We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum. This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are - or become - political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

Mortgage Best Buys tool: cashback and "green" conditions

Uplink
Uplink Posts: 254 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
edited 30 September at 4:12PM in Mortgages & endowments
Hello MSE

I was using the MSE Mortgage Best Buys tool to get some figures for a Re-Mortgage (deal is coming to an end come January), and then spoke to a broker and I'm now confused.

I'm looking at a the 60% LTV bracket.

There's a 3.90% HSBC (999 fee, 1250 cashback) entry that looks good, but my broker told me the following:

1. It's only for "green" properties (EPC rating A and B ) - I would have to go with the 4.04% (0 fee) to qualify (which is somehow cheaper too according to MSE)
2. The cashback shown by MSE is a choice: either cashback, or free legals

My problems:

* MSE makes it sound like I can get both free legals and cashback.
* MSE doesn't give me any indication on "green" property conditions (but then again, neither does HSBC on their website)
* HSBC doesn't show me any 1250 cashback on their website - there's a choice between free legals and 300 cashback.

That cashback brings the 1yr cost down in sorting by "MSE Total Cost", but if I can't get it, I don't want it used in the results, please.

Any ideas what I could be doing differently to get better results?

Comments

  • ACG
    ACG Posts: 24,013 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper I've helped Parliament
    Green products are available to properties the lender deems as being green - in this case with an EPC rating of A or B. If your property has that, you may be eligible for the product. If it does not then you would not be eligible for the product. 

    Its not uncommon for the MSE system to have errors, its been mentioned a few times so I would not rely on it. If the HSBC site does not show the higher cashback then its probably not available.
    I am a Mortgage Adviser
    You should note that this site doesn't check my status as a mortgage adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice.
  • Uplink
    Uplink Posts: 254 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    edited 6 October at 1:31AM
    Thanks for the reply ACG.

    It turns out that Habito has the same information (the HSBC with 1250 cashback), so somebody might have made a mistake somewhere, but since the deal is non-broker, direct to lender, maybe nobody in charge of the information noticed yet.

    Edit: Nope, not an error in the data stream according to some pages on the Internet:
    HSBC ups green mortgage cashback offer to £1,250 (mortgagesolutions.co.uk)
    Green mortgages (moneysavingexpert.com)

    But it as you mentioned, it's for green mortgages, which I don't qualify for.

    I don't understand why HSBC's own webpages don't show this cashback, but that means it's HSBC's error.

    Edit 2: As for MSE, there should be a filter to exclude these green mortgages if I can't have them.
  • ACG
    ACG Posts: 24,013 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper I've helped Parliament
    Our sourcing system (one we pay for) used to catch me out with green mortgages all the time. Thankfully they now label it as such and so we can avoid them. 

    But with sites like this, they are probably happy to get the enquiry/referral through and earn some money for it - in essence no incentive for them to put the time in to fix the issue. 



    I am a Mortgage Adviser
    You should note that this site doesn't check my status as a mortgage adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice.
  • Uplink
    Uplink Posts: 254 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    I just looked at the raw JSON used by MSE. If they displayed the product name (which is in the JSON), green or otherwise special mortgages may be easier to spot. The HSBC one I mentioned has "GREEN" in all caps as the first word.
Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 346.6K Banking & Borrowing
  • 251.3K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 451.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 238.8K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 614.2K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 174.7K Life & Family
  • 252K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.