What Does A Mortgage Broker Do?
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What Does A Mortgage Broker Do?
What does a mortgage broker do?
Typically, our role entails discussing individual requirements with a client, and completing a mortgage ‘fact find’ to gather information. We go away and do our research and then present the most suitable recommendations across a whole range of lenders.
We secure a Decision in Principle and explain the whole house finding or remortgage process. Then you would go and find a suitable property to purchase or commit to a remortgage.
Once you find a property to buy and make an offer we would submit the mortgage application to the lender for you. We would then help you all the way through your journey until you get your keys – even beyond that, for your remortgage.
What’s the difference between going to a mortgage broker and your local high street lender?
By going to your local high street lender you are putting every single egg in one basket – if that lender doesn’t suit your circumstances you’ve wasted your time and possibly your money.
Even if you go with that high street lender, it might possibly not have been the most suitable lender for you. They will have one set of products, one set of rates and one set of criteria.
Meanwhile, we have access to more than 100 lenders and one of those would likely have had a more suitable interest rate or product for you based on your circumstances. Before you go to a high street lender, always search the whole of the market.
There might be certain aspects to your personal circumstances that make it better to choose a specific lender or product.
What services does a mortgage broker offer?
If a client approaches us looking to purchase a property, we would present the recommendation and then secure a Decision in Principle. That’s a step before applying for the mortgage – it just means that in principle, that lender can lend you a certain amount.
You can then find a suitable property that’s within your means. When you find a home to buy, we submit a full mortgage application for you to save time and potentially money.
Once the application goes to mortgage offer we’ll explain all the next steps with regards to legal work and the costs involved. We would then assist you all the way through until either the remortgage is completed or the purchase has gone through.
We can then talk about arranging any suitable protection so that you’re financially resilient should the worst happen. Ultimately, it means you’re not going to lose your new home.
When should someone see a mortgage broker? At what stage in the process of applying for a mortgage or looking for property?
As early as possible. Quite often people make an offer on a property before speaking to a broker – I can’t blame them, as they are keen to find a property. But it’s much better to find out what your purchasing power is as early as possible.
We can advise how much you can borrow, find the most suitable lender and have that Decision in Principle in place. Then, when you do make an offer on a property, you’re ready to go.
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When was Asset Harbour founded?
Asset Harbour was founded in 2010 and initially it focused on protection and estate planning. We subsequently moved into the mortgage market. Now we arrange and advise on mortgages and suitable protection for mortgages and the family. We also help with the estate planning aspects and wills.
How long have you been involved with Asset Harbour?
I’ve been involved since April 2019. I’ve been in the industry since 2010 but joined Asset Harbour in 2019 as a mortgage advisor. I’m obviously still here today – and we’ve got many mortgage advisors in the team, plus tax advisors and also will advisers.
Does it cost for an initial consultation?
Our initial consultation is always free of charge. We wouldn’t ever charge anything upfront to a customer or a client. We’d be fully transparent on any costs involved.
After the initial consultation, if you are looking to proceed and we submit a mortgage application for you, the fee is £295 on submission of the full application and then £200 on receipt of the formal mortgage offer – so the total fee for a purchase mortgage would be £495.
If it’s a remortgage application, that fee is reduced because there’s slightly less work involved. That would typically be £200 on application and then a further £195 on formal mortgage offer, so £395 in total. We have a disclosure document that goes out to every single client at first contact to explain all that, and it’s also explained verbally.
What else do we need to know about Asset Harbour?
Firstly, that our reviews speak for themselves. As we mentioned earlier, a lot of people might approach their local high street bank – especially if they’ve been with them for many years. But you can expect a much higher level of service here at Asset Harbour. We always like to go the extra mile.
We will help you all the way through that journey, and will not simply stop when you get a mortgage offer. That’s only half of the job. The other half is guiding you through the rest of the process and making sure you have suitable protection in place so you’re fully financially resilient if the worst happens.
That’s what’s really important. Overall, it’s about providing extra service above and beyond just simply arranging the mortgage. We then speak to you again in two, three or five years’ time for your next mortgage deal.
PLEASE NOTE: YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP WITH YOUR MORTGAGE REPAYMENTS.