Should I pay for mortgage advice

susername

Hi everyone,
Quick question to hopefully cure my confusion ...
We're at the point of getting a mortgage but I don't know what kind of mortgage advisor to go to. Obviously we'll go to an independent mortgage advisor who can check a variety of mortgage deals and not a bank.
Some friends have recommended I pay for advice so I made an appointment with ESPC. They go as far as getting you a mortgage in principle for free but then it's a £250 fee to take a mortgage through them.
However, other friends have advised us to go to a free mortgage advisor.
We're counting every penny at the moment. Should we pay or go to the free advisor? Is there anything a free mortgage advisor doesn't do that the paid one does?

Thanks for any info.
Sus

Kynthia

I believe the ones you pay will find you the best deal which includes those that don't pay them commission, whereas the free ones only find you a mortgage that pays brokers commission. However do ESPC say whether they refund you any commission they receive?

Let_Us_See

You pay your momey (or not) and take your choice.

However, if you decide to go down the paid route make sure you do not pay any upfront fee to adviser and only pay on receipt of a suitable mortgage offer.

kwmlondon

My IFA showed me the range of options available to me, the pros and cons e.g. longer fixed rate, flexibility in overpaying etc. and then explained the charges. The two best offers were the same to me, but one gave him commission and the other did not, he made it clear that if I went for the option that didn't pay him commission then he'd have to charge me and left me to make my own mind up but was totally clear and transparent about my options and when I did the usual moneysupermarket and confused dot com comparisons the deals he found were better than those I could find myself and his advice on other matters was superb e.g. solicitor, insurance, budgeting etc. If you're a first time buyer it's a big reassurance to have someone who works for YOU, and the only way to guarantee that someone works for YOU is to pay them, otherwise someone else is paying their fees.

ACG

Im a broker who charges a fee, however i only charge my fee once i have a Mortgage offer.
If the mortgage gets declined then in my eyes i have not delivered what you asked for so you should not have to pay. To pay at application stage is not great, if it then gets declined you have paid money for nothing.

That being said, you are not going to find an independent broker who does not charge - as they rebate the commission. Your more likely to find a whole of market broker who does not charge.

Personally i think if you pay a fee on offer or completion it keeps the brokers eyes on the prize in order to get you an offer and get it as quickly as possible. I stopped doing fee free mortgages for everyone but close friends/family as soon as i realised how much work was involved.

But i agree with Let Us See - (if you do pay) do not pay until you have an offer or the mortgage completes. Otherwise you could just find a lazy broker who takes your £250 and loses interest and does not do a proper job.

kwmlondon

Agree totally with ACG. I'd like to recommend the firm I've used for years, Haymarket IFA, as being very good.

susername

Thanks for your advice. I saw a financial advisor from a free agency this afternoon and we now have a mortgage in principle. I'll maybe go along to espc and talk to them as well. You don't have to pay anything until they find you a mortgage and you agree to take it. But they might have access to more deals than the free agency. Then again I don't want to waste anyone's time so maybe I'll just stick to what I've got!
Thanks again.

amnblog

If you choose to use the other broker rather than ESPC who were recommended to you that is down to you, but please don't 'play' one broker off against another.

It is not fair to them and may also cause you a problem.

susername

Both brokers were recommended to me but yes I think you're right amnblog. I would never intentionally want to waste anyone's time so I'll just stick to who I've spoken to already.

ACG

fwiw, i used to be an account manager at a life office. I seem to recall the girl who sat opposite me looking after espc (assuming theyre in scotland?) I get the impression they were a decent company.