Jasmine Birtles
Your money-making expert. Financial journalist, TV and radio personality.
How to Choose a Mortgage Provider
Reading Time: 4 minutesChoosing your mortgage provider is not a decision to be taken lightly. You’re tied into a mortgage for many years – often decades – so ensuring you’re getting a good deal without hidden costs is essential.
Here’s the lowdown about choosing the most appropriate mortgage provider for you.
- Always use mortgage advisors
- Using independent mortgage brokers
- Things to look out for when choosing a broker
- Things to look out for in your provider
- More mortgage advice
always use mortgage advisors
Sure, you could apply for a mortgage in minutes with your bank online. But will you really get the best deal? Could your application be rejected? A mortgage advisor helps you find the right deal for you and checks your paperwork to reduce the risk of rejection.
Finding a mortgage advisor is simple enough. The best way to do so is through recommendations from friends and family – they won’t refer anyone they didn’t think carried out a good job for their mortgage.
Avoid using tied mortgage advisors. They’re only going to offer you a selection of deals available on the market which means you’re likely to miss out on the best mortgage offers. High street banks, for example, have in-house mortgage advisors. They’ll only show you the mortgages you can get with that bank and not anything else on the market. Avoid!
WHY YOU SHOULD CONSIDER AN INDEPENDENT MORTGAGE BROKER
With this in mind, you should consider employing the services of an independent mortgage advisor when choosing your mortgage provider. Their job is to act in your best interests and to help you find the appropriate provider according to your financial situation. Acting as a neutral advisor in such a competitive market means they’ll analyse the best options for you. In fact, they’re legally obliged to only offer you the best solutions for your personal circumstances.
At MoneyMagpie, we have an established partnership with London and Country, the UK’s leading fee-free mortgage broker, who can help you choose the right mortgage deal for you. There’s no fee for their advice; they’ll compare thousands of mortgage deals available in the market right now, their advisors are available 7 days a week, and provide a bespoke online tracking tool to help monitor your application progress.
Using our partnership, you can use their bespoke calculators to determine:
- How much you can borrow
- The fees to use their brokers should you choose one of their independent brokers to help you find your mortgage provider
- Updated stamp duty
- Different types of mortgages including re-mortgage, residential and Buy To Let
An independent mortgage broker seriously reduces the risk of being rejected for a mortgage. Once your application is rejected, you’ll need to wait at LEAST six months before applying again. Otherwise, your credit score shows several rejections and that makes it almost impossible to get a mortgage. Your broker handles the paperwork for you and ensures you’re realistic about your application. They’ll never advise you to try to borrow more than you can afford, for example.
things to look out for when choosing a broker
To make your relationship with your broker succeed and ensure they are acting legally, you need to watch out for a couple of things.
For instance, the issue of fees is never easy to settle. Establish whether they charge a flat fee for handling and managing the process, or whether the cost is absorbed into the total price of the mortgage.
It’s best to interview a few advisors before settling and choosing one to help you find your mortgage provider. They need to get to know you, your financial history and your present as well as future needs quite intimately to ensure they are providing the best service. Be honest with the parameters that need to be set.
Brokers must legally act with your best interests to support your financial situation. Those that act as if their commission is their first priority won’t be neutral in finding the best mortgage provider for you. A mortgage broker that doesn’t declare themselves independent is going to be tied to a bank, to an estate agent, or an external provider. You need to have a conversation that is transparent and honest to determine whether this is the case.
Don’t pay up front for mortgage advice. Anyone asking for a consultation fee before you’ve even sat down together must be avoided at all costs.
things to look out for in your mortgage provider
A mortgage provider needs to offer the flexibility you require. If you’ve found your forever home, fixing your rates for a long period is a good idea. However, if you want to level-up again in a few years, a tracker or flexible mortgage is more likely to suit your needs. Check the fees involved in things like early repayment, too. This could lock you into a mortgage deal and mean you miss out on great remortgaging deals later on that could save you thousands of pounds.
It would be best to make sure you’re looking out for total term interest, the type of mortgage you’re applying for, the flexibility of mortgage changes, the length of the fixed term deal, and whether there’s a decrease in interest after a certain number of years. If you’re thinking of moving again within five years, pick a provider that has low exit charges for remortgages.
It’s important to take all of these elements into consideration to help you pick the best mortgage provider. Be honest with your affordability and future plans. It’ll help you find a suitable provider – and your broker will be confident in their actions, too.
It also comes in handy when remortgaging and potentially you can negotiate on mortgage terms and fees in particular.
Some very sound advice.
Great article on an important subject.