Mortgage Dillema

homer_j_3

Being offered advice in the sense that you have been told falls down to the fact that when you go direct (whether it be a telephone service or branch service) there is a chance that the person who is dealing with your case will not offer the "advice and recommendation" service.

The advice and recommendation is what you need if you are unsure of what you are doing as it allows your broker to work that bit out for you. The broker then takes responsibility for the advice and if you feel that the advice was incorrect at any point in the future then you take it up with the broker.

Now as far as I know, YBS branch advisers offer advice and recommendation so this may not particularly the case here but some branch advisers and direct applications may follow an "informed choice" kind of service, where you are given the information but you take responsibility for choosing. This is what your broker is warning you about.

If you choose the mortgage and do not get advice - if that mortgage turns out wrong for you then you need to understand that you have no comeback as you chose the deal.

You will be able to tell which service you are getting by looking at section 3 on the key facts document that you will have been issued with.

Clearly there are advantages to doing your application face to face at a local branch and there advantages doing it over the phone - however if both are on an informed choice basis then the benefits of either service are down to the individual but the protection you get is the same.

My opinion would be that even if the YBS do offer the advise and recommend service, you are clear in the fact that they are not comparing their deals with other lenders, they are simply working out which one of their products suits you best.

Your broker will be probably trying to worry you because they cannot get in on the action with either of those deals due to the fact that the products you have mentioned and routes to apply are direct and a broker will not get paid for these.

firstTimeBuyer_2-2

Thanks homer_j I think you're right in the fact that he was trying to put me off. Thanks for the excellent advice on this topic anyway though.

Cheers