Jump to content

Recommendations for Mortgage Broker


LV0210

Recommended Posts

  • 1 month later...

Can someone be kind enough to explain to me (ignorant but in need of a remortgage)


1) what's the point of getting a broker rather than looking round myself?

2) do they charge you or have some deal with the mortgage provider where they get a finder's fee?

1) If you have the time to do the leg work to shop around yourself, then why not ......... but if for any reason you may not have the pick of the whole market (ie. bad credit history, trouble proving your employment history/salary, certain types of property are difficult to mortgage, other mortgages/commitments), then a decent mortgage advisor/broker can narrow down the lenders you can deal with, saving time, effort, unnecessary credit checks and potentially paying wasted 'fees' only to find out that you don't fit their qualifying criteria.


2) Some charge you (a set fee), others receive a fee from the mortgage company = 'finders fee', or it can be a combination of both. Some people prefer to pay the set fee themselves, on the assumption they'd get a truly unbiased recommendation, but either way, the advisor/broker should be upfront about how they get their fee from the very beginning.

I used to wonder about this too, until I used a broker for the first time last year (Elliot Webb, who I have recommended above) Further to tllm2's post, I also thought I would have access to the whole market for a new BTL mortgage on my rental flat because I don't have bad credit etc, but in fact Elliot was able to get me an amazing deal with Santander which wasn't available on the open market and which frankly saved me a fortune. I don't know how all this works, or why only brokers get access to certain products, but I was most impressed, not least because (as I recall) for that product his fee was paid by Santander, not me! In other cases (pensions/ISAs) Elliot has a flat fee, but it is all very transparent. Good luck.


monkeyspanner Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Can someone be kind enough to explain to me

> (ignorant but in need of a remortgage)

>

> 1) what's the point of getting a broker rather

> than looking round myself?

> 2) do they charge you or have some deal with the

> mortgage provider where they get a finder's fee?

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Latest Discussions

    • But all those examples sell a wide variety of things,  and mostly they are well spread out along Lordship Lane. These two shops both sell one very specific thing, albeit in different flavours, and are just across the road from each other. I don't think you can compare the distribution of shops in Roman times to the distribution of shops in Lordship Lane in the twenty first century. Well, you can, but it doesn't feel very appropriate. Haa anybody asked the first shop how they feel? Are they happy about the "healthy competition" ?
    • ED is included in the 17 August closure set (or just possibly 15 August, depending on which part of the page you trust more) listed at https://metro.co.uk/2025/07/25/full-list-25-poundland-stores-confirmed-close-august-23753048/. Here incidentally are some snippets from their annual reports, at https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02495645/filing-history. 2022: " during the period we opened 41 stores and closed 43 loss-making/under-performing stores.  At the period-end we were trading from 821 stores in the UK, IoM and ROI. ... "We renogotiated 82 leases in the year, saving on average 45% versus the prior lease agreement..." 2023: "We also continued to improve our market footprint through sourcing better store locations, opening 53 and closing 51 stores during the year." 2024:  "The ex-Wilco stores acquired in the prior year have formed a core part of this strategy to expand our store network.  We favour quality over quantity and during the period we opened 84 stores and closed 71 loss-making/under-performing ones."
    • Ha! After I posted this, I thought of lots more examples. Screwfix and the hardware store? Mrs Robinson and Jumping Bean? Chemists, plant shops, hairdressers...  the list goes on... it's good to have healthy competition  Ooooh! Two cheese shops
    • You've got a point.  Thinking Leyland and Screwfix too but this felt different.
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...