Some frequently asked questions about our mortgage and insurance service

If you cannot find an answer to your question below, please contact us and we'll give you the information and guidance you need. We also have a glossary of terminology, so if you've seen a mortgage term your not familiar with you can find an explanation there.

• What do you actually do for me?
• How much does your Service Cost?
• Who are you?
• What are your Business Terms?
• How can I contact you?
• What makes you think you can help me get a better mortgage or insurance?
• How much can I borrow?
• How can I tell which mortgage rate is best for me?
• What is the best type of mortgage or insurance for me?
• How should I repay my mortgage?
• Can I make lump sum payments to reduce the size of my loan?
• What happens if I can't pay my mortgage?
• Will you visit me at my home?
• Do I need experience of the Internet to make an online mortgage or insurance enquiry?
• Is it essential to give so much personal data online?
• If I apply online, what use do you make of our data?
• Can my personal enquiry data be intercepted en-route?

Better-Mortgages.co.uk Limited is an online independent mortgage and insurance advisor. We give advise about Residential Mortgages, Buy To Let mortgages and General Insurance products such as Buildings and Contents, Mortgage Protection, Accident Sickness and Unemployment, Life insurance to name a few. We can also have access to Commercial Mortgages and Secured Loans services via a third party, as well as a Solicitor/Conveyancer location service.

Our Service will save you time, and will probably save you money compared to you doing your own research and visiting High St lenders. When you choose to use our service you only give us your details once and we research the whole market to find you the best deals to fit your circumstances and requirements from which we make our recommendation. If you choose to proceed we will process the application to the chosen product provider and monitor and track the application to make sure it goes through. 

We charge a fee for this service, but you will be please to know that, unlike many mortgage brokers, we give back any commission we earn for your mortgage case. This means we are not dependent on any lender for our income so we can give you truly independent advice. Full details of our charges can be found in our 'Key Facts about our Service' document, along with examples which show that in some cases a customer may actually receive back more than they would owe in fees.

Better-Mortgages.co.uk Limited  is an independent mortgage and insurance advisor, in operation on the Internet since 2003, and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. The company is run by Robert Reynolds and Steve Gears. Robert has been involved in arranging mortgages  and insurance since the late 1980's and is a fully qualified Mortgage Adviser. Steve has been involved in internet business development and marketing since 1999 and has also spent 18 years before that in technology education and training. More Information...

Click here to see the Better-Mortgages.co.uk Limited 'Key Facts about our services' document. This shows key information about our services, fees, refunds etc. We also have a set of Terms and Conditions relating to the use of the facilities and information on this website as well as our Privacy Policy.

How can I contact you?

You can contact us by following this contact link. However, please make sure you use all the resources on this site to look at our guidance, glossary, information terms and this 'frequently asked questions' page first, to make sure you've not asked questions which we've already answered here. Otherwise, drop us a line, we'll be happy to answer your questions!

We are an independent mortgage and insurance broker which means that unlike most well known high street lenders, insurers, or tied brokers we are not restricted to offering you just a few 'in-house' products which may not be the best available from the whole market. As well as all the well known high street lenders, we have access to many lenders and insurers who do not deal directly with the general public, and we can research hundreds of products in order to find the best product which fits your particular circumstances. Even if you've been refused a mortgage or insurance from a high street organisation, there is a good chance we can find a product to suit you.

The amount you can borrow will depend on your specific circumstances. For example, what is your collateral, is your new house an existing property, a new property, how much is it worth on the open market, how much deposit are you willing to pay, how much you earn and so on. So we can't give you a specific answer until we gather all the relevant details on an enquiry form, and perform some calculations and research. However if you want to do some 'what if' experimenting and see some ball park figures try out our Mortgage Calculators.

Again this depends on your circumstances and your objectives. For example a person who has a bad credit rating will not be able to get the most competitive mortgage rate on offer because lenders view them as higher risk. Also rates vary between types of mortgages such as standard repayment, capped, flexible, fixed and so on. However if you use Better-Mortgages, we can use our knowledge of the mortgage market and in-house research tools to relieve you of the hassle of trying to work out the best product. We know what questions to ask you, and we'll find try find the best mortgage we can, based on your answers. We can also do this for general non-investment insurance such as buildings and contents insurance, accident sickness and unemployment insurance and others.

This depends very much on your individual circumstances. While we try to give some general guidance on this page and elsewhere on this site, the only way to find out what specific mortgage or insurance is best for you is to use an independent mortgage and insurance adviser such as ourselves to identify a lender who will make solid commitment with an 'Agreement In Principle'. This can be used to not only find a suitable mortgage to fit your general circumstances, but will also indicate the likely cost, based on the information you supply, and the fact that there is at least one lender willing to lend money to you. It can also be a powerful bargaining tool where you are looking for a new property since you can show you already have finance in hand and can therefore demonstrate to a property seller you are ready to act.

This depends on many things such as the prevailing economy, the general interest rates and whether you think interest rates are going to rise or fall, as well as your specific circumstances such as how much deposit you can afford, whether you are a first time buyer, re-mortgaging, purchasing a buy-to-let and so on. The easy way to find out is to use an independent mortgage adviser such as ourselves, to seek out an 'Agreement in Principle', which will show what kind of mortgage is likely to be most suitable based on the information you supply.

Some mortgage agreements will allow you to pay lump sums to reduce the size of your mortgage, but not all. It's worth checking with your lender to make sure you would not be charged with an early redemption fee. Of course, many lenders would much prefer you to pay interest on the largest amount possible for the full term of the mortgage. That's how they earn their profit! However they must also adhere to the regulatory principle of 'Treating Customers Fairly' which the industry regulator, the Financial Service Authority, is very keen on at the moment, so they can't be seen to be levying unreasonable charges on a customer who wishes to pay down debt. Some lenders have structured mortgage offerings which allow lump sum payments or extra regular payments to be made in order for you to reduce the outstanding loan more quickly. Better-Mortgages can help you to find an appropriate lender to allow you do this, if this is important to you.

If you can't pay the current loan, you have a number of options. You could declare bankruptcy but we do not recommend this. You will find it very difficult if not impossible to take out any kind of credit agreement for the duration of your bankruptcy. Even when your bankruptcy is finally discharged you would be viewed as a higher credit risk and therefore not receive the most favourable lending rates.  

Alternatively you could try approaching your current lender and other creditors to restructure your debt through an Insolvency Voluntary Agreement (IVA). It may be possible to agree to pay a specific amount for a number of years and then have the remainder of the debt written off. However your ability to obtain fresh credit will suffer in a similar way to bankruptcy for the duration of the IVA and for a period after it is discharged.

You could try approaching your current lender directly and coming to some mutually acceptable agreement. Most lenders would prefer to continue receiving some interest payments even if they are lower for a period. However you will still be required to pay all that you owe at some time in the future.

You could try re-mortgaging. If your mortgage is a Standard Variable Rate type mortgage you may be surprised at how much you could save on your monthly payments, by re-mortgaging to a different type of mortgage, or a more competitive lender. The monthly savings could then be used to either relieve the pressure on your monthly cash flow and/or used to pay down your most expensive debt. Ideally you would have taken out mortgage payment protection insurance at the time of taking out your loan, which would ensure your loan repayments would take place even if under certain circumstances you were unable to earn an income. In any case, you should be seeking ways to reduce your debt, and should seek professional advise before making a decision.

We do not think it really necessary to visit people in their homes. We accept clients nationally but our offices are based in Watford, Hertfordshire, which puts us out of sensible reach of most places in the UK. With the continually improving level of telecommunications and internet technology, we feel that it is un-necessary to waste hours of your time, not to mention our adviser ruining his waistline with the inevitable consumption of tea and biscuits which occur with home visits. We also don't need to waste hours of our time traveling up and down the motorways of Britain (not to mention the environmental impact) when we can do everything via phone, internet and post, and have time to give service to more customers.

We do much of our work via the Internet so you need to have a reliable email address which you access regularly so we can contact you and send you documents where necessary. You should also be comfortable with using your web browser and filling in forms on screen. Other than that the main thing is to have your personal information to hand that we require to process an enquiry. Alternatively if you don't want to us our online enquiry form, just give us a call on the telephone. Once you've made initial contact we will use whatever means of communication you have chosen on your initial enquiry (telephone, email or post).

In these days of identity theft and other criminal activities some people are nervous about giving financial and personal details to unknown organisations. However, to ensure you are only offered mortgage or insurance products that are suitable for your personal circumstances and financial background, it is essential that we ask you details questions and that the information regarding incomes, outgoings, credit history, and so forth, are as detailed and accurate as possible, otherwise any research and illustration we do for you would be inaccurate and worthless. We are required by our regulators (the FSA) to make sure we treat you fairly and are able to adequately explain our recommendations and we can only do this if we fully understand your financial circumstances and needs. If you are not comfortable with supplying your personal information online you can always telephone us on the number shown. Be assured that we comply with the Data Protection Act and take our responsibilities in this area very seriously (see below).

The data you supply is shared with the chosen lender, insurance underwriter, or service provider to process your enquiry or application for a loan, insurance, or other product. Your data may be used for credit referencing purposes (a normal function within any loan underwriting process) and where an Indemnity insurance requirement exist. Your personal information may also be used by Better-Mortgages.co.uk Ltd to notify you of new products and services , but it will not be supplied to third parties for marketing or other purposes.

Our enquiry forms are accessed via a Secure Server Link (SSL) certified by Thawte, which uses industry standard 256 bit encryption technology to protect your personal data from being viewed by others while being transmitted to our web server. We transfer the data from our web server to our operational centre using encrypted email using a much stronger 1760 bit encryption system, and if we send you personal data (e.g. in documents for you to check and sign), we send them to you using a password protected, 'self encrypting archive'. Our business computers sit behind hardware and software firewalls, and we regularly scan our systems for viruses and spy ware, so within the limits of this kind of technology, your personal data is as safe as we can make it. Even if intercepted en-route, the data is unable to be viewed without the appropriate decryption codes or passwords. There is probably greater risk of someone overhearing a personal telephone conversation, or intercepting posted mail than intercepting your data online.

Tell me more about Better Mortgages