On
this page you will find details of links to Mortgage
Brokers, Finance portals and Home Loan brokers and lenders from the UK and
beyond....
We do not provide financial advice. Therefore, if you are a UK
based potential home buyer, we hope you find the following short overview
useful as part of the process of contacting a qualified independent
financial advisor. A mortgage is a contract with a lender that puts up
your property as security against a loan. You cannot sell the property
without the loan being paid off. If you fail to meet mortgage payments the
mortgage lender has the right to repossess the property. The longer the
mortgage period the smaller the monthly payments (however the overall cost
is higher due to larger total interest repaid).
Getting a home loan or mortgage can be
complicated and time consuming exercise. The first step is to obtain
qualified financial independent advice form a qualified IFA. IFA&'s are
invaluable in working with a select band of mortgage companies and
speeding through mortgage applications. They are best placed to advise on
all mortgage products currently available in the marketplace. An IFA is
constrained by legal obligations to investigate your financial needs in
order to recommend financial products. They will have access to
potentially thousands of mortgages products and can contact lenders
directly � there are many to choose from. Tied Agents are paid by life,
pensions or insurance companies to sell you their products. As a result
they are not legally allowed to discuss other products on the market. They
are usually found based amongst estate agents.
Next, calculate how much money you can actually borrow. Mortgage lenders
will look at your deposit size and how much you earn. The smaller your
deposit, the more your mortgage lender may charge you (supposedly for
extra risk). The credit crunch of 2008 has changed the attitudes of
lenders who previously promoted up to 6 times an applicant income.
Mortgage lenders use simple a income multiple formulae; the general market
calculation for single applicants is three times your annual income
(excluding sales commissions). How much money you can borrow is also
dependant on the mortgage products on the market; Lenders will dictate in
their product range how much of the total value of the property they are
prepared to lend you � this is known as the Loan to value (LTV). This is
the % of the property value the lender is prepared to lend you; the
balance being made up of your deposit from cash.
Next you have to choose the type of Mortgage best suits your needs.
Standard Variable Rate (SVR) Mortgages link their variable interest to the
Bank of England&'s published rate. Recently however, the inter banking rate
(LIBOR) has gone up (even thought eh Bank of England's rate has come
down). This demonstrates that lenders attitude towards market risk really
dictates the variable rate borrowers can achieve. With fixed rate
mortgages, the interest is set over a period of time, providing guaranteed
knowledge to budget if interest rates unexpectedly rose. A Discounted
Mortgage offers a headline grabbing deal (particularly for remortgages or
first time buyers). A Capped Mortgage product is one where an upper limit
is set against the variable rate. Within each mortgage the repayment may
have two elements; capital and interest...
With a Repayment Mortgage (Capital & Interest) part of your monthly
payment goes toward paying off the capital and part of the payment is
interest on the capital. Every year the outstanding capital balance
reduces, but not the repayments. With an Interest Only Mortgage, the
payments to the lender are made up of interest. None of the capital of the
mortgage is paid off until the mortgage term has completed.
Once you have applied for your mortgage, the Lender will undertake Credit
Reference Checks. This may include copies of accounts for self certified
applicants and or a phone call with an independent accountant. Employees
may have to produce years of bank statements, pay slips, P60 and utility
bills.
Next the lender undertakes a Property Valuation to assess the potential
re-building cost of the property. Lastly, final mortgage approval is
provided and monies released on the day of completion (subject to
satisfactory building insurance confirmation) from the day of completion).
The entire process can take from four weeks to three months on average.