50 Reasons to use an Independent Mortgage Broker

amnblog

Applicants

When there are more than two borrowers
When you are a first time buyer
When you are buying from family
When you are buying with a friend
When you are changing jobs
When you are confused by the market
When you are consolidating debt
When you are not on a permanent contract
When you are in a probationary period
When you are on maternity leave
When you are within 15 years of normal retirement age
When you do not have permanent right to reside in the UK
When you do not have time to waste
When you do not live in the UK
When you do not understand your product options
When you have blemishes on your credit file
When you have retired
When you may sell again in the short term
When you need a guarantor
When you need a swift result
When you want a range of lending options


Income

When you are a foster carer
When you are a locum
When you are about to become self employed
When you do not draw all of the profit from your business
When you have a confirmed pay rise ahead
When you have been self-employed less than 3 years
When you have income from state benefits
When you have maintenance income
When you have unusual income sources
When your affordability is tight


Property

When the property is in a block with more than four floors
When you are building or renovating your own home
When you are buying a listed building
When you are buying a property for your children to live in
When you are buying a second home
When you are buying at auction
When you are buying but intend to let your current home
When you are buying through an affordable housing scheme
When you are buying to let
When you have buy to let properties in the background
When you have owned the property for less than a year
When you have right to acquire
When your property is not standard construction
When your remaining lease is less than 80 years


Deposits and Capital

When the deposit is not coming from the purchaser
When you are borrowing your deposit
When you are raising capital
When you have a deposit of less than 25%
When your loan to value is tight


Declines

When a lender has messed up your application
When you have been declined by a lender
When your bank says ‘no’

somethingcorporate

The thread title doesn't make sense - they are not reasons to use a broker, just situations when using a broker is likely to be more appropriate.

Thanks though, it is a useful list.

nidO

The pedant in me points out that nothing on your list is a reason to use a broker, it's just a list of situations where you think people should - Reasons would involve explaining *why*.

edit: doh, beaten to it.

somethingcorporate

Pedants unite!

mrginge

Hmmm.. A mortgage broker promoting the use of mortgage brokers.

As much as i do enjoy and appreciate reading amnblogs' useful advice, it does get a bit grating that every other post is basically an advert for or blatent nudge towards a broker (obviously not Amn themselves as that would of course not be allowed under forum rules).

ACG

The last 2 are the same?
To overcome that... if the property is above commercial property.

MrGinge - I dont really come on here for business. Initially I came on before I was a broker it helped me to look into situations and sharpen my knowledge. I still do that to some extent, as I have only been a broker for 2-3 years and I still see every day as a school day.

As we are not allowed to suggest specific lenders its puts us in a position where the only real help we can give is to say it can be done but it wont be easy and if they do go to a broker its possible so not to give up. There are occasions where we do say its possible and should not be a problem, but typically people do not come on here with straight forward situations.

I do go out of my way to not bang the broker drum. Personally I think the average person in the street could avoid using the broker, but I dont think our job is to find the cheapest deal. Our job has evolved since the internet and gone from finding th cheapest to using our knowledge ot find the most appropriate lender. The cheapest is not always the best - some people want a quick turn around time, others want lenient lenders, income stretches etc and its that knowledge that keeps us in a job.

mrginge

No i really think the knowledge and (allowable) advice that you and the other brokers do give out on here is invaluable for many people, so i'm in no way against a bit of self or industry promotion (you link to your homepage for example) in return.
But i consider posts like the amnblogs' above in the same way as i do when i see for example a newpaper report that says 'scientists say butter is better than margarine' and you find out the scientists are sponsored by lurpak.
Jmo anyway.

amnblog

These 50 points are designed as a 'heads up' to borrowers.


They are 50 potential curve balls that can stop you getting lending if you don't know what you are doing.


I disagree with ACG, it is my belief is that everyone would benefit from using the right broker rather than going direct.


As an example we are doing progressing a case with a lender now where the client had previously been refused by the same lender. The difference being that we know the lender's criteria better than the lender's staff member that handled the initial enquiry.


YES, I AM PROMOTING THE USE OF MORTGAGE BROKERS FOR ALL BORROWERS

Thrugelmir

Personally I see lenders in the future increasingly using brokers to vet applicants and providing an initial screening. Thereby reducing the lenders own cost base.

This has nothing to do with peoples own ability to do the leg work. I should add. More to do with less branch staff on the ground.

kingstreet

I think since April, the proportion of borrowers who can safely approach any lender and be readily accepted has probably fallen.

Differences in affordability models have added to differences in criteria, so only the "super vanilla" (standard employee of three years or more, borrowing under 60% with no restriction on term to retirement, clean credit history, no unusual expenditure, "normal" property and loan to income of sub 3.75 x basic) can walk though any lender's door with total confidence.

Add to that the potential wait for some lenders branch advisors to be able to see potential borrowers when they have no online/telephone presence the proportion of broker business has no doubt increased.

Frankly, I don't want/need the clients who are looking to use me as quote fodder to find them 0.1% cheaper than HSBC as that's not likely to happen and my time is better spent working on the cases where the borrower has the kind of issues amn has highlighted.

ACG

Im sure we all have examples like that.

But what about someone looking to borrow less than 1x income, good stable jobs, no major expenditure, savings in the bank to pay off the mortgage in full if they wanted to, no adverse, no major expenditure... my dad as an example.

No lender in a million years is ever going to decline him. He has experience applying for mortgages (pre MMR), hes not daft and is comfortable making an application.

The only reason he would use a broker is if he is being lazy.