Doing Your Research and Asking the Right Questions
It is important that you ask your mortgage broker or lender as many questions as possible. Don’t worry if you think what you are asking is stupid or that you should already know it. Remember you are making a huge investment so they should be willing to answer any worries that you have.Lenders lend money everyday, so they can sometimes forget that what is clear to them might seem confusing to you.
The first question you should ask, which is perhaps not the most obvious is who you are borrowing your money from.There are a huge number of financial firms out there that do not make it clear whether they are a lender or a broker. A broker cannot give you a mortgage they can only advise on it. There are a lot of brokers out there that look and act like lenders, but they might just be acting as a go-between.
You should make sure you know if the money you are lending is coming direct form the person giving you the advice or they are getting it from elsewhere.If you are dealing with a mortgage broker then you should also ask them how much money they will earn from the deal. It is not cheeky to ask this and they should be willing to fully disclose how much money they will make from the deal. If you feel that they are pushing you to one particular lender you should ask them to compare how much they will earn from one lender compared to another.
You will also need to check that the lender or broker you are dealing with is regulated by the Financial Services Authority. If they are not it means they are not regulated to give you advice and you should walk straight out of the door.Lenders and brokers will often try and fool you by talking a lot of jargon and explaining things in what you may think is some sort of code. You will not look stupid if you simply ask them to go through everything step-by-step to make sure you know exactly what is going on.
Do your Research
It is no good blindly walking into a lender or mortgage broker’s office without first researching a little about the company. If you are going to a mortgage broker you should make sure you know whether they will charge you for advice, as you do not want to get in there and suddenly find that out.You should also look to see if the broker or lender has a website which might tell you a bit more about the firm. It will also tell you if they specialise in any one area, for example, if you want to buy a buy-to-let property it is no good going to visit a lender or broker that doesn’t offer this service.
You should never be afraid to ask a lender or broker anything, and if you do feel intimidated or uncomfortable around your broker then it may be a good idea to look elsewhere. If you are not sure about something, ask, or you may regret it later.
