How to find the right mortgage broker?

spingirl

Currently trying to buy a second property & have read the MSE guide to mortgages, it mentions using a broker who can search the "whole of market", how would I go about finding the right broker as it seems its not straight forward due to myself & husband being self employed etc.
We are looking for a MIP before we put an offer in on a property. The estate agents have assured us they specialise in mortgages but I don't really believe this, no matter how many years experience they say they have!
I am aware each time a check is done it leaves a foot print on your file & if so many applications made & turned down it can put things on hold for a short time - which we want to avoid as house prices are starting to rise already & we are really keen on the property we have seen? Any advice appreciated

kingstreet

Ask friends and relatives for a recommendation. Failing that, try https://www.unbiased.co.uk, switching off the "sponsored ads only" option, so you get a full list for your area.

Ring a few and chat to them. See how they sound and see if you can deal with them for a few weeks, Establish how much they charge and when.

We don't do a credit search until virtually certain who will lend to you and on the best terms. Lenders are more geared to "computer says no" and we rely more on knowledge of lender criteria and experience.

If you have not already got them, get all three versions of your credit file and your last three years' SA302s from HMRC.

National estate agent advisors are often "limited panel" not whole market and charge a fee for a lesser service. Then you have their tied insurances, conveyancing etc. If it's a small firm, they may have a smaller local broker...?

spingirl

Thankyou Kingstreet, a friend of ours has recommended someone they know & their circumstances are similar so maybe he's worth a try.

Our credit rating is excellent & we have requested relevant forms from HMRC. We have a 15% deposit potentially could put down 20%.

I suspected as much from the estate agents which we have spoken to so far & as we have a CCJ (wrongly applied I may add as we won a case in court) due to come off the file next spring, I think we need someone with a bit more expertise who can search the whole market.

Will try our friends contact & see what they come up with, may be forced to wait until the spring due to the CCJ which complicates things but we do have written notice that we were never at fault so the CCJ should never have been applied to our file.

Many thanks again.

Dave_Ham

Given the historic nature of the CCJ and the deposit, there are highly likely to be competitive solutions now.

With a CCJ within 6 years, your credit rating is not excellent though and you are likely to require an experienced broker.

ACG

Your right to avoid estate agent brokers - the majority of complaints abut brokers on here tend to be from estate agent based brokers. You also can not be sure whether they are acting in your best interests or the agents (their employers).

Personally i would say go on to google and put whole of market mortgage broker/advisor in. Call up one or 2 and have a chat, see if you get a liking for them. Your going to be spending the next month or 2 in contact with them on what is one of the biggest purchases of your life, its important you get on.

spingirl

Thank you both for the advise, you have confirmed what I was thinking so I will try our friends contact I think. So frustrating about the CCJ which should never of applied but not much we can do as we tried to get it removed & there is only a matter of months left now so just have to work with what we've got!

I may end up back here soon with further questions

GMS

If you have it in writing that the CCJ shouldn't have been put in place why can't you get it removed?

How much was it for and when? Who got the judgement?

When you say a second property what is the intention? To let or live in? What will happen with the current property?

spingirl

We have in writing a letter from the courts stating that the supposed debt is set aside. A company originally tried to bill us for money owing on a property we no longer lived at (despite us informing them before we moved) this was then passed on & on again to various debt collection agencies who are impossible to argue with. Eventually Lowell served us legal papers & we had to go to court. The whole thing was a joke as the original bill was never ours. The judge was very angry & basically threw it out of court even asking if we wanted compensation!

We tried contacting Virgin who were the original company stating we owed money but they washed there hands of it as they had sold the "debt". Lowell claim there is nothing they can so (recently have sent correspondence asking for money again!). We had no idea who to contact for help but have since been advised about the register & contacting the courts. The actual amount Lowell wanted was less than £5000 but originally the amount was only a three figure sum (Lowell added interest of course!).

The second property is a family house for us to live in & we want to keep our current home to rent as an investment.

Do you have any further advise?
Thanks.

Dave_Ham

The best solution will be to formally get it removed, although this will be grief and take time.

It depends on your needs and specific situation.

Would have a good chat with your friends broker..

All the best

spingirl

Thanks Dave, we are finding out this is the case & not sure it's worth the bother now as the CCJ is soon to come off the file in spring.

Thanks for your replies.

kingstreet

So, this is a purchase of a second property and you don't want to put down more than 20% as you are being asked?

What happened with the broker you mention?

Let's keep everything in this thread, otherwise it's going to get confusing.

Edited as I misread the other thread.