Comparing Banks can be stressful!A good mortgage broker is becoming more and more vital to your success in getting the best mortgage for you. There are more products on the market than it is possible to keep track of and lenders are becoming choosier in whom they will lend to.
It is easy to gather information on which lender is offering what mortgage product, you can wander down the average high street, gathering mortgage packs and leaflets, you can spend a few minutes on the phone and have them sent to you, or you can easily spend as much time on the internet as you like looking at slick sales pages.But what do you do when you have all that information?
In between glossy brochures and internet printouts you could be responsible for the death of a small forest and end up with too much information. How do you decide what sort of mortgage is best for you? How do you decide which lender will most readily lend you money?
This is where the mortgage broker comes in. Mortgage brokers spend their working lives dealing with mortgages; they know more about each mortgage product than is revealed on the sales page or in the glossy brochure. They also know about the problems and pitfalls hidden in the small print. A mortgage broker will save you a lot of time here as they already know what is on the market, so you won't have to wade through all the information.
A mortgage broker knows all the industry jargon, and what it means in practical terms. Should you go for a variable rate mortgage or a fixed rate one? If fixed, how long for? This will save you the time it takes to learn about all this stuff (and then find that you really don't need to know three quarters of it!) A mortgage broker will also save you the stress of trying to take all this in after a hard day at work!
A mortgage broker will also know about special deals for particular circumstances. For example there are still 100% mortgages about, but very few people actually qualify for them. Some lenders also have deals only available through a broker, and some lenders only deal through brokers.
A mortgage broker will sit down with you, find out about your circumstances and then, recommend the best options for you explain it all to you and help you choose the right sort of deal.
Great so you know what sort of deal you are looking for. But which lender is likely to give you a mortgage? This is where the next step of the broker's advice comes in. Mortgage brokers know the lending criteria for each institution and not just the published criteria in the glossy brochures and slick sales pages. They also know the unpublished criteria.
For example some lenders like a spotless credit report for the whole six years that the report covers, some only look at the past three years. Your occupation, your employer and they type of property you want to buy will all influence a lender, but to a different degree with each lender. There is no way an individual will know that information - but a broker who deals with this all the time will talk to actual lending officers and will see patters in all the loans that he has brokered. This will also save you time and stress.
A mortgage broker will then help you with the actual application. They can help you gather and copy any information needed, and best of all help you fill in the application form! A good broker will know how to emphasis your good points and minimise your bad ones.
A good broker will be able to make the best possible case for you with your chosen lender. And for people who may be on the border line a broker can often talk to a lender direct, getting a lender to assess the application first and only if they approve the person then instruct a surveyor to approve the property. That can save you a lot of money, time and stress.
But the service doesn't end there. A mortgage broker will also be able to shop around and find you a good deal on all the insurances you will need to go with property ownership (life insurance, accident and sickness insurance, buildings insurance and contents insurance). Many people simply sign up with their lender for whatever is on offer and a good broker will often be able to find you a better deal.
So I guess what I am really saying is not why should you use a mortgage broker - but why wouldn't you use one?
Author Resource:-
Leo Fogarty is Marketing Director of the mortgage specialists Euromortgage. He is also a regular author for financial magazines, most notably Property Gallery Magazine in Ireland and is an expert on mortgages, remortgages, and the benefits of using a mortgage broker.
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