What is the role of a Mortgage Broker?

Customers want to have the choice and access to the best mortgage deal, but this can be difficult to find. Mortgage Brokers are independent, unbiased and unrestricted, so they have the ability to find the best Mortgage Deal available for any given customer’s circumstances, from any bank and building society in the UK.

There are so many lenders, so we ensure that the customer is getting the best interest rate, the best service, the best lender, and that they are fully informed of everything that’s available to them.

What is the difference between going to a Mortgage Broker and your local high street bank?

When you go to a bank, you’re very limited in terms of options available. If you just go to one bank, you’ve just got one series of products to pick from. They might not be suited to your needs, but they are all the bank has to offer.

If you go to a Mortgage Broker, you’ve got a selection of mortgage deals from every lender, which ensures that you’re getting the best deal. There’s a lot of comparison sites out there that will also look for the best deal, but the software doesn’t have the capacity to know your circumstances. It doesn’t know the specialist things about your job, your age, your income etc.

A broker, on the other hand, is a middleman with the knowledge that you have provided them about your circumstances, which can give you confidence that they’re going to get you the best deal in the quickest time possible.

What services does a Mortgage Broker offer? 

For a First Time Buyer, buying a new home can be a little bit daunting for them. They don’t know the processes involved, whether that be the conveyancer, the solicitor, the survey, they have not been through the process before. A Mortgage Broker informs them of how easy the process should be and educates them throughout the whole application.

A Home Mover is quite different, a Mortgage Broker will need to satisfy their property sale price and give them confidence that their equity will work moving forward and the affordability of the next mortgage, while finding a solution for their sale. Finding it all using the same solicitor for the purchase as well can be extremely pressured and stressed. 

Brokers are really good at easing the stress and the burden of tying the whole process together. We understand the purchase process and help with the conveyancer and inform the customer of the time scales etc.

A Broker should really get involved with the solicitors and the estate agent. A good estate agent would really go into the details of how quickly they are progressing. Our job is to give estate agents assurity that the customer can proceed as quickly as possible.

What is an Agreement in Principle? 

The Agreement in Principle is very important, however, there is a bit of a myth that if you get an Agreement in Principle, your mortgage will be approved, which is not necessarily the case.

The Agreement in Principle is judged on the customer’s credit score and earnings, as well as affordability. Often estate agents will not take your offer seriously unless you have an Agreement in Principle, so it’s an important thing to obtain very early in the process.

It’s worrying that people can get them online, because it doesn’t give people the chance to properly go into monthly payments, the terms, the type of deal, and all the aspects of the advice that goes into getting the right mortgage in the right deal for the right property. 

Can you help with Mortgage Protection Policies, Remortgaging and Buy to Let?

The protection element is very important and it’s not sufficient to present life insurance, critical illness and income protection to a customer and expect them to choose the right cover. Those products are so complex and  it’s important to understand whether you will need them, how much they are going to cost, and what exactly is covered.

It will probably require another full appointment to go through the protection options properly and in full. The customers out there who run through it as quickly as possible, are at risk of not being covered adequately. Always make sure that you speak to an expert who thoroughly understands each type of policy available, the complexities of and what is covered, because it does vary from provider to provider.

Every time you remortgage, every time you have a life change or a changing house or changing circumstances with your job, always have a review of your insurance policies.