How to choose a mortgage broker

FutureGirl

Hi all.

How do people generally choose a mortgage broker?

I don't know anyone who has purchased a house, so don't really have anyone who can give me recommendations. 

Does the broker need to be nearby, or can they be based anywhere? What reviews can I trust online? Does anyone have any recommendations of brokers that they used that I can check out?

MovingForwards

Contact local ones, see how they come across and read reviews.

Some of us have used brokers who comment on threads. You can approach them, they cannot approach you first.

Search the internet, see how they come across and read reviews.

I know which review site I don't pay attention to when looking up companies, all you can do is read as many over different sites and see what the general outlook is. Remember, most people only leave reviews when unhappy, the happy customers are living their lives in their homes.

The broker can generally be located anywhere, but always check they have experience of obtaining mortgages for your location if using someone not in the same country eg English based for Scottish property.

Wes121708

If you go on mortgages and endowment forum there's a thread I'm a mortgage broker ask me anything. There are brokers on there. 
We found ours on this forum and so glad we used them instead of the useless one we had beforehand! 

ukri

Brokers don’t have to be local at all. If your requirements are straightforward and you don’t need a lot of handholding then you can approach the free brokers recommended on the MSE page.

If your requirements are more than the above then there are some really experienced ones who help posters on the mortgages and endowments thread. I used one from there and she was excellent on all fronts.

nimbo

I spoke to one at an estate agents. He was a bit pushy. Not whole of market. £700. 

Got a recommendation from a friend for a whole of market. £400. I’ve chosen to pay as my circumstances are not 100% easy and I’ve developed this liking for properties that are going to be a pain in the bottom to get a mortgage for. 

She’s close enough that I could drop off paperwork if needed to. She seemed nice. Realistic. And has been candid saying yes that property will be a !!!!!! to get a mortgage on - I’ll do it if you like - but when you seek it’ll have the same issues. So reflect how bad you want it especially considering all along I’d been telling her I felt it was over priced. 

london21

I am currently using Trussle and was straightforward so far. I filled the form online and got allocated a broker. 

Does the broker need to be nearby, or can they be based anywhere? 

Your broker doesn’t have to be nearby. My identity got confirmed online. With phone and email most of your interactions will be remotely. 

What reviews can I trust online? 

Read variety of online reviews, other people’s experiences etc. Google reviews has been very handy to me especially with selecting a solicitor. 

The estate agents usually push for their brokers but usually at a fee but personally i prefer to chose my own broker without pressure. 

[Deleted User]

one easy way of doing it is to find those local pages on facebook that each town or village has and then ask for recommendations.  You'll see a few of the same names inevitably popping up and then you can contact to see how you get on.  

As long as costs are reasonable and they arent estate agent based then you are going to get mostly the same deals from everyone so I would just say to go woth someone you get on with and doesnt bore you senseless.

Bonniepurple

I went online via unbiased.co.uk and found a shortlist.  I actually picked my broker because their website said something along the lines of “we are all working from home so there may be some background noise from family life”.  That made me feel far more comfortable and the broker who picked up the enquiry has done wonders.  12 months ago I didn’t think we’d get a mortgage, let alone for the amount we are.

The only issue I’ve found is that with Confirmation of Payee the details the bank have don’t match the invoice (probably a typo!) - so I can’t actually pay him without checking.

davilown

Do you actually need a mortgage broker or can you do it yourself?

If you’re employed full time, have a good deposit and no adverse credit history, it’s potentially easier and cheaper to do it yourself.

FutureGirl

Thanks guys, really appreciate your help.

I think we may need a broker as I have 2 old defaults. 

I’m worried about approaching somewhere and them doing a hard credit search and rejecting us, which may then impact us trying to get accepted mock by forward.

Squeaky9

I wouldn’t worry too much, a good broker would only apply to lenders who they are pretty sure would accept you. We had a bad broker to begin with, got declined on our first AIP application as he hadn’t properly credit checked us. We then ended up applying to a different (adverse) lender with another hard search.

Half way through that application we switched brokers and got a much better deal elsewhere. By this point we had 3 hard searches in as many months but it didn’t affect our application which went smoothly (third time lucky)! I found our second broker on here and she was amazing, can give you her details if you were interested.