fee to cover our administrative costs.

All advisers have a free consultation. That is normal. That is not advice. You will also note that they get you to select the mortgage. A mortgage adviser recommends the mortgage. It does not get you to select it.

Miss_Marple_2

dunstonh wrote: »

If the advice was free then how did you end up paying £399? Did you get your commission rebated as that is what an independent is required to do if you employ them on independent basis?

Yes - as Let Us See said, the advice was free and I did not need to go ahead with them with an application, but when I decided to go ahead with them making the application for me, I paid £199. The commission was paid to the broker - I could have had it paid to me, but then I would have paid an additional fee to the broker.

I think that is how it worked - I'm a bit naive about these things, which is one of the reasons I went with a broker as I couldn't have done the whole thing myself.