Mortgage Brokers

Jb_1982

I'm due to see a mortgage broker on Saturday, I'm just wondering how beneficial they are? I understand the one I'm seeing just charges the lender commission and not me directly. Anyone had any bad experiences with brokers? I've had an initial meeting with her to gain a DIP. And I'm going again for the official mortgage application etc. Is it quite likely that my mortgage will be accepted given that I've seeked professional advice? Seems like one hurdle after another with moving house. Just want to see if mortgage approval could be easier than getting an offer accepted on a property!?!

ACG

Like anything, there are good and bad.

Im not saying fee free brokers are bad, but I was fee free when I first started out. I had to see a lot of people just to earn a wage, which then meant if there was a problem I was not around as much as I needed to be.

But to answer your question, you would expect your application to go much more smoothly with someone who does it on a daily basis than without.

dunstonh

Anyone had any bad experiences with brokers?

Almost certainly they have as with any profession in life. However, most mortgages in the UK are arranged by brokers.

LKRDN_Morgan

Personally my broker has been brilliant. Well worth his £199 fee. I'll never know if I would have been fine going it alone but with past debt that hadn't completely fallen off and only a 5% deposit I was nervous about who to approach. I got my offer from a high street lender without much fuss

Mutton_Geoff

Worth reading Martin's recent blog post here:


http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/team-blog/2017/06/07/living-near-nandos-nearly-cost-mortgage/


Lot's of other advice in his mortgage pages too. Brokers are quite good at steering you to lenders they know you will have a high rate of success at rather than you risking credit application flags each time you approach a lender directly.


Even brokers differ. I recently had one broker tell me max borrowing from Santander (only lender to offer what I needed, interest only, sale of property, close to retirement) was x. Another broker confirmed Santander would lend me 3 times that amount. As I needed more than x, I went to the second broker and the application went through fast and smoothly (apart from Santanders greedy valuation fee of £940, very happy with the deal).

SuboJvR

For brokers that get paid by the lender, it's in their best interest to find you a deal that will go through. They know all the ins and outs of the different lenders so will pick one that they feel confident with first time - they then get paid for their work without needing to then go through the process a second time.

I'm pretty good at paperwork, organised with all our files, and I do think I would've been able to apply for a mortgage direct for us with my bank as there's nothing about their eligibility that we don't meet. However, the brokers are the ones with experience of the process time and time and time again and they know what random reasons people may get declined for...

And as a first time buyer, having someone (as well as this forum) that we can go to with our questions and who is confident in our application does wonders for my anxiety levels

Jb_1982

Thanks everyone for your words of wisdom. I have seen a broker, as I say, so it does look as though its a small price to pay for some knowledge and expertise.

Jkbc90

Our broker has been fantastic, £200 fee but that is us covered until we have keys in our hands (hopefully) we did research the brokers in our area and we went with him. The information he is able to provide alone is worth the money, he took care of all of the applications and paperwork, does all of the chasing and keeps us updated throughout.

folkestonelisa

I didn't think my broker was very good, seemed slow and too busy for me, but he found us our only chance of getting a mortgage, on his 2nd attempt and now we are just waiting for some searches to be done, but the mortgage has been given at a better rate than expected. So he was very much worth his £299 ( I've even bought him a bottle of wine as a thank you for when we complete as without him, I wouldn't be in this most amazing position ��)