Finding better deals myself?

TSmith92

Recently had an offer accepted on a new property. We are just in the process of sorting out our mortgage. Our mortgage currently is due to run out at the end of march.
I've gone with a mortgage advisor who has found me a deal they recommend, comes with a £999 set up fee. I've put the figures into mse comparison myself and I'm finding better rates plus without fees!? I thought mortgage advisors found the best deals. Any advice? 

Edi81

Is the fee the one from the mortgage company? Are you comparing like with like? Do you have any negatives in your credit report? 

Why don’t you speak to the broker?

TSmith92

No, the fee is the product fee from the bank and I'm comparing the numbers like for like.
I'll be speaking with our broker again tomorrow but just wanted other opinions on wether people have found deals cheaper themselves. 

dunstonh

I've gone with a mortgage advisor who has found me a deal they recommend, comes with a £999 set up fee. I've put the figures into mse comparison myself and I'm finding better rates plus without fees!? I thought mortgage advisors found the best deals. Any advice? 

Mortgage brokers will filter out a lot more than MSE.  i.e. underwriting quirks or issues.  
As an estimate, probably around 90% of the mortgages available to brokers are available directly.   Then you have a bunch of variations of a theme to cater for different distribution channels.

Also, not all mortgage brokers are whole of market.  Despite the rather poor wording that allows smaller panels to get away with pretending they have more than they do.   Maybe your broker isn't truly whole of market.

ACG

There are some deals only available through brokers, there are also times where lenders have the cheapest deals direct. However 2 things:
1) A broker is not a price comparison service. Our job is to get you the best deal we can - that means cheapest deal where you are most likely to be accepted. Do you fit criteria, do you pass affordability, will there be an issue with the property, are you likely to be accepted? Fitting criteria and passing affordability does not mean you will be accepted.
2) The MSE site is not always the most accurate. Sometimes the deals on display are wrong, sometimes they are only available in certain areas - furness building society for example have cheap deals but only available in the lake district area, sometimes they display variable/tracker rates as being fixed when they are not.

However there is no issue doing your own research and speaking to the broker about it. They might be able to match it (in which case why did they not recommend it previously), the product may not be real/available, they may not have access to it. Have the discussion, no harm will come from it. 

RedFraggle

Also quirks around the property. For example some deals I had found online were only available at 85% LTV on a non new build flat and I only had 10% deposit. For a new build flat or house they would have lent. 
My decent whole market broker has never let me down. 

kingstreet

Have you taken into account the lower outstanding balance at the end of the fixed period from choosing the lower rate with the fee; or have you used only interest and fee to compare?

amnblog

As Kingstreet says the common mistake by borrowers is making a simple calculation of monthly payment plus fee.

Example £250,000 loan

5.50% rate two years with £999 fee, payments £1,535

5.75% rate two years with no fee, payments £1,573

It appears that £38 saved over 24 months (£912) does not match the fee cost

In fact:

The rate runs for 26 months (most fixed rate runs to a specific date)

The interest saving is closer to £625 per year which is reflected in a lower outstanding balance in month 27