Mortgage Broker or Bank

ACG

Some brokers charge, others do not.
I take the approach of charging and only taking on a limited number of cases. It means I am around for my clients and if something goes wrong I can jump on it more or less straight away.

If I was fee free, I would have to do twice as many cases in order to earn the same income, that would take me away from my clients more and leave me less time to resolve issues or take me longer to get back to people.

If I had to do this job on a fee free basis, I would quit. There is a lot of demand and stress as there is a lot at stake. Its not just a case of finding the cheapest and submitting an application, there is a lot LOT more to it than that.

Nothing against fee free brokers at all, but it is not for me.

Most lenders pay around 0.35% of the mortgage (£350 on a £100,000 mortgage). Some pay more, some pay less. From any income we have to pay:
Income Tax,
NI,
Corporation tax,
PI Insurance,
Web hosting,
Utilities,
Phone,
Stationary,
Staff,
Compliance costs,
Training,
IT systems,
Marketing,
The FCA,
The FoS,
etc etc.

I am not here to say how bad brokers have it, I love my job and I do earn an ok income, but I do work hard for it and the gross figure you see on the illustrations is definitely not what we walk away with.

amnblog

Don't forget the risk we pick up ACG.

kingstreet

agurung wrote: »

I need to re-mortgage my house next year. The current lender is in the top 5 in terms of market share for lending the mortgage. I'm thinking of re-mortgaging with them as their rates are competitive enough. Also, they have no application fees or don't charge for valuation and solicitors fees.

In which case you aren't remortgaging you are asking your existing lender for a customer retention product and these are often not as good as remortgage products which are for borrowers new to the lender.

Ensure you are selecting from the right product range for your status.

SavingSteve

So how do the lenders view it? HSBC being the example I'm thinking of. Quietly confident that I could self apply and be accepted for their mortgage, on the other hand I think why not use a fee free broker to take some of the admin work off my plate.

Is there a downside here that I don't see? Even if I think I don't need the advice, would HSBC look at my application any worse if it has come via a broker?

amnblog

Brokers often get cases through the same lenders where clients have failed when going direct.

ACG

I found this quite interesting. HSBC/First Direct despite spending the bulk of the last 2-3 years (or longer) near the top, if not the top of the best buys only has around a 6% market share.

To me that means either not as many people are applying as you would imagine or they are declining/not making offers for what is needed? (Just my thoughts).

snowcat75

I wouldn't hesitate to use a broker unless you are not in any hurry and are watertight as far as lending propositions go,

I have recently additionally borrowed for a large building project, and on the advice of a broker recommended to go direct, he said although he was turning away trade, because I had plenty of equity a decent credit report no borrowings and income to support, there was no reason not to go direct and save a few quid.

What I couldn't believe (having an old self cert mortgage) is the time it has taken, approx. 3 hrs of phone calls, very probing and detailed questions backed up with paperwork on earnings, and query's on every detail, 2 months on it seams were now at the final hurdle as they decided they also needed my tax year statements for the last 3 years (presumably to make sure iv paid them).

It did make me wonder how some ever get a foot in the door, I can only think through a decent broker.