Quickest and Easiest

gardencity

Hi,

Just wondered if anyone could recommend the quickest and easiest mortgage provider to go for at the moment. I tried to make an appt with my bank (Santander) the other day and they said it would be over 3 weeks away - apparently their call centre also has a wait of over a week.

In terms of easiest, which providers are going to ask for the minimum of bank statements etc. My finances have improved recently, but I don't really want to have to go through old statements etc if I can avoid it.

For info, 80% LTV, good credit history, no credit card debts, one car loan.

Thanks for any tips.

PS How significant is the impact on my credit score of me having various mortgage providers run checks on me? Surely it is to be expected to have 5 or 6 checks if I am shopping around for a mortgage?

ACG

Most will only ask for 3 months payslips and bank statements.
Your bank will be able to see further back than that - which could be worse for you.

A lot of banks have a backlog with appointments at the minute, so quickest would be to go via a broker. Easiest will depend on your circumstances but assuming everything is over 3 months old then it may not even get picked up.

It is NOT normal to have 5-6 credit checks done at all. You look through what the lenders have to offer, check you fit criteria and then apply to that one lender. To have more than 2-3 is probably going to knock your credit score. Lenders have affordability calculators, so there is no reason to have more than 1-2 credit checks unless you are being declined, in which case you should be speaking to a broker anyway to get to the bottom of why you are being declined and overcome it.

amnblog

Quickest and Easiest is to use a mortgage broker.

gardencity

Thanks for the quick responses. I have thought about a broker, but to be honest I get put off by the pushy nature of the ones affiliated to estate agents. I know it is a classic misconception that we can do as good a job as a professional without the same experience or training, but I do struggle a bit to see what the chap in the cheap suit in the estate agents can do for me that I cannot do on the internet myself.

Having said that, maybe a broker could answer this for me. I have a company car through salary sacrifice. Lets say by Gross salary is £50Kpa, and I am given a £300pm gross allowance for a car. I sacrifice just over this £350pm to have a company car. Should I declare a salary of £46400pa (£50K minus extra car sacrifice) or £53600pa (salary plus allowance) and then include the £350pm as a commitment (but of course is actually less of a net commitment as the £350 is taken from gross pay)?

Pay statements show the £300pm in and £350pm out and I don't want to hide from lenders, but it really isn't the same as some other commitments people have. If I lose my job, the commitment goes too.

Thanks

Mortgage_Mark_2

Varies from lender to lender - why not speak to a non-estate agent based broker and see what they can do?

They might even have an expensive suit, just to really keep you happy.

Senior_Paper_Monitor

A suit ! Last fitted in mine five years ago !!


Haven't seen one of those on an adviser or staff in this office in as many years - not many on the clients either !

ACG

Estate agent brokers do tend to be a bit pants going off the posts on here.
I think most people start in estate agents to get a grounding and then once they become knowledgable go and set up on their own or work for a non estate agent firm.

Ive just done an appointment this morning in jeans/tshirt and trainers if that makes you feel better. Its not often I would do that but it was last minute.

kingstreet

If I'm going to see a client at 7.30 on a Tuesday night, or 11.30 on a Sunday morning, I'll wear what I want.

Shirt, trousers, shoes normally. Plus me old trusty Saab.

Turning up in a Boss suit driving a Merc sends exactly the wrong signal, IMHO.

Mortgage_Mark_2

kingstreet wrote: »

If I'm going to see a client at 7.30 on a Tuesday night, or 11.30 on a Sunday morning, I'll wear what I want.

Shirt, trousers, shoes normally. Plus me old trusty Saab.

Turning up in a Boss suit driving a Merc sends exactly the wrong signal, IMHO.

+1. An ex-colleague used to have an old banger of a car that he went to appointments in, even though he had a new company car sitting in the car park... bit extreme but somewhere in the middle is good.

amnblog

gardencity wrote: »

I do struggle a bit to see what the chap in the cheap suit in the estate agents can do for me that I cannot do on the internet myself.

Having said that, maybe a broker could answer this for me.....

A slice of contradiction for a Friday afternoon

plunt

check out the Halifax thread as many people including myself have had an extremely good and fast experience with then recently.

that being said a broker will be able to help you massively in targeting the best fit mortgage for you.

I personally dont like the idea of paying for a broker (and also sadly like looking around and building my own personal excel file to figure out the best mortgage for my circumstance!)