Mortgage brokers - how important are they?

pixie_chick

We are looking for mortgage approval through a large broker firm at the moment, after 2+ months we have one offer back, and its shockingly low for what we thought we would get. When talking to the broker he misquoted my husbands salary, told me that any extra bonuses were not included in their calculations and that the fact that we have only one income and two children affects the amount we are offered.
My husbands salary is good, however our finances are a bit all over the place... we would have a credit card debt, an overdraft and probably spend a bit on ourselves each month more than we should. Saying that we still save a lot each month, would have a 50% deposit (for our house) in the bank and our earnings would be in the top 1% of the average salary scale.
Also we were told that it would make no difference to sell a rental property that we have as it "more or less" pays for itself, yet originally we were told that if we sold it the mortgage we would be offered would be in the region of €150K+ more.
My question is how important is the broker and should be check out others or do they all submit the same paperwork to the banks.

Thanks in advance

tastyt

Go to the banks and ask directly. Ye sound like good applicants if your credit card debt isn't astronomical and ye can realistically spend less on yourselves a month.

Your LTV ratio is excellent, unless again ye are in your sixties or so.

Again, I'm presuming a little bit but unless ye have huge debt in other areas have a stab at the banks

pixie_chick

Thanks for your reply, no we're not in our 60's but in our 40's, so at least 20 years to pay back!
We didn't expect to be looking for a mortgage for at least another year but here we are... credit card & overdraft would be high but not in the 5 figures and easily paid back in a year. Its just the implication that having children and one salary means that we only get 2 times salary and getting rid of a rental property that costs a couple of hundred extra each month would have no implication to the amount.

But if we go directly to the banks ourselves are we not just doubling up or is the broker submitting different info, do the banks go through all our bank statements or is that the broker?

Woshy

We did our mortgage applications directly with the bank - It's not hard to do yourself. However we also had only one (decent) salary with me at home with one child, a good savings record and a chunk of cash (we ended up having a LTV of 50%). We didn't have any debt and would be ten years younger than you and your husband.

I felt like the amounts we were offered were much smaller than I expected and thought we could afford too but the banks hands are tied in a lot of ways. They set outside x amount for monthly costs for you and dependents and then what you have leftover is what they think you can afford, even if your bank statements show differently (we would never spend the amount monthly that they said we needed for example).

It's tough but there's not much you can do. We luckily found a house we were happy with within the amount the bank would lend us so it worked out in the end.

MarkAnthony

Went with a broker, ended up abandoning the process - went on our own got approval in a week. Avoid IMHO at least until you've tried some of the banks direct.

jaffa20

Isn't a benefit of using a broker that a refused application will not show up on your record?

L'prof

We just went to the bank ourselves. The person we dealt with there was excellent. We don't have any debt but our savings were low as we'd recently returned from travelling. We didn't get offered much initially, but with a bit a few months later after a deal on one house fell through we went back and we're delighted with the offer we got. You say you have enough savings for a 50% deposit but have fairly high credit cards and overdrafts? Would it not be more beneficial to clear these and see what you get offered then?

mickman

L'prof wrote: »

We just went to the bank ourselves. The person we dealt with there was excellent. We don't have any debt but our savings were low as we'd recently returned from travelling. We didn't get offered much initially, but with a bit a few months later after a deal on one house fell through we went back and we're delighted with the offer we got. You say you have enough savings for a 50% deposit but have fairly high credit cards and overdrafts? Would it not be more beneficial to clear these and see what you get offered then?

exactly. go to the bank with zero debt, dont have a cent owed to anyone except on an existing mortgage. if you do this then the ammount will rise dramaticaly

DublinDilbert

mickman wrote: »

exactly. go to the bank with zero debt, dont have a cent owed to anyone except on an existing mortgage. if you do this then the ammount will rise dramaticaly

I'm surprised the broker didn't tell them this, something doesn't add up. Why would someone in the top 1% of salaries need an over draft or cc debt on an on going basis.

mickman

DublinDilbert wrote: »

I'm surprised the broker didn't tell them this, something doesn't add up. Why would someone in the top 1% of salaries need an over draft or cc debt on an on going basis.

yeah true, sounds a little off alright . Maybe the OP can shine some further light on this for us

JoeySully

jaffa20 wrote: »

Isn't a benefit of using a broker that a refused application will not show up on your record?

do mortgage application refusals get recorded at all ??

Sala

Would you not be better off using some of your deposit to wipe the overdraft and credit card? It would tidy up your finances.

The rental property is an issue I presume. I know two people recently who were offered around 200k mark but were told they could get 300+ if they sold a their rental property

Lucy B

We parted ways with our broker too. He was bloody useless. We are similar to you, 2 kids, 1 income, husband self employed. Boi offered us a crappy amount, but ulster bank came back with much better figure and we are now trying to go sale agreed on a property. My advice, clear your debt, stop spending, cut back, do some regular saving, everything same amount on same day, do this for 6 months and you'll be laughing. Good luck

pixie_chick

Thanks for all the replies guys. To shed some light on our 'fishy' debt so to speak, our 50% deposit is coming from the sale of a property, the other property is out own original house of which we were told to sell by the broker ( and we have it on the market ) as it would get us a better loan amount, he's now saying that it wouldn't make a difference to the amount if we rented it as the rent would cover the mortgage & costs ( which it won't! ) as for the overdraft that's just a bad habit ( not mine ;-) ) and the cc was an item bought that is about to be paid off within the next month or so.
Tbh we didn't see ourselves buying/ moving till next year and we're going to tidy our finances up but circumstances have changed and we have to do it now.
It's just the change of story and the broker getting my OH's salary wrong... If we apply ourselves now will the banks not say that this application was already submitted through a broker? That's one of the things I'm wondering.

Lucy B

I would just make appointments with your chosen banks, and if it is brought up, well say ye are not using a broker now and want to do it yourselves, and ulster bank and bank of Ireland don't deal with brokers so he wouldn't have tried them. Our broker was obsessed with aib. Think it was the only bank he actually tried. They are actually very nice in banks, I had been dreading it, it was easier than the stage we are at now......getting estate agents to communicate with you and trying to push up the price all the time!! They really are a sneaky pack. (Sorry that's off topic I know)

pixie_chick

just had a look through all the paperwork and only two banks have been approached. Think we will clear off the debts and then approach other banks. The thing is they go through all your statements with a fine toothcomb so any debt from the past 6 months comes up through standing orders and cc statements :-(

L'prof

pixie_chick wrote: »

just had a look through all the paperwork and only two banks have been approached. Think we will clear off the debts and then approach other banks. The thing is they go through all your statements with a fine toothcomb so any debt from the past 6 months comes up through standing orders and cc statements :-(

Evidence of clearing debt is far better than having debt!