Using an IFA for mortages

rafhelp

My partner saw a house she liked.

We both did not know much about mortgages so we needed more info.

We spoke to the estate agents who booked us in for a free consultation with their appointed in branch IFA.

He gave us the ins and outs and found a lender who meeted our requirements.

He then broke down the fees and costs, which included £200 arrangement fee for the mortgage, 650 solicitor fees and then his fees which would be about £350.

The thought occured that we could have picked up the application form from the estate agent and applied directly ourselves, searched for a lender ourselves and found a solicitor ourselves, then saved paying the IFA guy £350.

Would this have been possible or is this normal practice?

Just seems like a lot of money to pay someone to do something you can do yourself.

ACG

You cant pick up an application form from an estate agents. You dothe research and then make an application.

Without knowing your circumstances its impossible to say if you could apply yourself but it is certainly possible yes. Although your assuming our job is to find a rate and make an application - thats a minor part of it I think. A lot of our job is to offer support, guidance and solve any problems that may crop up.

If you value that service then £350 is possibly a bargain, if you do not then £350 is an unnecessary expense.

rafhelp

"support, guidance" I thought thats what moneysavingexpert forum was for.

I dont think even nursing home nurse would get £350 for a whole days work to support the totally dependent elderly.

All he has done is used an internet search to find a good lender and told us what steps to take next, it makes life easier but just not sure its worth that amount.

I think it would have been best if he was just upfront at the start and said "I can offer you my services and this is what it will cost you, do you wish to proceed."

ACG

Nursing home staff do not earn that much, but your comparing 2 completely different jobs. I bet teachers do not earn that much nor policemen - but again its totally unrelated and all very admiral and demanding jobs.

If you think hes charging £350 for a days work then you are sorely mistaken. We do not use an internet price comparison site and again that shows your lack of knowledge and understanding of what we do.

What did he say?

As far as im concerned a decent broker will:
Do the research - If you think this is a case of putting in some figures and hitting search, think again. We have to check criteria, affordability, timescales etc.
Factfind - get all of your details down in order for us to be able to do the research.
Problem solve - I can think of many examples where lenders mess up. Just today I had an offer pulled that went to offer by mistake a month ago.
Offer advice and guidance - advice on the best products for you. Guidance on what to expect and when. What to do if things go wrong and how best to package your application to give it the best chance of being accepted. Guidance on what paperwork the lender is going to ask for so we can ensure you are not providing paperwork waiting and then providing more.

If things do go wrong we have the contacts to get it back on track rather than sitting on hold to call centres in any number of countries around the world.

With respect to the people on this forum, the best advice comes from the brokers on here. A lot of people reply but their replies are not always the best. There is nothing like getting proper dedicated advice by a professional (this is true in any walkof life).

You would rather have the £350 in your backpocket by the sounds of it and there is nothing wrong with that. But if things do go tits up you will likely wish you had spent the £350.

dunstonh

I dont think even nursing home nurse would get £350 for a whole days work to support the totally dependent elderly.

What you pay and the profit are two different things.

All he has done is used an internet search to find a good lender

That is not what happens.

I'm not a mortgage adviser (most IFAs are not) but I know the workloads and processes and that is not how it works.

Sure, you can do it yourself and save £350. Whether your research will be any better and give you a real saving or not is only something time will tell. Plus, I dont know how you cost your personal time you will spend when you DIY (3-4 hours research in your own time, a few more hours doing the interview and application process and your own chasing up of things etc). If you are happy to do all that in your free time then fair enough.

hieveryone

My mortgage broker is worth her weight and gold and actually, I feel, is too cheap!

She has done all the paperwork, we haven't had to do a thing. She has liaised with the mortgage company to gather documents, evidence etc.

She has written back to my many late night emails reassuring me of the progress and keeping me as up to date as possible with her contacts within the company.

She has been able to recommend a good, reasonable local solicitor for us.

She is a very helpful and supportive lady and I will miss her when this is all finished! LOL

BigPun69

hieveryone wrote: »

My mortgage broker is worth her weight and gold and actually, I feel, is too cheap!

That sounds like a great recommendation! I actually just signed up because I'm desperately trying to find a good mortgage broker based on a recommendation.

Would you be happy to share her details so I can get in touch with her? Thanks

amnblog

The 'IFA' (presumably mortgage broker) you saw Rafhelp sounds like an idiot.


To leave you having second thoughts about paying his fee shows you have not been convinced of the value of his service.


However, suggesting it was 'something you could do yourself' is a little disingenuous given that you went into the meeting without the information you left with.


You do of course have the option to go it alone - a look through the forum will identify the results that most borrowers get with that approach.

colesy

For many years I've done by own mortgage applications and remortgages and, even though I'm self employed, I have not experienced any problems doing it all myself. I know the system and what to do to get it to work. However, 20 years ago I had just become self employed, was in negative equity in a tiny studio flat, newly married and desperate to move to a decent size family home. I did an application through a broker which was initially rejected. The broker then went into battle for me and got the lender to change their mind. He was worth every penny. If you are in any way in non standard circumstances, especially as a FTB, I'd go down the broker route.

Madbags

I have to agree with amnblog. We did it alone and it was way more stress than it was worth. Sure we got there in the end but it came down to going into branch to fax documents several times because they got lost, having to make a written complaint due to all the problems we had and even re-doing our application a couple times from scratch due to their systems cocking it all up.


Next time, I will definitely use a broker. You don't get any special treatment by going it alone, no pat on the back from the lender for using your initiative or anything like that, in fact I feel after reading these forums daily, it was quite the opposite experience.


My philosophy is there's no small price to pay for peace and quiet and the same goes for stress. I can say "I've been there and done that" now but next time I'll definitely be paying someone else to deal with it.

So you can either take the risk that everything will be hunky dory or not but the minute something goes wrong it's really a lot of added stress (no matter how small the issue is) to something that is inherently a very stressful part of life to go through.

Contemptuous

I used a broker as a FTB aged 19.
Nowadays, as I work in the mortgage industry and have done for several years now, I feel confident enough to "go it alone". This is purely because I feel I have an excellent knowledge of how mortgages work now - if it wasn't my job, I would definitely see the value in going through a broker and would happily pay a fee for the service.