If you are seeking a new mortgage or re-mortgage, you really only have three options
For the first option this is what you face: Over the last ten years the mortgage market became much more complex. There were many lenders (running to triple figures) operating in the UK. Many did not operate high street offices and their products were not available directly to the general public. At one stage there were 5000 mortgage products available in the market at any one time, with new products being released and withdrawn daily. Then along came the credit crunch. Mortgage lenders and mortgage products started disappearing from the market place at a rate of knots, and lending criteria tightened considerably. So who is left, and more importantly who is willing to lend money, and under what criteria? It's a full time job even for a professional mortgage adviser to keep track of the continual changes in the market.
There are a number of websites where it is possible to do basic comparison of headline rates and mortgage types to come up with a shortlist of possible products. Many of these sites do not offer an advice service so you would have to read the specific contractual detail of each product, in order to compare and make the correct selection yourself. Needless to say this is not always easy. It is possible to choose a mortgage with the lowest headline interest rate, which could cost you more overall than another product, simply because of front-loaded charges hidden in the 'small print'. In general mortgage comparison websites cannot be classed as truly independent since they may offer products from only a limited number of lenders, from whom they earn commission. In effect these comparison websites will only allow you to compare those mortgage products for which they know they are going to earn money from your choice to progress an application.
For the second option you could put yourself in the hands of a high street lender. If you don't already have a favourite high street lender, you might first want to spend some time with each lenders adviser, giving them your details to see what they suggest from their limited portfolio of products. You would probably spend an hour or so in each meeting, so if you've got six lenders in your high street, that's pretty much your whole Saturday gone just checking out what's available on your high street. You would still have to compare the details of the mortgages suggested so see which is best for you overall. By the time you've made your selection you will have a mortgage which is probably average - it won't necessarily be the best, but it might not be the worst. While a high street lenders ' adviser' will deal with you in a professional manner, their mortgage advice service is obviously not independent - they only try to shoe-horn you into one of their standard products and very few will recommend you take a competitors mortgage instead!
Where this option becomes more complicated is when your financial circumstances are deemed 'not normal' by the high street lender. In the current climate, any person with some peculiarity or issues with their finances such as debt problems, uncertain levels of income (self-employed, contract workers, likelihood of redundancy etc.) and so on, the high street lenders will more than likely refuse to lend. Lenders have lost their appetite for risk. They now only like safe customers who are virtually guaranteed to keep making the mortgage payments. If you get refused a loan from one lender you financial issues will become much worse, because when you get refused a loan, that information goes on your credit rating and makes getting a loan even harder, (for a professional adviser as well).
Finally you have the third option. Use an professional mortgage advice service from an independent UK adviser. It will save you time - spend an hour or so giving your details just once. Get an independent UK adviser to do the research using the latest mortgage research tools and technology (and he'll read the small print). Choose from all mortgage products currently on offer, including those not available on the high street - and not least ensuring your getting the right mortgage without paying too much. Click here to read more reasons why
Better-Mortgages co uk Ltd will give you a professional mortgage advice service, including full research, recommendation and application. You can be sure that our fully qualified independent UK adviser will give you objective advice based on your needs and requirements, so if you want to take advantage of our professional mortgage advice service just click here to fill in our mortgage enquiry form. We offer a free basic financial review to ensure that there are no issues with your financial status, and that we are sure we can find you a lender who will loan you money you need.
We aim to get back to you within 24 hours (but can often respond within 3 to 4 hours for straight forward cases) to let you know we can definitely find you a lender who will agree a loan. We will give you all the information you need to take advantage of our mortgage advice service if you wish to do so.
Thank you for coming to the Better-Mortgages independent UK adviser website and reading about our professional mortgage advice service.
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