Have you started to worry?
In the current economic climate, top deals can be difficult to find. Sadly, some lenders have retreated from the broker market to cut costs and avoid paying commission. You might struggle to find a decent broker because the last few years have hit the intermediary market extremely hard and a substantial amount or brokers have left the industry.
Yet, when and if you find a decent broker make sure that he can offer you a whole-of-market brokers service and ensure you are aware that they only have to look at the mortgages available to them, so a broker advertising that they “compare all deals” may not be including the ones offered by the bank direct to clients. There is no obligation for the broker to offer you those products. The process of finding the best product becomes quite complicated.
Sadly this makes the process of finding the most competitive mortgage more difficult than it used to be.
The main lenders that do not operate through brokers are ING Direct, HSBC and First Direct. Yet the Yorkshire Building Society and Britannia don’t pay brokers a fee, and while true whole of market brokers should include them in a comparison, they don’t have to offer to transact them for you.
Lenders that only offer some deals through brokers
This is where it gets complicated, and you’ll really need to do some legwork. A few lenders, e.g. Nationwide and Halifax, now put some deals through brokers and some only direct.
Direct deals can be more competitive, lenders are trying to save on brokers fees as a way of improving the profit margins. Usefully, Moneyfacts and the FSA’s Money Made Clear website will include most branch-only direct deals from lenders in their tables, so they are great starting points to see if you can beat the broker deals.
Exclusive deals from other brokers.
The final category are the deals which are available exclusively through other brokers, mortgage clubs, exclusives, promotional offers etc. Unfortunately there is no central point where you compare all these products, there is no alternative but to contact several brokers and compare.
So basically, there is no magic recipe, just be patient and explore all avenues before you decide on a particular mortgage product. The hard work will pay off and you could be saving thousands of pounds over the term of the mortgage.
Make sure you are not one of the many thousands of homeowners who have been mis sold a mortgage and ensure you do your research before making the biggest financial step of your life!