Are you ready to begin looking for a mortgage but are confused about whether you should use a mortgage broker or not? One of the most significant financial decisions you’ll make is securing a mortgage and it is important to ensure you are receiving the right advice.
In this article, we explain five benefits of using a mortgage broker and how their expertise can be invaluable. It is also important to ensure that they are independent and offer independent advice.
The Benefits Of Using A Mortgage Broker
With the huge variety of mortgage comparison websites available on the web, property buyers will be forgiven for thinking that a mortgage broker is a luxury that can be dispensed without any major loss. After all, these comparison websites claim to perform an exhaustive search of the mortgage market, providing their users with a list of the most competitive rates available at any given time, for any given mortgage type. However, comparison websites and ‘best buy’ tables cannot hope to reflect the wide range of factors involved in a mortgage that affect the overall cost.
5 Key Reasons To Use A Mortgage Broker
Avoid Rejections
While in most cases, rate comparison sites do provide users with a list of the lowest rates currently available on the market, they do not however provide users with a list of the rates for which they are eligible. This is fundamental as lenders have unique sets of criteria that must be satisfied by the mortgage applicant in order for a mortgage to be offered. These criteria include age, passport, residency, occupation, income amount, income source, and other mortgages – which is to say nothing about the actual property in question. If the borrower fails to meet these criteria, their application will be rejected, and a record of this rejection will be left on the applicant’s credit report. The more rejections a borrower has on their credit report, the harder they will find it to get a mortgage.
Mortgage brokers are well versed in the unique criteria and requirements of each lender and are therefore able to cater their product recommendations based on such considerations. This means that the likelihood of a mortgage rejection shrinks considerably when applications are submitted via a mortgage broker.
Save Money With Bespoke And Exclusive Products
Whereas comparison sites provide users with a general list of the best deals currently available on the market, a mortgage broker will be able to provide you with the best deal on the market for which you are actually eligible. Many lenders offer products that are only available through intermediaries – these products will therefore not be available through comparison sites. Furthermore, a good mortgage broker will have working relationships with specialist lenders who may, in certain situations, be able to provide borrowers with bespoke products that they would not have been able to arrange themselves.
Knowledge Of Specialist Lender Market
Many of our clients come to us after they have been rejected for a mortgage by one of the high-street banks. They therefore frequently have little hope of being offered a mortgage, only to find that there are a host of lenders willing to offer them a competitive deal. This is because mainstream lenders often have extremely rigid criteria that severely restrict the kind of borrower to whom they are willing to lend. They may, for example, reject applicants for no other reason than that they are self-employed, or that they only have one years’ worth of company accounts. Or else that the property they are looking to buy has too much land, or an annex, or is of unusual construction.
There are a whole range of specialist lenders who are very often able and willing to lend to such individuals. The key is knowing which lenders are happy to lend to which kinds of applicants. A good mortgage broker will have this information readily at hand, and will often be able to find deals for their clients. Private Finance uses over 175 lenders to obtain the best terms for clients.
Mortgage Arranged As Quickly As Possible
The mortgage application process can be long and, at times, tedious. A good mortgage broker will project manage the entire process from start to finish, coordinating between your lender and solicitor to ensure that your mortgage is arranged as quickly as possible. Additionally, if for any particular reason you require a mortgage within a specific time frame, a good broker will know which lenders are the quickest and will therefore be able to cater their recommendation accordingly.
Reduce Stress
A good mortgage broker will work tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that you are insulated from all stress. Moreover, having overseen thousands of mortgage applications before, they should be able to pre-empt most problems before they even happen, removing as many complications from the process as is possible. If unforeseeable, unavoidable issues do arise, they should then know what to do and how to avert any future issues.
This article is based on information available on the date of issue, 29th January 2020.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this content are those of the author and do not constitute financial, legal, or professional advice, nor should they be interpreted as a recommendation. They do not necessarily reflect the official views, policies, or positions of Private Finance, and are not intended to represent broader market or industry perspectives.
Please remember that your home could be repossessed if you do not keep up with repayments on your mortgage.
