Big lender or 'unknown' through broker?

Sammy5

Hi,

Having recently had to pull out on a purchase, I'm getting incredibly stressed already with this one. I've found a property for a reasonable price and have my fees plus a decent deposit covered, so I ought to be more relaxed. I'd already paid £500 to a financial advisor last time through Your-Move and he invited me back to discuss my current purchase. So he came back to me with a couple of potential lenders - The Leeds and 'First Complete Halifax'. The Leeds deal wasn't great, but I don't know what 'First Complete Halifax' is! So to complicate things a little, I went over to the actual Halifax branch afterwards to discuss with the friendly mortgage advisor and it turns out they do really good direct deals and can do £650 cashback. I think the fees might work out at £140 for Halifax and there are none for the 'First Complete Halifax' thing (apparently an exclusive to Your-Move)... but I reckon there must be a fee at the end to change provider for that First Complete thing, so fees may yet even out...

So I guess my question is: Would you go direct with the bank you've always been with your whole life and pay an extra £10 a month, plus potentially a little extra for fees, or would you go through the advisor with something of an unknown to save money?

By the way, does anyone know what 'First Complete' actually is? I think it might be part of LSL, but I don't really understand this stuff all that well. And I should say that I felt the advisor at Your-Move perhaps occasionally had split loyalties on the former property, so that might be making me a little more cautious this time. I'm really not very trusting of anyone after having PPL solicitor call staff lying to me all the time.

Oh, and Nationwide may even do a better deal than those above, but I need to check on fees and whether I qualify as a first time buyer (I haven't owned a property for 2.5 years, but I'm sure I saw something saying minimum 3 years somewhere on their website).

Thoughts and advice would be most welcome.

Thanks,
Sam

ACG

First complete is what is called a network.
Im part of a network - but a different one.

A network is basically a group of advisors all under one company (first complete in this instance) although they all have their own trading name (your move in this case).

All of the advisors/companies pay the network an amount of money each month/year to ensure everything they do is compliant and done correctly. One of the benefits of being part of a larger company is that they can negotiate deals that other companies may not get - kind of like how tesco can sell a tin of beans for less than your local corner shop.

As for which you should do, its entirely up to you really. Is there a reason why the broker came back with halifax and not nationwide? Its not always about the cheapest, but if you are straight forward then it makes you wonder why they have not gone with the cheapest.

Sammy5

Thanks, that makes sense. So it if I went with 'First Complete Halifax' then I'd still have a mortgage with the Halifax, but at a rate negotiated through a network or network deal? Is it any more difficult (in your opinion) to deal with the lender if there are questions or problems, or is it no different and I just deal with Halifax themselves?

I'm not sure why he didn't pick up the Nationwide deal, perhaps it's direct only? Or maybe they have some fees which I've not seen yet and that's why he never suggested them... could be that. They have a rate of 2.79%, so if the fees aren't bad and I fit the criteria of first time buyer then that'd be pretty good.

dunstonh

So it if I went with 'First Complete Halifax' then I'd still have a mortgage with the Halifax, but at a rate negotiated through a network or network deal?

Just like Heinz Baked Beans can be bought through many different shops. Your mortgage broker is the shop and the Heinz beans is the lender.

Is it any more difficult (in your opinion) to deal with the lender if there are questions or problems, or is it no different and I just deal with Halifax themselves?

No. Indeed, it can be simpler as most mortgage brokers have greater experience than the bank clerk spending their year or two on that job before moving on. Plus, the lenders have dedicated staff supporting brokers and brokers often have named contacts at lenders and can find out more.

I'm not sure why he didn't pick up the Nationwide deal, perhaps it's direct only?

Many brokers will do the research in front of you and/or show you the research which can indicate who is being eliminated and why. You can always ask.

ACG

First complete halifax will just be a mortgage with halifax like any other. Its just a deal open to them that isnt available direct by the sounds of it.

As to whether your best dealing directly with the lender or through a broker, again it comes down to your situation. Quite often I speak to underwriters/lenders who are making a pigs ear of it and ask for things (to give a recent example there is a building society asking for my client to get something from HMRC which doesnt even exist!).

Would you want to try and explain that to an underwriter?
I just pick up the phone to my account manager tell them and they go and fix it for me. Quite often we deal with things the client isnt even aware of - toavoid them stressing out and causing me to stress out.

Im not trying to suggest you should use a broker, thats entirely your choice and really does come down to your situation. You have paid for a broker however so assuming the deal is not more expensive, make use of them. Ask them about the nationwide deal, see if they can beat it?

Sammy5

Thanks for the advice. Apparently Halifax are going to be doing the 2.99% rate as well (so I've read on the internet), so hopefully I'll be able to go direct and take advantage of the cashback deals with them. I'll look into the Nationwide one as well though.

Thanks,
Sam

Sammy5

So Halifax couldn't do the 2.99% because I'm not a first time buyer... I thought I might be classified as one having not owned a property in ages, but apparently not. So I took the 3.14% rate and even worse, I didn't get the £500 cashback. Never mind that I've banked with them for 34 years, that's not enough apparently. It may not make much financial sense, but I didn't trust the broker I'd dealt with (and paid) before and I knew Halifax could get it through quickly. Between the dodgy estate agents, broker, and all the people trying to sell me other stuff, I've just found the whole experience completely horrible. I really hope I end up with a house I'm happy in at the end!

Thanks again for the help and advice.

ACG

Theres a lot to be said for trust. It says something if your happy to walk away from £500.

Are you entitled to any of it back if the mortgage doesnt complete for example? Or if an application is not made?

I dont think many people like estate agent based brokers, they tend to have sales targets unlike a lot of brokers not tied to agents.

Sammy5

I would've been entitled to £100 back had no mortgage offer been made, but there was an offer made to me for the previous property I was buying (although I never took the mortgage). So sadly I won't get any of that back.

The broker did seem very nice on the whole, but I think the main issue was that he was tied to the estate agent business (not independent) and I got the impression that he had split loyalties. At one point when I said I was thinking that I might need to make a lower offer in the event of mortgage retention, he said I was already getting it at a good price and that the one around the corner (sold by the same estate agent) had gone for much more... although the condition wasn't even comparable. I thought to myself at the time that this wasn't really the sort of advice I'd paid him to provide and it seemed an odd thing to say. It seemed especially odd given that only a week earlier he'd held completely the opposite opinion when I'd mentioned something similar. Perhaps someone had a word with him?

Also, they disclosed information about the offers made by another buyer (it was sealed bid - sale by tender) and suggested I match it to secure the property. And when the original buyer did pull out, the estate agent said I'd need to up my offer to match what the original buyer had offered, or else the seller wouldn't sell to me (I'm guessing that last bit is probably okay?). In the end it was taken off the market. I got to thinking that maybe these other offers weren't really there and that I'd been tricked, but maybe I'm just paranoid. And the estate agent kept claiming to know nothing about the leasehold agreement and reckoned it was 'a fiver a month to keep the gardens looking nice', or something along those lines. The estate agent I'm dealing with at the moment told me it was £500 a year for those properties and he'd be surprised if they hadn't known that (which especially seems true given they were selling another property there).

So yeah, all in all I've not had a very good reintroduction to the property market. I just want to get it all done and over with now so that I can relax and forget about it!

amnblog

Sammy,


You appear to have been dragged in the meat machine that the Estate Agents run to generate profit from sales. They want the sale done at the best price possible and that is the focus. If their mortgage broker does not get you the lending quickly (and sell you as many additional products as possible), they wont be considered of much use to the agency. We offer see your interests ignored as a result.


You have also experienced the problems of going direct to the Lender where a little knowledge is a dangerous thing and you do not get what you went in for. You have yet to experience the joy of the application process direct to Lender.


Hence the reason the recommendation here is to not go direct but to use a mortgage broker, but not one within the estate agency.

kingstreet

If you've already applied and paid for a valuation, then do a change of property/product with your current advisor on your current Halifax application, you will pay for a new valuation, but on completion, valuation promise will kick in and your first valuation fee will be refunded.

Don't forget to take that into account, if it applies to you.