Mortgage adviser, are they worth it?

Activewearuser

I am in the process of applying for a mortgage, I decided to use a mortgage advisor to try and get the best deal available.

The mortgage advisor is going to 2 banks - PTSB and Ulster Bank, he has had the information now for a month and we have not received AIP from either bank. The broker has now gone on a weeks holiday & I have heard nothing this week from his colleague who is supposed to be covering.

I was getting fed up waiting so put in my own application to BOI within 4 days I had received the AIP letter.

Has anyone else used a mortgage adviser when purchasing? Is this delay justified? He kept coming back with loads of questions and looking for further information, BOI have not asked anything.

heebusjeebus

That's very quick for BoI. I was waiting nearly a month for my mortgage approval with them. I applied via their Mobile Mortgage Advisors.

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Activewearuser

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That is exactly my point, he told me before I engaged him they deal with all the main banks. When I had submitted all my documents he said he would go to UB and PTSB. I bank with PTSB and my partner banks with UB.

When I asked why he was only going to two companies he said if he applies for more he will only be "clogging up the system and slowing the process down".

DavyD_83

Based on your information, it sounds like a poor mortgage advisor.
This is nothing like my own experience with a mortgage advisor

grogi

Activewearuser wrote: »

I am in the process of applying for a mortgage, I decided to use a mortgage advisor to try and get the best deal available.

The mortgage advisor is going to 2 banks - PTSB and Ulster Bank, he has had the information now for a month and we have not received AIP from either bank. The broker has now gone on a weeks holiday & I have heard nothing this week from his colleague who is supposed to be covering.

I was getting fed up waiting so put in my own application to BOI within 4 days I had received the AIP letter.

Has anyone else used a mortgage adviser when purchasing? Is this delay justified? He kept coming back with loads of questions and looking for further information, BOI have not asked anything.

Absolutely not worth the hassle. Should any issues arise, the Bank will not deal with you directly, but through the broker, slowing down the process.

If you are literate enough to post on boards, you can find the cheapest deal and apply yourself.

Activewearuser

DavyD_83 wrote: »

Based on your information, it sounds like a poor mortgage advisor.
This is nothing like my own experience with a mortgage advisor

He is away all next week as well, so I guess it will be the week after before I hear anything. Waste of money that could have been put to better use in the process, like surveyor or legal costs

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DavyD_83

Activewearuser wrote: »

He is away all next week as well, so I guess it will be the week after before I hear anything. Waste of money that could have been put to better use in the process, like surveyor or legal costs

Ours also worked for commission as mentioned above. They get paid by the bank for bringing your business in, so should be no cost to you. An exception is Ulster Bank, and a few others who do not pay brokers

Activewearuser

Well after 2 months of having all the documentation the mortgage advisor finally sent on an offer from PTSB. He wanted to know if we wished to proceed and I said not without another offer, I asked him to seek approval from KBC who have the cheapest rate. He said if we went with KBC we would slow the whole process down and not be able to secure the house we wanted.

I asked at the start for a comparison of rates, after two follow up reminders I received this. We could clearly see we would be better to go with Ulster Bank or KBC from the rates. The broker was taking the cash back offer into account.

Why go to the bank with the highest interest rate first?

In the end we went with BOI and did the application ourselves, total waste of €200 which was paid to the broker.

LolaJJ

I purchased in 2015 using a broker and there was positives and negatives.

Positives -
They will ensure your application is in the best shape it can be and meets all the criteria.
They have a direct line to people in the bank who will give you more in-depth feedback on any issues with your application and advise on how to correct it. They also have access to people who they can negotiate with on your behalf as opposed to a "computer says no" situation.

Negatives
They will most likely encourage you to take the mortgage that offers them the most commission and not the one that actually suits you.
They may sign you up for a fixed rate which then goes up significantly after 3 or 4 years. (Note: This is what happened to me and I actually did query it with them at which point they said - Then you come back to us and we can move your mortgage to someone else........- They ommitted the fact that that process also involves a solicitor, etc. etc)

So, in short, you might have a better chance with a broker, but remember they are working for themselves to get you a mortgage and question everything.

Cyrus

Brokers are for people with special circumstances or people who can't read and write

For anyone else it's a waste of time

GingerLily

With AIB we got our SIP in an hour and our full credit approval in 5.5 days which lasts for a year. Definitely not worth our while to involve a broker!

dbagman

Ours didnt charge a fee because they make their money from the bank. So most definetly worth it. They shouldn't be charging the customer. The bank pays them a finders fee!! If my memory serves me correctly a handsome one at that.

Drumpot

AIP doesn't mean much in terms of getting an application across the line.. Most mortgage brokers could tell you within a few mins if you would get AIP. This is usually just that the figures you have provided will facilitate a mortgage. But it's only when you have provided all requested information do we find out if the mortgage will be facilitated.

What I do is frontload applications that speeds things up later on in the application. I supply a cover letter clarifying any potential issues like missed loan repayments, break in employment or irregular/unusual figures on bank statement.

This also allows me to prioritise which bank to apply as each bank has different criteria that may suit a particular applicant.

I don't deal with customer services , more a broker support consultant, who I feel gets me quicker responses then I have heard clients were getting directly.

Like in all walks of life there are good and not so good brokers in the industry. If you like doing things yourself then just apply yourself. If you want to use the experience of a broker then use a broker.

Drumpot

dbagman wrote: »

Ours didnt charge a fee because they make their money from the bank. So most definetly worth it. They shouldn't be charging the customer. The bank pays them a finders fee!! If my memory serves me correctly a handsome one at that.

I don't charge a fee but that's only because I'm not primarily a mortgage broker.

There is a lot of work involved in a mortgage application. If the mortgage doesn't proceed , the broker gets nothing. As such, I don't see any problem with brokers charging a fee. Also, fees weed out time wasters (had a fee of those) and people who expect something for nothing.

Sebastian Dangerfield

Your description of the broker sounds very familiar.

In my case he came through for us, often calling at 9 or 10 at night which was appreciated, but having filled out 5 or 6 sets of forms he went to PTSB only, with Ulster Bank as a reserve.

We actually bank with PTSB, so the obvious question is why use a broker at all? We made an appointment with the mortgage manager in PTSB Abbey st. Explained that we would need an exemption on the 10%/22% deposit rule (which has since been waived), we had about 12%. Despite our offering to show him newspaper links to the contrary, he insisted there was no such thing as an exemption, that they legally couldnt bypass central bank rules for anyone. Decided to make an appointment on Grafton St instead to get a second opinion, and got the same answer.

A month later we had an exemption approved by the same bank through the broker, costing us money in the process and them a hefty fee to the broker I assume. Very strange model PTSB have, I dont really understand it but we got there in the end. Regardless, the broker got us something we hadnt been able to get ourselves.

OP, maybe check what you signed. Im pretty sure the agreement we signed with the broker had a penalty if we obtained a mortgage outside of him for a certain period.

Good luck!

jimosterberg

You can compare all types of mortgages on www.bonkers.ie. Great site as it shows you what your monthly repayments would be on a given loan etc.

Not everyone is financially literate obviously but I'd imagine most people know someone who could explain the difference between fixed and variable and the difference the different rates would make to your monthly repayments.

Went with KBC ourselves as they offered the best variable rate. Changed our bank account to them too as this knocks .2% off your rate.
You also get a 2% bonus on your savings rate when you open an extra savings account with them. Very happy with them all in all.

Wesser

Worth what?

How much did you pay them?

Grumpypants

I went the broker route and it was pointless. At the time AIB were paying the biggest commission and surprise surprise he got a mortgage offer from AIB, didn't try anywhere ekse, even though it wasn't the cheapest rate and neither of us banked with AIB.

It was also around the time the reduction from 20% to 10% deposit rule was coming in. He said we would get the 20% as we got our offer in in time. When we went to accept the mortgage AIB would only give us 10% as he never fully followed up to confirm, so we couldn't afford the house and almost missed out. He said there was no movement and all the banks would be the same.

By chance Ulster Bank were doing a mortgage day in work so i asked them. They said the 10% rule wasn't live for another 3 weeks, and even if it was the banks can still set aside a % of their next years balance sheet to the old 20% offer.

They had a better mortgage rate on the 20% deal in place within a few days.

When i told the broker he was suddenly able to jump into action and get us the 20% offer from AIB that was impossible to get a few days before.

All the broker did was delay us. You still do all the work, you fill all the forms, so you might aswell deal with the bank in person.