Residential Mortgages

In this section we look at the mortgage broking service which we offer. We explain the benefits of using a mortgage broker and how our involvement can save time and money.

Our service includes residential mortgages arranged in connection with a purchase, a re-mortgage or a product switch – all of these transactions are explained in more detail below.

(A) Residential Mortgages – Purchase

Our service can begin even before you have found a suitable property to buy. We will carry out an initial assessment taking account of your income(s) and committed expenditure to provide an idea of your borrowing capability and give an indication of the likely monthly repayments.

Once you have found a suitable property to buy we will refine the initial assessment, agree your borrowing requirement and discuss with you the various interest rate arrangements available. At this stage we will, if required, speak to the selling agent of the property to give comfort to them and their client that you are eligible to borrow the amount needed.

The second part of the process is to carry out research, taking account of your wishes, to establish the most suitable lender. In large part the decision will be based upon the lender offering the lowest rate of interest but there might be other factors such as the transaction costs and our assessment of the service provided by the lender. After all, it would make no sense to direct you to a lender offering the lowest rate of interest if their service is very poor and a formal offer is only likely to be available two weeks after the agreed deadline for an exchange of contracts.

After carrying out the research we will produce a full illustration for the recommended product and go through it with you in some detail. Ideally we like to do this at a face-to-face meeting but there will be occasions where we would email you the illustration and then go through it with you by video link or during a telephone call.

Assuming that the illustration is acceptable we would then complete the application form and submit this to the lender for you with the appropriate supporting documents. We will check progress with your application and report to you until the issue of the formal mortgage offer.

If difficulties arise during the processing of the application we are there to help. Examples would be if the property you wish to purchase is down valued or if the surveyor for the lender identifies remedial works which are required as a condition of any mortgage offer. Once the formal mortgage offer is issued we will check through it to make sure that it is in order and that the amount offered is as applied for.
(B) Residential Mortgages – Product Switching

Many of the loans which we arrange are on a fixed rate basis for an initial period of perhaps 2, 3 or 5 years. At the end of that initial period the interest rate will revert to the lenders’ Standard Variable Rate which is often higher than the fixed rate arrangement, resulting in an increase in monthly payments.

When the deal is approaching the end of the initial fixed rate period we can establish if your existing lender offers an alternative product to which you could switch, at a lower rate of interest than the Standard Variable Rate.

In recent years lenders have focussed more on retaining existing borrowers and so the need for re-mortgaging (see below) has reduced.

The great benefit of product switching is that provided the loan amount and term are to remain unchanged there is no additional mortgage underwriting, no new application to submit and the product switch itself can be carried out by us very quickly on your behalf.
(C) Residential Mortgages – Re-mortgage

A re-mortgage simply means rearranging the loan secured on your home by changing from your existing lender to a new one. You can see from the section above – Switching – that in many cases this will not be necessary. However there are instances when a re-mortgage is needed. Examples are:-
- An alteration to the mortgage term, amount of borrowing or the repayment method.
- Secure a lower rate of interest than is being offered by your existing lender.
- Add an additional borrowers’ name or remove a borrowers’ name from the agreement.
- If your existing lender no longer accepts applications for new business, and is unable to carry out a product switch and their only offering is their Standard Variable Rate.
And Another Thing…………………

The sections above refer to residential first mortgages on homes for owner occupation. However we can also help with:-
- Buy-to-let mortgages on residential properties being purchased for investment
- Second mortgages – where it is not desirable to disturb the existing first mortgage but where further borrowing is required.
- Bridging loans – where short-term funding is required perhaps to carry out improvement works to a property which would not otherwise be mortgageable.
- Loans for debt consolidation – perhaps to clear credit card or other unsecured borrowing with the intention of reducing monthly commitments.
- Mortgages for borrowers with an adverse credit history – there are particular lenders who specialise in this work and there are instances where we can help.
Finally, something we don’t do! All of the content above refers to loans secured on residential property and we do not offer mortgages secured on commercial property. We do however have a long-standing connection with a very good commercial mortgage broker and will be happy to make an introduction for you.

Think carefully before securing other debts against your home. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.