Homeowners have hundreds of products to choose from, including fixed-rate, tracker, discounted and offset home loans. There are many lenders offering different products with varying terms; this can be difficult for inexperienced first-time buyers. This has led to homeowners seeking mortgage advice from a professional mortgage broker. Whilst brokers help homeowners to reduce mortgage repayments, they also charge a fee for their services.
Advantages of Mortgage Advice
- Lower monthly repayments. Receiving mortgage advice can help clients' to save hundreds of pounds on their monthly mortgage repayments.
- Mortgage selection. A broker will help his client to select the best mortgage deal. It can be difficult to know whether to take out a fixed-rate, tracker, discounted or offset home loan; professional mortgage advice helps to simplify the process.
- Industry contacts. The mortgage broker builds up many useful industry contacts over the years. This can help a homeowner gain access to exclusive mortgage deals and reduce mortgage repayments.
- Saves time. Busy professionals may not have time to spend trawling through hundreds of different loans. Mortgage advice can save homeowners time.
- Paperwork completion. Mortgage brokers don't only provide professional advice, they also help with the completion of any associated paperwork and are only a call away in the event of difficulties.
Disadvantages of Mortgage Advice
- Mortgage fees. Mortgage advisors don't provide a free service. The standard fee for mortgage advice is 1 per cent of the total loan value.
- Tied-agents. Not all advice comes from independent advisors. Some professional advisors are tied-agents, which means that they can only provide mortgage advice in relation to a limited panel of lenders.
- Bad advice. Some advisors provide poor mortgage advice or are corrupt. For example, 'Next Generation' were fined £10,500 for not explaining the risks of subprime loans to their clients.
- Online mortgage comparison services. It is possible to perform a mortgage comparison online using a site, such as moneysupermarket.com. Whilst these sites don't provide homeowners with mortgage advice, they also don't charge a fee.
Receiving mortgage advice from a professional helps clients' to reduce mortgage repayments. However, homeowners will incur a mortgage fee of 1 per cent of the loan value. Always ensure that any advice comes from an independent broker and not a tied-agent.
Homeowners seeking to minimise mortgage repayments may wish to read about tracker mortgages, fixed-rate mortgages and discount rate mortgages.
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