Mortgage Broker - v - Direct to Bank

LadyTBolt

It was the done thing before the collapse of the housing market to go through a broker for your mortgage instead of applying direct to the bank.
During the collapse the banks revoked their deals with the brokers and alot of brokers went out of business.

However, I notice there are still some brokers operating with banks as partners. I have two issues which I would like some advice on..

I'm in the process of applying for a mortgage and I was wondering should I apply to the banks direct and also with a broker or just go down the route of one?

If I do apply and I am refused, which I expect to be because of the current climate, will the other banks see the refusal when doing their credit check or will they just see my credit was checked by these banks?

Any advice at all is greatly appreciated.:)

unclebill98

IMHO some brokers will smear a mortgage application to get a positive result for the applicant. This only serves to have a negative effect on the applicant in the long term if they end up borrowing more than they needed. I'm not painting them all with the one brush but its happened and is continuing to happen. Most are perfectly fine.

But again, the same thing can happen with the banks themselves.

Look on the various banks websites to see what there T&C's are and you know which banks are going to give the green light for your mortgage application.

When applying for a regulated product a "Foot Print" is left on the ICB. When you apply with a different bank this "Foot Print" can be seen so they will know you've been looking elsewhere.

One last thing, brokers do not charge you for there services, the bank rewards them directly so do not feel they are charging you. Normally they would offer other things like Life and Home insurance, so its a one stop shop for those un willing to do it themselves.