Re-mortgaging

Not exactly helpful.

The mortgage market is still largely divided between high arrangement fees and lower interest rates, and higher interest rates and lower arrangement fees.

Remortgaging is not a zero cost exercise. The fact that there are mortgage advisers doing profitable business on it validates that fact. Nobody works for free, and lenders do not take on debt with unknown risk.

Sorry, but it was. I could show a remortgage right now with no valuation fee, free conveyancing and only a £99 application fee to pay.

Or you could carry on telling me job.
 
Sorry, but it was. I could show a remortgage right now with no valuation fee, free conveyancing and only a £99 application fee to pay.

Or you could carry on telling me job.

I'm not telling you your job. I'm pointing out that your job comes at a cost, borrowing comes at a cost, assessing the risk of the borrowing and the recommendation you make comes at a cost, and that remortgaging is not magically free compared to other mortgages. It all comes at a cost and the borrower is the only one that pays that cost, either up front or over the term of their loan.

My work involves behavioral finance and decision making. Consumers make irrational decisions all the time, and financial services - mortgages included - are masters at capitalising upon just that.

When made transparent the example you quote above does not 'wash it's own face' for £99. Heck, the CHAPS fees alone will probably be £50. The costs are normally bundled and opaque. Selling a remortgage on the basis that the total cost to the borrower will be just £99 is just plain wrong.
 
Is it sad that I'm trying to work out who you work for based on your lending criteria :D
Haha, I was trying to do the same.

When made transparent the example you quote above does not 'wash it's own face' for £99. Heck, the CHAPS fees alone will probably be £50. The costs are normally bundled and opaque. Selling a remortgage on the basis that the total cost to the borrower will be just £99 is just plain wrong.

To be honest with you, banks have changed drastically in terms of responsible lending over the years. Hence why policies like interest only are being phased out as so many people have been left with a debt due to lenders not asking for proof of a repayment vehicle.

FSA guidelines help with this, the banks don't want bad press anymore. They have to be advised of any fees in the KFI that is sent to them, we offer cash back incentives every now and then to help with any fees if applicable.
 
I'm not telling you your job. I'm pointing out that your job comes at a cost, borrowing comes at a cost, assessing the risk of the borrowing and the recommendation you make comes at a cost, and that remortgaging is not magically free compared to other mortgages. It all comes at a cost and the borrower is the only one that pays that cost, either up front or over the term of their loan.

My work involves behavioral finance and decision making. Consumers make irrational decisions all the time, and financial services - mortgages included - are masters at capitalising upon just that.

When made transparent the example you quote above does not 'wash it's own face' for £99. Heck, the CHAPS fees alone will probably be £50. The costs are normally bundled and opaque. Selling a remortgage on the basis that the total cost to the borrower will be just £99 is just plain wrong.

Ahhh ok so are we talking about all advisers or bad advisers? Oh same thing right?

To suggest that it's all just smoke and mirrors is deeply insulting. There are bad in eggs in our industry, as in any industry, to be tarred with the same brush without consideration is just wrong and exceptionally rude.

Also, if we were talking about bond selling for example, I could see your point. How many advisers (banks especially!!) sold bonds with 7% commission hidden in the annual product fees? A lot that's for sure. Did we? Hell no. Our commission (pre RDR) has always been taken up front and made perfectly clear to every single client. We've also never taken more than 3%. Advisers don't stay in the market for touching on 30 years by operating as you describe I can assure you of that.

Now back to the mortgages. As you've pushed me I'm going to have to prove a point aren't I.

Attached is a Key Facts Illustration for a remortgage. Every single client gets one of these and it explains all the costs and features of a mortgage to ensure the client has the transparency you say is missing.

This is a current product, on the market today and one of many like it.

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So perhaps you could point out to me the hidden charges here?

No valuation fee.
Free conveyancing.
No CHAPS fee.
No adviser fee.

The mortgage account fee is extremely standard and will be charged on any mortgage.

I am paid by the procuration fee (commission) the lender gives me for completing. Yes you can argue that this is built into the rate, but if the rate is still competitive it's still competitive. We do not charge seperate fees for arranging mortgages. A LOT of advisers do, but we don't. That's not how our model works.

So lets say the client was on the Nationwide SVR at 3.99%, over the same term he would have been paying £735.17.

Over the 2 year fixed period with the lower payments of £664.92 he will save £1,686.

So even if he had to pay a mortgage account fee of £225 under his previous mortgage to close it, he's still £1,461 better off over just two years.

Going back to your original point reference fees:

Waaaay too much. Remortgage fees are akin to those of buying a house (without the stamp duty and all the solicitors costs).

I stand by my comment, nonsense.
 
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I really don't want to get into arguments. I came in here to help people out, you guys help me with computers, it's nice to be able to provide some assistance where I can.
 
I really don't want to get into arguments. I came in here to help people out, you guys help me with computers, it's nice to be able to provide some assistance where I can.

You'll come to learn unfortunately that most people on here are an expert on everything and everyone else is a liar or at least in GD.
 
Fair play on going to the efforts you have to prove your point.

The example you've used is remortgaging with the same provider. There would be other costs added if it was between providers, using the example you've quoted above. But even then with Santander, there's another 2 year fix option. Upfront fee and 2.14%, works out cheaper for the borrower over the same period, even with the relatively low sums involved. Hence my point on customers often making irrational decisions. And yes, your commission is a cost to the customer. Nobody pays it other than them.

Good product though and, once again, fair play for making the effort you did to make your point. Not many here would bother.

I need to remortgage in around 15 months time - maybe I'll drop you a message in trust ;)
 
The example used isn't with the same provider, that's a straight forward remortgage open to all.

Yes of course there are alternatives to consider with lower rates and fees, its a simple enough calculation to work out which is best, but I was only addressing the point of high fees in this instance.

My advice to anyone considering a mortgage of any type is find a good broker that doesn't charge fees. You have nothing to lose. Its OK trying yourself online, but you don't get a whole range of productss only available through advisers, plus you don't get the knowledge of which lenders will consider which types of applicant, property, term etc.

We do exist for a reason. ;)

Feel free to ask me any questions though, and yes Abyss send me a trust nearer the time and I'll be happy to give you my two pennies :)
 
Well done orch and defy, good to see you guys here.

There is regularly questions on mortgages (just like most other financial products) so having some actual people who do this here has to help :)

I've got a question for you, a lot of mortgages will have an application fee, is that refundable if rejected?
 
There's two fees you could be talking about, the application fee (normally £99ish) or the arrangement fee (can be anything from £100 to £10,000).

You don't have to pay a single penny to get the first stage of the application completed, called the 'Agreement In Principle' or 'Decision in Principle'. This stage includes affordibility and credit checking so IMO the most important stage.

Upon full application you need to pay the application or 'booking' fee. This normally not refundable unless the lender cocks up somewhere. But the only reasons for an application going sour at this point really, is a problem with the property when they value it, or you can't provide the evidence they request to back up what you've told them (payslips etc).

The arrangement fee is either paid on completion, or added to the loan.

Hope that helps.
 
My 2 year fixed with santander has just finished and gone onto a 4.7% variable rate. Im in the process of changing to a new 2 year fixed with first direct with 2.49% interest rate. This has no booking fee or arrangement fee, valuation fee or any fee. I don't have to get a solicitor for anything. I thought I may have to pay one for a certified copy of my driving license but HMRC are sending me a coding notice for free so its all costing me nothing. Just time and effort. I do have to open a new current account with them but they are giving me £125 for doing that.
 
Not a bad move at all. Just so you know, Santander do have a 2.59% 2 year fixed with no fees. The advantage is this can be sorted with one phone call.

Depends whether you want to save 0.1% for the hassle of the remortgage.

Just done exactly this myself.

First Direct are awesome though, I've banked with them for the last 10 years and the service is top notch. No way I'd bank anywhere else now.
 
The example used isn't with the same provider, that's a straight forward remortgage open to all.

Yes of course there are alternatives to consider with lower rates and fees, its a simple enough calculation to work out which is best, but I was only addressing the point of high fees in this instance.

My advice to anyone considering a mortgage of any type is find a good broker that doesn't charge fees. You have nothing to lose. Its OK trying yourself online, but you don't get a whole range of productss only available through advisers, plus you don't get the knowledge of which lenders will consider which types of applicant, property, term etc.

We do exist for a reason. ;)

Feel free to ask me any questions though, and yes Abyss send me a trust nearer the time and I'll be happy to give you my two pennies :)


I "employed" a mortgage advisor when I was buying my house, he charged a fee, he also told me that he did not have access to any "special" deals that the average joe couldn't get himself.
I found what I thought was a really good deal online, I contacted him with it, he told me he couldn't beat it and good luck with it(didn't get charged for this)and that is the deal I went with. :)
 
Thanks for the reply Orch. I did actually ring Santander and they would not go anywhere near that rate unless I paid a lump sum off the mortgage first. I would happily have gone with them again otherwise.
 
I "employed" a mortgage advisor when I was buying my house, he charged a fee, he also told me that he did not have access to any "special" deals that the average joe couldn't get himself.
I found what I thought was a really good deal online, I contacted him with it, he told me he couldn't beat it and good luck with it(didn't get charged for this)and that is the deal I went with. :)

He doesn't sound very good at his job tbh.

Sometimes there are better deals online for direct clients, if that's the case, go for it (like you did :D)
 
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