Barclays or Countrywide?

Poor_Leno

Am in a bit of a dilemma as pretty soon I will need to decide which lender to proceed with as I've got an agreement in principle with Platform (co-op bank) through Countrywide and also my bank (Barclays).

The advisor at countrywide mentioned that a hard search would be carried out, though i'm wondering if that's only at the point of application cos its not showing on my credit file yet (done a week ago) though the one Barclays did for a DIP shows a soft search, and is listed as a quotation search. I assume that means a soft search at least. I've got 3 'credit application searches'on my credit report, one in June last year for when I applied for a current account, one in October for a new credit card, and then one in December by a financial advisor surveying the mortgage market (which I wasn't made aware of being a hard search, but is showing as such). So, I am edgy about some of those cos I know lenders get edgy themselves, though the only credit i've actually applied for with those three searches was a credit card.

So, just hoping that this doesn't lead to Barclays or Platform seeing that on my file too negatively. Platform seems the better deal cos even though there's a £550 fee to pay Coutnrywide, there's no product fee on their mortgage, which on a 5yr fixed is 1.99% for an LTV of 80%. Barclays 5 yr fixed on 80% LTV is 1.78% but has a £999 product fee. It jumps to 2.1% for taking it up with no fee. Part of me though thinks I should go with Barclays tho, I mean I do get double blue rewards right now (til August) and I know its only a tenner (and fiver after that drops) but there's a bit of cashback there. Though, platform's product offers £250 cashback at completion. Which is effectively the same as what Barclays would give me in rewards over 5 years with them.

Confused as to which is the best option overall.

Barclays 1.78% with product fee of £999 is £363.01 pm for 63 months
Barclays 2.10% with no product fee is £378.14 pm for 63 months
Platform 1.99% with no product fee but broker fee of £550 is £388 pm for 60 months (250 cashback on completion)

I could stretch to 75% LTV for better rates, but thing is, I want to hold back some cash, otherwise it means putting a hefty chunk of my savings and leaving fairly little left, which I don't particularly like the idea of. I am more comfortable about going for an 80% LTV mortgage.