Any point in using a mortgage broker?

irishguy1983

Just looking into trying to get a mortgage for the 1st time and looking for answers on the above

Cheers!

johnnyskeleton

If you are a PAYE permanent employee with a large jncome, >20% deposit and a perfect credit history, just go straight to the banks. Go to the bank you currently have your current a/c and savings with or else go to the cheapest rate on offer. These are usually collated on askaboutmoney.com, itsyourmoney.ie etc. I thibk KBC have good rates at the moment.

gosplan

I wondered about this too.

Are brokers now kind of defunct now given that there are set limits?

johnnyskeleton

gosplan wrote: »

I wondered about this too.

Are brokers now kind of defunct now given that there are set limits?

As long as people are unable or afraid to go to the banks directly there will be a use for brokers.

Consuelano

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

If you are a PAYE permanent employee with a large jncome, >20% deposit and a perfect credit history, just go straight to the banks. Go to the bank you currently have your current a/c and savings with or else go to the cheapest rate on offer. These are usually collated on askaboutmoney.com, itsyourmoney.ie etc. I thibk KBC have good rates at the moment.

I'm a PAYE permanent employee, perfect credit history, good income and deposit saved. I did as you said and went to my bank, only to have my application rejected.

The following day, I called in to a broker with all my payslips, statements, P60, etc. Exactly one week later, he rang me back with offers from three other banks. I went with the bank with the lowest rate. He didn't cost me a penny and was a pleasure to deal with throughout the whole process. Have been in the house since May.

In my opinion, a broker is the best option. My own broker has been around for years and I reckon he knew the underwriters in the banks and dealt with them directly. In hindsight, I should have just gone to him to begin with. Buying a house, from start to finish, is stressful enough. Anything you can do to eliminate that stress, even just a little, is worth it, and a broker does just that when it comes to getting a mortgage.

If you want my own broker's details, feel free to send me a PM.

farrerg

Consuelano wrote: »

I'm a PAYE permanent employee, perfect credit history, good income and deposit saved. I did as you said and went to my bank, only to have my application rejected.

The following day, I called in to a broker with all my payslips, statements, P60, etc. Exactly one week later, he rang me back with offers from three other banks. I went with the bank with the lowest rate. He didn't cost me a penny and was a pleasure to deal with throughout the whole process. Have been in the house since May.

In my opinion, a broker is the best option. My own broker has been around for years and I reckon he knew the underwriters in the banks and dealt with them directly. In hindsight, I should have just gone to him to begin with. Buying a house, from start to finish, is stressful enough. Anything you can do to eliminate that stress, even just a little, is worth it, and a broker does just that when it comes to getting a mortgage.

If you want my own broker's details, feel free to send me a PM.

I'd second this, many mortgage brokers are ex branch managers or mortgage reps and have years and years of experience and great contacts. Unfortunately, a lot of the branch staff that are handling applications now have little or no experience, especially if its anything slightly unusual like a self build or someone with multiple rentals. Anyone who was there in the boom and in the crash has moved on so the quality of service can vary significantly.
And for people who are unsure about the process, they can ask the broker all the questions they want and get their hand held a little through the process

ted1

gosplan wrote: »

I wondered about this too.

Are brokers now kind of defunct now given that there are set limits?

There is room for flexibility about 15% of people can bend the rules.

Also some people who might be on contracts , self employed own property with ex wives may need the assistance of a broker to put their apication together

Jen44

just make sure and do your research and get a good broker. We had recent dealings with an awful messer ended up getting a mortgage from a bank ourselves who had refused us with said broker

johnnyskeleton

Consuelano wrote: »

I'm a PAYE permanent employee, perfect credit history, good income and deposit saved. I did as you said and went to my bank, only to have my application rejected.

The following day, I called in to a broker with all my payslips, statements, P60, etc.

What reason did they give for rejecting the application?

Carawaystick

Consuelano wrote: »

I'm a PAYE permanent employee, perfect credit history, good income and deposit saved. I did as you said and went to my bank, only to have my application rejected.

The following day, I called in to a broker with all my payslips, statements, P60, etc. Exactly one week later, he rang me back with offers from three other banks. I went with the bank with the lowest rate. He didn't cost me a penny and was a pleasure to deal with throughout the whole process. Have been in the house since May.

Did the broker have an offer from your bank? Or did you not try other banks?

jester77

I would not rule out a broker. I had 2 different ones, first guy I had a long history with, second guy I got just to see what he could do. First guy has some good connections with the bank and got me a great deal that the second guy couldn't get close to matching. No way I would have gotten the same deal if I had just walked into the bank on my own. Plus the good brokers are paid on commission so it doesn't cost you anything to avail of their service.

Pac2015

I used brokers in the past for buying my apartment and had no problems but last year we chose one who was recommended and he was a complete waste of time so went with another one that I looked up myself and he steered us in the right direction we took his advice and are saving more money as we fall into the 20% bracket with me already owning so it really varies on the broker you go to but my opinion is that the banks have a relationship with them and they always seem to get the better deal.

lawred2

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

If you are a PAYE permanent employee with a large jncome, >20% deposit and a perfect credit history, just go straight to the banks. Go to the bank you currently have your current a/c and savings with or else go to the cheapest rate on offer. These are usually collated on askaboutmoney.com, itsyourmoney.ie etc. I thibk KBC have good rates at the moment.

all those things and still went with broker

they have back office channels of communication via designated agents; can speak to decision makers and will organise your application in a way that the bank's agents want to see it..

It worked for us without any nonsense.

They can also bundle your application for a number of institutions; saving you the hassle of engaging with all those institutions yourself.

That's not to say that doing it yourself isn't the way to go. I'm an organised person anyway and certainly could have done so.

But there are still benefits of using a broker.

grahamor

I found the broker took away the pain of applications to different banks. I just sent in all the documents to him and waited for decisions.

Michael D Not Higgins

Consuelano wrote: »

He didn't cost me a penny

How does he earn a living then?

aido79

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

How does he earn a living then?

Bank pays the broker. I presume he gets a commission for getting them a customer for the next 25 or 30 years in most cases. The commission he would receive would be relatively small compared to what the bank would make from interest on a mortgage.

Carawaystick

So the broker is incentivised to get you a loan with the bank which will pay him most then, instead of getting you the best deal.

Consuelano

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

What reason did they give for rejecting the application?

The amount I saved each month towards the deposit was not consistent. I didn't have a direct debit, but each month I would throw roughly a grand into the savings a/c. Some months it might be 800, other months 1100, etc.

Consuelano

Carawaystick wrote: »

Did the broker have an offer from your bank? Or did you not try other banks?

No, he didn't. As far as I know, once your application has been officially rejected by a bank, you have to wait six months before reapplying.

As my bank had just rejected me, my broker applied to three other banks, all of which came back positively and I went with the one with the lowest interest rate.

Consuelano

Carawaystick wrote: »

So the broker is incentivised to get you a loan with the bank which will pay him most then, instead of getting you the best deal.

In my case it didn't work like that. My broker applied to several banks. All of his applications were successful. He then had me choose which bank I wanted to go with.

aido79

Consuelano wrote: »

In my case it didn't work like that. My broker applied to several banks. All of his applications were successful. He then had me choose which bank I wanted to go with.

I had the same experience (although my situation may be a little different as I am in Australia). I had full control over which bank I went with and was under no pressure to choose any particular bank. He only applied to the banks which he thought would approve it.

farrerg

Carawaystick wrote: »

So the broker is incentivised to get you a loan with the bank which will pay him most then, instead of getting you the best deal.

The commission is pretty much the same for all as far as I'm aware, I don't think they'd be in business long if they were pointing people towards banks with higher rates for the sake of a few extra bob, most of their business will be generated by word of mouth so they want happy customers

The J Stands for Jay

aido79 wrote: »

I had the same experience (although my situation may be a little different as I am in Australia). I had full control over which bank I went with and was under no pressure to choose any particular bank. He only applied to the banks which he thought would approve it.

"It" being the higher commission rate.

aido79

McGaggs wrote: »

"It" being the higher commission rate.

To be honest I don't really care if his commission rate was equal to the value of my mortgage. It didn't cost me anything and I got a mortgage with a competitive interest rate. I was free to choose what bank I went with didn't have to worry about a bank turning me down and delaying a mortgage application.

stove

Went to the bank ourselves after months of messing with a broker who could not get us a mortgage. Banks we spoke to ourselves said we should have gone straight to them in the first place.

If you have a contact (or family members have) with a bank then approaching them directly is a good option I think.

Horrendous process either way!

Pac2015

stove wrote: »

Went to the bank ourselves after months of messing with a broker who could not get us a mortgage. Banks we spoke to ourselves said we should have gone straight to them in the first place.

If you have a contact (or family members have) with a bank then approaching them directly is a good option I think.

Horrendous process either way!

I went to a broker last year that was recommended to us by some friends who are from Poland and were having trouble getting a mortgage even though they had saved over 60K and had been here over 10 years after months of trying he got them one mortgage offer so we thought well he must be good but no we were mistaken he was shocking gave bad advice on every level and stressed us out to pieces so we decided to leave the process for another while I researched other broker in the locality and found one and went to have a chat and got great advice and felt really confident about the whole process and what we needed to do to get the mortgage we wanted, previous to him I had also approached some banks about getting a mortgage direct and we were told we would be offered hardly anything it would not have even been enough to buy a 2 bed house but when we went to the broker we were told we were being offered double if we needed it but we dont we only want 240-260K so what I am going to do today is test a few banks and call them up to inquire about a mortgage to see how easy the process actually is and we will see how I get on, I am also going to try my own mortgage provider that I have the apartment with to see what they offer.

I will let you all know how I get on and we will see which is better broker or bank for me anyway.

TheDoc

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

As long as people are unable or afraid to go to the banks directly there will be a use for brokers.

That's not strictly true. There are plenty of applications which are rejected even though they tick all the boxes.

If you get a good mortage broker can be well worth it. Your paying for expertise and experience, and in a lot of cases they are brilliant when you don't exactly meet the criteria. I don't want to say they fiddle numbers, since that's not what happens, but they know the systems in place and use their experience and knowledge to get approval.

A cousin of mine is after securing a mortage after being rejected by the banks (his partner is self employed, clear high income but something about it making them weary), got recommended a broker who get them mortage approval AND a lower monthly repayment plan then the banks original spec.

A friend who kept getting rejected as he was just outside of the "by the book criteria" went to a broker who got him approval. Not sure what he did, but he got it. His mortage repayments less then what his monthly rent was.

I'd say I'll probably hit my bank up first when I go for a mortage, but will have a chat with a broker aswell.

efb

Isn't there a very helpful broker on boards? He was here answering all questions of non customers and had a great FAQ about buying a house.

efb

Killers was his username

Michael D Not Higgins

efb wrote: »

Killers was his username

killers1

he's still active and has contact details on his page

efb

Yes, he's very sound