Search Ourselves or Use a Broker?

anotheruser

When looking for a mortgage, should I search on compare websites myself or use a broker like London and County? Heard they were pretty good.

ACG

L&C get mixed reviews on here.

A broker is not a price comparison service, they will of course find you a good deal, but they will also manage the whole thing from start to finish. It really depends on whether you want someone to do it all for you or take ownership yourself.

anotheruser

Well, when I used one before they asked me loads of details, I guess like a bank would?
Just seems to be adding a middle man so to speak.

[Deleted User]

But one who knows where to best place your application and whose questions you only need to answer once.

Noobie2011

We used a broker before and are using one now, mainly becuse we have a less than perfect credit record but my view is I will always use a broker as if good they will find you the best deal to suit your circumstances as it is not one size fits all

ACG

We need the same information a bank needs - otherwise how can we fill out the banks paperwork on the customers behalf?

It is exactly like adding a middle man. But as an example today, I had a response from an underwriter - they wanted 2 things:
1) A report on a specific part of the property and;
2) Because it is a high flood risk area, they wanted an insurance quote to ensure cover can be obtained at normal rates.

I told the customer what had happened and that I had sorted point 2 out. OK, it may not sound like a lot but the alternative could have been to miss a call and then have to call a call centre and sort out the quote. That is just an example off the top of my head as it happened today. Both customers are in good jobs, no credit issues, no affordability issues but there were issues which still cropped up unexpectedly.

I am not saying you should use a broker btw (despite my job), I am just saying that we are not a price comparison service.

Peelerfart

I never used a broker.

I think, others may disagree, if you are a normal punter i.e. employed,good credit record and enough time and patience,, then its not difficult.

If you deviate from that,for example, self employed, poor credit, low ltv, or more crucially little interest in checking these things out and researching.

Please use a broker

Lauralou79

We managed fine without a broker, I didn't find it that difficult but was well researched and prepared.

However we were a straight forward enough case with a large deposit and low LTV.

If we would if had credit issues, or maybe more tight on affordability/low deposit I would consider it. For some people having someone else deal with it all is worth its weight in gold!

jedthehumanoid

We're currently in the process of viewing houses and will be making a mortgage application pretty soon. We started out trying to do the research ourselves and speaking to lenders individually as we have some historic poor credit and a smallish deposit, but found it hard to get a straight answer as to whether they thought we would be accepted. All of them basically told us to 'apply and find out'.


Then we tried a couple of the online brokers, including L&C, and they told us we could only get a very small mortgage. We got the impression that as we were a slightly complex case they didn't fancy dealing with us.


We then spoke to a local broker who has been very good so far. After getting all of the details about our situation he's suggested 3 lenders he feels will accept us for a reasonable mortgage amount, easily enough to buy in our area. He explained the lending criteria for each, his experiences in dealing with each lender and why he thinks we should be able to get a mortgage with them. We'll be going back to him when we are ready to make an offer on something for sure.


Long story short - we're going with a broker as the reassurance provided and the experience they have seems invaluable in our situation.

ACG

About 70% of what I do is adverse, not surprising as that is what I gear our business towards - I find those cases more enjoyable.

The remaining 30% is "vanilla", that can be first time buyers who basically want their hand holding, people who are too busy to do it themselves or people who have been declined by a bank and do not want to risk another decline.

There is no such thing as a normal customer as everyone is different and even those who on the face of it are the perfect customers can have issues, on the flip side some of those who you would expect to have many issues can get a Mortgage like a piece of cake.

warnerr88

I originally looked for deals to do myself as me and partner had good credit history, no outstanding loans etc and looked on the online calculators to see what each lender would roughly lend us. Went to apply for myself to be told by one of the banks advisors he doesn't think they would lend us enough due to how my partners work listed her basic salary, so went through L&C and whilst the issue did come up, they had contact with the underwriters and got my mortgage offer.

Will use them again in the future for remortgaging/next house purchase.