Am I being ripped off?

Pathfinders

I have used the services of a financial advisor and I am concerned his intentions are for his commission rather than my interests. I have slightly different circumstances to others and I feel this is being used against me. My circumstances are as follows:-

I work for a German company in the Offshore industry.
I get pains in Euros. This is paid into my British account (Lloyds bank)
I complete my Self assessment every year and do not pay tax due to Seaman's earning deductions requirements under the rules of HMRC.
I have provided my last 3 years SA302 forms declaring my earnings.
I currently get paid 72k euros and have no deductions of NI or TAX.
I have just sold my house for 207k. It sold after 2 weeks which caught us by surprise and we have not found another house to purchase which we like. We have decided to buy a smaller house (120k) with the intention of moving there whilst we find our next house. This house is then going to be turned into our rental property.

Now my financial advisor says that because I get paid in euros many of the lenders will not look at me. Also because we have the intention to rent this property out after we find our possible mortgage lenders are reduced to 2 possibilities. The one he is looking at has fees in excess of £1700 (450 goes to him on completion) with a reasonably poor interest rate of 4.1%

I find that these fees are exceptionally high and not only that I am worried about when we apply for our next home which will be in excess of 250k mortgage we will not get it. Am I going to be penalised like this all the time and is his advice correct? Are there more lenders who will look at me with better rates and lower fees??

kingstreet

The fees and rate do not appear unreasonable, in my experience.

Typically a £120k purchase would see;-

valuation fee around £315
product/arrangement fee c£1000

commission to broker around 0.35% of mortgage amount.

You don't say what the loan to value is, but 4.1% would be the going rate for about 85% to 90%.

Either way, if you're unhappy, get a second opinion.

Yes, you do have fewer options due to how you are remunerated.

ACG

As above really.

All i would add is that high street lenders have lower rates because they are geared up to accept the run of the mill person. Anyone who is not run of the mill then has to look at alternative lenders - this may result in higher rates/fees.

Your scenario is not run of the mill and so may (im saying may as i dont know) mean you do not have access to all of the high street lenders.