How do I find a good mortgage broker?

amnblog

A thread from richk77 today got me thinking about this question which comes up on the forum most days.

Many of the mortgage application problems highlighted by borrowers on the forum can be dealt with quite easily by an experienced and qualified mortgage broker – and therefore the most common advice from the dozen or so mortgage brokers who post on here regularly is ‘engage an independent mortgage broker’.

But is it that easy?

When the poster asks – how do I find the right broker? - the only response they seem to get is a referral to unbiased.co.uk - but does that really help?

A search today on Unbiased using our postcode brought up 80 results. (with or without the ‘Only show sponsored results’ box ticked)

The majority of listings have very scratchy information available about the businesses - nothing really to go on.

Some have full contact details and a website link.

The first listing we looked at had a ‘Free Mortgage Review’ box on the listing but the website said they charge between £76 and £245 – confusing.

The next listing referred to a 0.5% fee on their website – if I want to borrow £200,000, why would I pay £1,000 rather than £245 to use a broker?

The third listing had a website suggesting that the business was authorised by the Financial Services Authority!

Five minutes in and no further forward!

So how does a potential borrower decide which broker to contact?

If they do contact a broker what should they ask?

How does a borrower decide who to work with?

If you have recently sought out a broker what happened and how did you decide who to engage to assist you?

Spangled

If I needed a mortgage broker/advisor then I'd probably tap up one of the brokers who regularly post on this board. They're not allowed to explicitly tout for business but there's nothing against us mere mortals sending them a Private Message via this board.

As Amnblog says, there are around a dozen or so brokers who post regularly and who offer decent advice. I think you can get a reasonable idea from their posts about the level of service you could expect. They often mention what geographical areas they cover (if you prefer face-to-face contact) and whether they specialise in adverse/new build etc.

I'm not a cheerleader for brokers but if I needed one then this MSE board is a good place to start - IMO.

lizards

We had to go in blind with no recommendations recently. We needed a very high value 95% LTV (top end of help to buy) with a fairly complex income so there was no way we were doing it on our own.

I used unbiased and like you, got dozens of results all within 15 minutes drive. It wasn't easy even after I was only looking at whole of market brokers who specialised in low deposits.

The criteria I used to narrow it down was basically:

1) How professional is their website? This was more of a ruling out than a ruling in thing. A dated looking website with broken links meant I ruled them out right away. Lots of spelling/grammatical errors (I'll forgive a few, but some were a joke especially for a job like a broker) If there wasn't much information I also ruled them out. Confusing information like you mention was another - I ruled out a few for that. Idiots.

2) Proximity - I admit the appeal of having a very local broker swayed me

3) A search for their name. Some brokers have reviews on Google Plus or other places. If they're not reviewed or even mentioned anywhere (aside from other listings places) I steered clear.

4) A general vibe on the website - an air of competence basically. Are they affiliated with anyone else? Any history? Do I appear to be the target audience for their site?

That got me a fairly short list and so I started at the top, ordered by proximity. The first broker I contacted responded right away and clearly was a smart, articulate chap so I went with him. Very glad we did as he has been excellent, always reassuring, clearly knew his stuff, worked very hard explaining the complicated income situation to the lender and we exchanged yesterday!

amnblog

I don't even think I am allowed to use the forum to suggest anyone contacts one of my forum broker colleagues Spangled!

Spangled

@Amnblog - ha!

Even though I'm not in the market for a remortgage for another year or so (waiting for my 5-year fix to end...), I still scan this board most days, and have done for a number of years (yes, sad, I know). Based on their posting histories and quality of responses, I certainly know which brokers I like and who I'd approach if I needed such services.

betmunch

I generally say try unbiased, but I've never even looked at it myself.

Is there a better place to refer people to? Cherryfind perhaps?

Of course a friends personal recomendation would probably be best if you can get one.

if anyone has suggestions for where we should refer to I'd be interested

lizards

I would have loved to have used one of the brokers on the board and I've really valued their advice (to put it mildly) - I know it put me in a much stronger and confident position when starting the process. I've lurked on this board on and off for years and learned so much.

However the main reason I didn't look to the board brokers was very simply because I hate talking on the phone and I don't think any of the brokers here are within an hour or so of me! I get all flustered, can't always understand what people say and also I usually have a child or four making a racket in the background. It's one thing for a five minute update or to ask a question, but to give all the details over the phone over a few hours (plus husband needing to be in on the call too) meant for me a face to face chat was an absolute requirement.

amnblog

Interesting Lizards.


Our clients rarely spend more than ten minutes on the phone to us - if they do, we get flustered!

cluelessoncanvey

I've not totally decided yet, but went on vouchedfor, and contacted the two in my area with a high level of good reviews. Both have given good responses to questions. Have since had a friend recommend one (who I haven't bothered to get in touch with so far), but then he's only had the one experience buying a mortgage with this broker, it's not much of a market comparison, without doing two how do you know he's better/worse than another? I know he's obviously had no troubles with him and I hope not to have any trouble. It seems to be a thing where you ultimately take a punt with someone and hope (fingers crossed) that they do a good job.

lizards

Our face to face was 90 minutes and that was in spite of a very clear email I sent initially (which he said did save a lot of time!) To be fair, some of that was general chatting which probably wouldn't happen on a phone call. All the same I find it easier to keep the baby quiet "in person" than when I'm talking on the phone as the other person can see when I need to fish out more raisins etc!

Very interesting you say it usually only takes ten minutes! Are there a lot more email exchanges? In our case I'd guess about 45 minutes of it was my husband explaining his ridiculously complicated compensation package in the necessary detail (the broker later wrote a few sides of A4 explaining it all to the lender to give you an idea!) So presumably for more straightforward cases it could be a lot shorter. However before applying I had no idea at all how long it would take (especially given the whole MMR thing) so I assumed it would be a long time and I suspect others think that too.

I'm in a minority but not alone in hating phonecalls so I suspect any broker that says "most things can be sorted out in ten minutes on the phone" would attract people like me who might not realise it can be done quickly!

amnblog

Hi Lizards

In our industry we talk about two types of data

'hard' facts (where you live, when you we born, what your earn)

- and 'soft facts' (what is important to you and and why).

Only the soft fact stuff (and the odd bit of hard fact clarification) needs to be done on the phone - the rest we gather online.

We try to cut out the fuss and just get the job done, on the basis you have better ways to spend your time than 'chatting' with your mortgage broker.