Mortgage Rate Rises

MrRockliffe said:
There's another side to it too.

A good advisor will have relationships with lenders, and as a result the lender will put a level of ownership of the process onto the advisor.

This also means that an advisor will know the ins and outs of the subtle variances in lender requirements, and therefore be able to select more appropriate lenders for you.


It just takes a level of guesswork out of it.



Don't get me wrong, I am the type of person to just do it myself, but I think there's a balance to be had.



Would I pay >£500 for one? No, unless my circumstances were complex.




For me personally, I've found the house buying process stressful enough, so to be able to offload some work to someone that I can trust would be as detail focused as me is great.
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For a basic remortgage it's no work.
And you can often get 500 cashback.
You wouldn't get this going to a broker.

Effectively, you are throwing the cashback away
 
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I've had mates who were brokers/financial advisers. Its their job, what they advise is for their benefit, not for yours. If your meeting one, at least put your details in a comparison site beforehand. At best what they offer will be the same thing you've found but without the fee. If they think your really thick it'll be a terrible deal for you but very lucrative for them.

Unless your the bank managers kids Id think it unlikely your getting any rates that aren't readily available to everyone online with a simple search.
 
rhobbyh said:
I've had mates who were brokers/financial advisers. Its their job, what they advise is for their benefit, not for yours. If your meeting one, at least put your details in a comparison site beforehand. At best what they offer will be the same thing you've found but without the fee. If they think your really thick it'll be a terrible deal for you but very lucrative for them.

Unless your the bank managers kids Id think it unlikely your getting any rates that aren't readily available to everyone online with a simple search.
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This was exactly what I found.
The best broker rate was identical to the price comparison site.

Expect the broker pocketed the cashback.
 
413x said:
For a basic remortgage it's no work.
And you can often get 500 cashback.
You wouldn't get this going to a broker.

Effectively, you are throwing the cashback away
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A simple remortgage is very different though, but even then if your circumstances have significantly changed, it may still be worth it.


Ultimately we're all different individuals and you should do what's right for you. There isn't a clear answer of what is the best solution - you should weigh up what your priorities are and then, and only then, if a mortgage advisor is right for you, you should find a well-regarded one.


rhobbyh said:
Its their job, what they advise is for their benefit, not for yours.
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Frankly, they are terrible advisors then.

A proper advisor, who loves their job, does everything in their power to be of service to you and improve your life.


rhobbyh said:
Unless your the bank managers kids Id think it unlikely your getting any rates that aren't readily available to everyone online with a simple search.
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There is more to advice than just rates.

It's the same conversation with financial advice.


You can get the same outcome fixing your car by doing it yourself - it's the same part at the end of the day.


Reality is, as a society, we rely on people that dedicate their life to being an expert at what they do. It's okay to pay for that. It's also okay if you don't want to and want to learn how to make perfect sourdough yourself.
 
I think the best approach is do the pre work and tell the broker the deal you've found/want and see if they can beat it. If they come back with the same, it can save you a bit of hassle in managing the application. I've had cases where they've come back with cashback that I couldn't get myself. I wouldn't pay for one, though.

For those who use a broker because they don't wan to to know anything about mortgages.: Doesn't seem like very good adulting in the best case as it's one of the biggest financial decisions you make and you should know what you're doing and in the worst case as others have said you are ripe to being ripped off. Mortgages aren't rocket science.
 
413x said:
Expect the broker pocketed the cashback.
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Terrible broker then.


My advisor gave me a few options after I described what my priorities were with a mortgage.


I was offered one which was a £1000 fee or one which was a £1500 fee with £500 cashback. Exactly the same terms as I could find online, but they were also able to point me towards the lenders who were better suited for my circumstances (new to a job, as an example).


They were upfront at every stage what they (or their company) would earn as a result, but going direct wouldn't have meant I'd have gotten it any cheaper - it just meant the lender would have kept that money instead.



There are good mechanics, there are bad mechanics. There are good bread makers, there are bad bread makers.


Work out if you need a mechanic, then find a good one :-)
 
MrRockliffe said:
Terrible broker then.


My advisor gave me a few options after I described what my priorities were with a mortgage.


I was offered one which was a £1000 fee or one which was a £1500 fee with £500 cashback. Exactly the same terms as I could find online, but they were also able to point me towards the lenders who were better suited for my circumstances (new to a job, as an example).


They were upfront at every stage what they (or their company) would earn as a result, but going direct wouldn't have meant I'd have gotten it any cheaper - it just meant the lender would have kept that money instead.



There are good mechanics, there are bad mechanics. There are good bread makers, there are bad bread makers.


Work out if you need a mechanic, then find a good one :-)
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For myself it was the same lender/rate but no cashback with the broker.
For going direct I got the cashback.

As I had a simple remortgage the process was near identical. I provided the docs (as I would have to for the broker) and lloyds mortgage advisor did all the questions "how much do you earn etc".

Felt like no extra hassle either way.

Broker was l&c. I assume they have to make money somewhere. Never seen cashback offered by a broker.
 
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I took some money out to do a bit of refurbishment / upgrade to the house. Moved to a tracker for now just so I could release the funds, and then I'll see what the situation is and moved to a fixed rate if/when the market settles - we're thinking of selling / moving in 2 years time, so wanted to get the house tarted up, but also because it's been on the cards for a while (10 years!). I did everything myself, (other than needing a conveyancing solicitor) and in all honesty I'd have preferred to use a broker to deal with the banks and be the middleman - it's just so time consuming. The tracker is around 3.9-4% which is fine for now - but if the poo hits the spinny thing we'll lock down to a fixed rate for 2 years - at least we won't be charged a fee from moving from tracker to fixed product, and it can happen basically "overnight" when we decide to. I've found some fixed at 3.75% (our LTV is under 60%) so I'll look at that in due course - when the work to the house is done I hope the valuation will increase, improving our LTV further.
 
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413x said:
For myself it was the same lender/rate but no cashback with the broker.
For going direct I got the cashback.

As I had a simple remortgage the process was near identical. I provided the docs (as I would have to for the broker) and lloyds mortgage advisor did all the questions "how much do you earn etc".

Felt like no extra hassle either way.

Broker was l&c. I assume they have to make money somewhere. Never seen cashback offered by a broker.
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Just remember there's a difference between a broker and an advisor.


A broker is just going to be another person in the process, but can still help you find better deals if you're not that way inclined.


An advisor is going to look at your position holistically, and understand what you need to meet your goals you set with them.


They'll help you think about whether you need any additional income protection, life insurance, what kind of house insurance you need.



You absolutely can do all of these on your own, but that isn't personally what I wanted to do - my situation is different to yours though.




I've always felt like banks are just trying to sell me stuff to make more money, but the advisor I've used feels more like a coach to help me learn some good habits, skills and knowledge I otherwise wouldn't have. I feel like I think about my life with my partner differently now, in a good way.




I'm not trying to convince you that you/one should use an advisor, I'm just trying to bring a balanced argument that it isn't black and white as to whether a good advisor is worth it.

Nor, do I think, should you let the conversation be based entirely on your poor experience with a broker.
 
fez said:
Never look at how much you will pay them back and never look at how little you actually pay off the balance in the early years. I just checked and we are about to take up a £450k mortgage and in the first year we will pay back ~£25k....£8k of which actually pays towards the balance.
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I know, it is painful. Had plenty of mortgages before and it just shows you how these banks generate so much cash out of you and I. I wonder what they'd do without home owners...!?

Halifax leant £17bn in 2025...
 
SeatIbiza said:
I know, it is painful. Had plenty of mortgages before and it just shows you how these banks generate so much cash out of you and I. I wonder what they'd do without home owners...!?

Halifax leant £17bn in 2025...
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They generate cash to feed things like investments and pensions, who provide the cash in the first place. Yes without home owners there would be a massive hole in the finances, but would also mean the majority of the country not being able to save up by investing, or retiring through lack of earnings from your pension. It's all basically one big massive circle.
 
For our first house I did it myself. Super easy and was not as time consuming as people make it out. You need to provide all the stuff needed to a broker anyway?

Second house we went with L&C (no fee) and the main thing that made it easier was when the interest rates went down. In our case it dropped 3 times and each time I nudge my broker and within a few days we had the new lower rate. That there saved time and I would recommend them.
 
unwashed potato! said:
How is this a good thing?

You shouldn't have to nudge them, and what's the difference if without a broker, the interest rate drops would still come to you if you went to l&c direct.
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I don't understand. My broker was l&c. I nudged him as I wanted to make sure it was done asap rather than waiting for them to do it which may have taken longer.
 
EvilRob said:
Once you have a mortgage offer the bank won't automatically update it if the rates decrease. You have to request it.
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Sure. But how is it a positive to having a broker in the example given?

Unless I'm mistaken, tna said it's a positive to having a broker because when the bank dropped rates, each time they had to go to the broker and nudge them to get the reduced rates updated to their offer,

which takes just as much effort to do directly with the bank

That's my confusion
 
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