When remortgaging, there are advantages and disadvantages to using a mortgage broker.
The advantages include:
- The broker will be knowledgeable and in a position to advise dispassionately between different providers’ mortgages
- The broker will be able to steer you in the direction of a lender most likely to consider your personal circumstances in the best possible light
- A broker is particularly useful for people with poor credit scores
- The broker will handle a lot of the bureaucratic stuff and chase up the lender on your behalf
- The broker will be able to offer a far wider selection of loans
- The broker may have access to exclusive deals
- You may save enough money from the cost of your loan to make up any fee the broker may be charging you.
The disadvantages include:
- The broker may be biased on the basis of commissions paid by some lenders
- The broker may not always be as competent as you might hope for
- The broker may actually have a far smaller selection of mortgages than you think, perhaps because his company’s panel of lenders is not industry-wide
- The broker may try to sell you other products linked to a mortgage to offset the cost of his advice.
- Failing that, the broker may charge a large fee for his or her services.
If you are confident that you understand mortgages, have a good credit rating and are prepared to research the market thoroughly, then you almost certainly don’t need a broker.
But not everyone is like that.
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