Use a mortgage broker or not?

GingerJim

My mate needs to remortgage, and thinks a broker can get a much better deal than just by using various price comparison websites. He just needs a 3 or 5 year fixed re-mortgage, nothing complicated. What is the panels opion on this?

[Deleted User]

Really depends on the circumstances.

Personally if they think the case is a "simple" case, I'd go for a fee-free broker and see what they offer. If client thinks a 'direct' deal is better, they can then raise it with the broker who will explain why they have recommended said alternative.

If there is still a disagreement, client is free to go direct and see what happens. I must say after going through a fact find etc with a broker, I'd morally want to stick with a broker unless it was a serious disagreement on product, but each to their own.

For example, my friend thought she had a good rate. However, due to income caps and a reasonably high LTI needed - the broker advised another lender. Slightly more expensive, but more likely to be granted. Went with broker advice, got the mortgage.

Brokers are often very experienced and know the type of questions lenders will ask... and how to phrase the replies. Sometimes (rarely) clients replies are copy and pasted to us and lead to more questions than answers!

ACG

You can not get a much cheaper deal using a broker or going direct. Realistically you are talking about 0.1% differences here or there or maybe a slight difference in fees. If you think a broker is a price comparison service, then I would just use a price comparison service.

We (and many other brokers) charge a fee, so even if we could save you 0.1%, it is unlikely to work out cheaper after our fees.

What we do on top, which you may see value in or you may not is:
- Find a competitive deal that fits your requirements (quick/easy/flexible etc),
- Find a lender where you fit their requirements.
- Deal with the lender/underwriters.
- Help answer any questions along the way.
- Deal with the estate agents whilst you are at work.
- Deal with any problems - on a case yesterday there was a form completed incorrectly by the agents. We got a new one the agents, spoke the lender and underwriter and had it more or less sorted within an hour before explaining to the customer what the issue was, we had already dealt with it.

Some of those will not be applicable on every transaction (less of them on remortgages) but we are anything but a price comparison service. They will just show you the deals, they do not tell you if you pass affordability, are likely to pass the credit check, tell you about timeframes, how anal the underwriters are and so on.