What can a broker do that I can't?

Neilos9

An Aip is childs play to get....

A mortgage offer, not so much.

simon_or

BigBoss said:

simon_or said:

ACG said:

For most people a broker cant do anything you can not do. 
The same as if you got a plumber, a gardener, a builder, an accountant, a solicitor - most of the time you can do the same job. 

Can you do it as well? 
Can you do it as efficiently? 
What will you do if a problem arises? 

A broker will do the research, hopefully find you the cheapest lender or the easiest or a combination of the 2 (depending on your requirements). They may deal with the estate agents, they are on hand to offer advice and answer questions, if there is a problem then chances are we have seen it and dealt with it before. They may even make you think of things you had not considered. 

Sometimes even the most straight forward of cases have issues. We can also save you money in the longer run. 

I am not going to sit here and say you should or should not use a broker. There are fee free brokers, but I would argue the rule of "good, cheap and quick - you can have any 2", is a good rule of thumb but of course there are exceptions as people on here will attest to.

Going by OP's post history, he's already used 2 fee-charging brokers to do the legwork to get the AIPs (not sure why he didn't just use a free broker if he was so cost conscious) as he has some adverse and now that's he's got the brokers to do what he needed them for, he wants some reassurance that's it's ok to apply directly to the banks that the brokers have got him the AIPs for.

This is wrong. If you’ve got nothing useful to add, please refrain from saying anything. 

I just went off what you yourself said in your post history, and you may not agree but I do believe it adds context to the premise of your thread.

housebuyer143

Generally if you are employed in permanent jobs, with perfect credit and a good LTV then a broker probably can't add anything. 
It's the complicated cases or those that have no understanding of mortgages where they come into their own. 

K_S

housebuyer143 said:

Generally if you are employed in permanent jobs, with perfect credit and a good LTV then a broker probably can't add anything. 
It's the complicated cases or those that have no understanding of mortgages where they come into their own. 

@housebuyer143 Your statement isn't incorrect as a general statement and I'm certainly not trying to say that everyone should use a broker but even with perm jobs, perfect credit and a good LTV, a good whole of market broker can indeed add a few things with may not always be possible direct. A non-exhaustive list of a few examples -

- access to broker only mainstream lenders like Platform (offers 6+3 months offer validity which has been very useful for some of my clients trying to secure a remo rate more than 6 months in advance), Accord, Scottish Widows, mPowered (their products have been regularly at the top of the charts recently), etc.

- ability to radically compress the timeline to having an application submitted and rate secured by bypassing potentially tedious interviews, weeks long wait for an appointment, etc. Even setting aside the reduction in hassle, in the rate environment that we've been in for the past 6 months this has often meant significant cost savings for many of my clients

- ability to 'reserve' products/rates at DIP stage (eg: Nationwide) without putting in a full application

- notification of an impending lender-specific rate-rise and expediting an application if needed, or 'reserving' a product which some lenders like Barclays allow for intermediaries. Again, this has saved some of my clients a lot of money in the environment that we've been in recently.

- having someone who values the applicant's business far more than most lenders would. This is perhaps more applicable to small firms and/or self-employed independent brokers rather than large volume brokers.

Again, as ACG correctly said, for most people there's no "need" to use a broker if they don't want to, but even for straightforward cases, there are quite a few potential benefits (covering cost, time and effort) to using a competent whole-of-market broker.

BigBoss

simon_or said:

BigBoss said:

simon_or said:

ACG said:

For most people a broker cant do anything you can not do. 
The same as if you got a plumber, a gardener, a builder, an accountant, a solicitor - most of the time you can do the same job. 

Can you do it as well? 
Can you do it as efficiently? 
What will you do if a problem arises? 

A broker will do the research, hopefully find you the cheapest lender or the easiest or a combination of the 2 (depending on your requirements). They may deal with the estate agents, they are on hand to offer advice and answer questions, if there is a problem then chances are we have seen it and dealt with it before. They may even make you think of things you had not considered. 

Sometimes even the most straight forward of cases have issues. We can also save you money in the longer run. 

I am not going to sit here and say you should or should not use a broker. There are fee free brokers, but I would argue the rule of "good, cheap and quick - you can have any 2", is a good rule of thumb but of course there are exceptions as people on here will attest to.

Going by OP's post history, he's already used 2 fee-charging brokers to do the legwork to get the AIPs (not sure why he didn't just use a free broker if he was so cost conscious) as he has some adverse and now that's he's got the brokers to do what he needed them for, he wants some reassurance that's it's ok to apply directly to the banks that the brokers have got him the AIPs for.

This is wrong. If you’ve got nothing useful to add, please refrain from saying anything. 

I just went off what you yourself said in your post history, and you may not agree but I do believe it adds context to the premise of your thread.

A broker has found me AN aip. Note well, the use of the singular. Also note no mention of money having changed hands for it. 

As I stated earlier, your initial post was wrong.

BigBoss

@K_S Another very helpful post - that's the kind of content I was looking for (along with @ACG's earlier).

All too often I read on here "go to a broker" without any actual understanding what they can do for me. One I'm speaking to now (in speculative stage) hasn't really answered my questions convincingly, whereas  another I'm speaking to told me straight up that they can speak to an underwriter if s*** goes left with elements of my application.

I never really saw any point of me going to a broker, for me to only submit an algorithmic style application where "Computer Says No" and there's nothing further that can be done. I can almost certainly do that myself.

Thread can be locked now if mods want.

simon_or

BigBoss said:

simon_or said:

BigBoss said:

simon_or said:

ACG said:

For most people a broker cant do anything you can not do. 
The same as if you got a plumber, a gardener, a builder, an accountant, a solicitor - most of the time you can do the same job. 

Can you do it as well? 
Can you do it as efficiently? 
What will you do if a problem arises? 

A broker will do the research, hopefully find you the cheapest lender or the easiest or a combination of the 2 (depending on your requirements). They may deal with the estate agents, they are on hand to offer advice and answer questions, if there is a problem then chances are we have seen it and dealt with it before. They may even make you think of things you had not considered. 

Sometimes even the most straight forward of cases have issues. We can also save you money in the longer run. 

I am not going to sit here and say you should or should not use a broker. There are fee free brokers, but I would argue the rule of "good, cheap and quick - you can have any 2", is a good rule of thumb but of course there are exceptions as people on here will attest to.

Going by OP's post history, he's already used 2 fee-charging brokers to do the legwork to get the AIPs (not sure why he didn't just use a free broker if he was so cost conscious) as he has some adverse and now that's he's got the brokers to do what he needed them for, he wants some reassurance that's it's ok to apply directly to the banks that the brokers have got him the AIPs for.

This is wrong. If you’ve got nothing useful to add, please refrain from saying anything. 

I just went off what you yourself said in your post history, and you may not agree but I do believe it adds context to the premise of your thread.

A broker has found me AN aip. Note well, the use of the singular. Also note no mention of money having changed hands for it. 

As I stated earlier, your initial post was wrong.

Sorry, I disagree and stand by my post.

Note that you clearly mention about avoiding having to pay so clearly you voluntarily chose to use a broker that charges a fee (at application or offer or completion) for your adverse, got them to do the legwork, got them to get you an AIP and now would like to avoid having to pay the fee that would come with continuing to use the brokers that got you the AIPs.

And for your information the main purpose of these threads isn't just to answer the OP's question, it's to help people coming to the forum for many years to come, so the threads aren't locked and others can and do pick up the thread later on for similar questions.

ACG

BigBoss said:

@K_S Another very helpful post - that's the kind of content I was looking for (along with @ACG's earlier).

All too often I read on here "go to a broker" without any actual understanding what they can do for me. One I'm speaking to now (in speculative stage) hasn't really answered my questions convincingly, whereas  another I'm speaking to told me straight up that they can speak to an underwriter if s*** goes left with elements of my application.

I never really saw any point of me going to a broker, for me to only submit an algorithmic style application where "Computer Says No" and there's nothing further that can be done. I can almost certainly do that myself.

Thread can be locked now if mods want.

Some lenders we can speak to the underwriters, some we cant. 

But there are brokers and brokers. I remember a case a few years back. The client had a Default, he went to another broker before me (rookie mistake haha), he actually found me on here. The broker chose the right lender (in my opinion) and submitted the application. It was declined at AIP/DIP stage. 

The broker then wanted to go to an adverse lender. But before he did that, he wanted a second opinion. I told him I wanted to go back to the lender he had already been declined with. He was understandably hesitant, but the alternative would have been an adverse lender and the extra credit check was going to make no difference to that. 

We got the DIP and mortgage offer. It was a lender where lets just say you can be a little bit vague with the answers and all is ok (for example you might be a business development manager - in which case you can answer employment type as manager rather than sales). The original broker was either a little more straight laced or a little less experienced. As with my previous comments about solicitors and builders, you have good/bad, experienced/inexperienced brokers. 

This has been a pretty good thread, I feel like without saying "use a broker" I have explained in a few ways where brokers can make a difference. 

But where I say use a broker on this forum, its because the person is 90%-100% going to need one. Your not in that category. 

BigBoss

Excellent response @ACG and actually we are still likely going to use a broker, despite you saying we prob won't need one. The main reasons for that are:

1) PIP is a factor in our application (and it's very unlikely to be re-granted after the initial two year term)
2) My credit file isn't perfect (3mnth AP in 2021, 1 late payment in 2017, BR in 2011)
3) We're pushing borrowing limits
4) The actual cost of using our current broker is relatively cheap
5) Our broker's firm has a financial interest in getting us across the line.

The whole purpose of this thread (for me) was to be convinced that I'm making the right decisions. 

todayisagreatday

We are remortgaging - it's very straightforward but we were keen to secure in a rate 6 months in advance (our current fix ends on 31 Jan). Our LTV is brilliant, we have great credit and two healthy joint salaries which makes the amount borrowed minimal and we wanted a 5-7 year fix over an overall term of 10 years. Having done lots of prep work myself on comparison sites, independents etc I had appointments with three brokers - L&C (who sorted out original application out 4.5 years ago when we bought the house), Habito and finally an independent. None came close to what I found independently with First Direct and all also seemed keen to show me rates that were low but that were only available 90 days before our fix ending which were useless to us as we know by the end of October they would be more likely not to be available. When I was able to point out at least the top 10 products they were offering - none let you lock in rates for longer than 90 days they agreed. I was transparent in telling them what I'd found already and all the brokers admitted they couldn't get anything close.

The independent was the least helpful and seemed keen to tell us it wasn't just about the service but having 'a great relationship with us'. Erm no, I want the financial service I don't want a relationship, I'm not going to be popping round to see you for a brew after this, I just want the best financial service you can offer then that's it for 5 years!

I always approach these things by doing your own research, if you have bad credit or things that could cause hiccups a broker is helpful. Also places like First Direct aren't available to brokers and you can only get the rates by going directly to them.

For our initial purchase we were borrowing quite a lot with only a 10% deposit as we had another property which hadn't sold and we needed to drag it out a couple of months longer to make sure our existing mortgage was paid off before a new mortgage could start. The broker from L&C was fantastic and to me went above and beyond, as did our solicitor. If I'm honest the product L&C identified was the one I'd done my research on myself and would have gone for, but there were no perks for me doing it directly such as cashback etc so it made sense to let them do it and get commission etc and have someone else take off the stress!