To post for traffic - guarantor mortgage and mysterious mortgage advisor

[Suliemantra]

I earn: 80k (mix of PAYE earnings and self employed consultancy)
I have 20k deposit
No debt no childcare no car finance no credit issues
My mum owns her home outright happy to be guarantor but can in no way add to my savings
I am 41 years old, divorced with 2 children
I need to buy a 3 bed terrace house for about 300k (south east.)
First time buyer.

I expect to retire at 68.
Mortgage advisor has all my details for about a month , says he may have found a mortgage product to suit me.

I've asked for update so I can seriously start house hunting if my mortgage is agreed in principle , he says sorry he is v busy and going on holiday but when back he will look at my details again.

Can anyone advise- I mean I know I'm not a great proposition but is this some sort of stringing me along thing and should I cut my losses and find someone else? Any advice welcomed about this , of any sort!

That’s appalling customer service aside from anything else. Tell him not to bother himself and take your custom elsewhere. If there are no products suitable for you I can’t see how that takes a month for a professional to establish. He’s simply not working fast enough so I would go elsewhere personally.

We used L&C and they were fantastic. Our advisor was amazing and so helpful. Found us a fantastic mortgage very quickly despite my credit rating being pants at the time.

Use L&C. I have done 3 times. Free, excellent, impartial advice. You could get a mortgage before your advisor is back from holiday!

He's a knob. Search moneysupermarket or equivalent for the best rates, then call up; or get another IFA. You may not need a guarantor. If there is any way you can save an extra £10k + stamp duty + fees then you'll be at 90% LTV.
I'd send the guy a request to permanently delete all your personal details as he has proven unable to perform an IFA service.

I think either he can't find anything and is stringing you along in the hope that something pops up, or he has but it's a shit deal and he thinks you won't go for it. If you were a likely quick sale you'd be a higher priority for him and he'd be wanting to get some details to you before he goes away. Either way it can't hurt to speak to someone else and see what they think.

My mortgage broker got me an agreement in principle the day after our (evening) meeting. Admittedly I wasn't after a guarantor mortgage but my situation wasn't straightforward either.

Get a different mortgage broker.

You can get a joint borrower sole proprietor mortgage where your mum's income is taken into account but she's not on the title deeds so she doesn't pay additional stamp duty for second homes or increase the amount of deposit you have by offering your mum's home as security as well as the one you buy, hence improving the lender's risk. Switch brokers, get a recommendation by word of mouth

He's taking the utter piss. You should take your custom elsewhere. What if you found somewhere you want to buy and lose it because of his incompetence?

I work in the mortgage industry and most advisers would have got back to you in about a day with an agreement in principle and their recommendation.
As long as you have not signed an agreement with him, then I'd tell him to jog on and find somewhere else.
If he was any good at his job at all he would already know which lenders would consider your circumstances.

do you need to use a mortgage broker nowadays? Use the mortgage search tool and advice on moneysavingexpert, fond the best mortgages then just contact them directly with those details, which sound ok to me?

[email protected]

This guy is brilliant!

We are SE - house £317k - deposit of £36k and an income of £62k

He found loads for us!

Find another advisor.

@calpop you don't have to but if you get a good one it makes life so much easier. You only need to give your details once and they do all the searching instead of filling out your details time and time again.

Absolutely go elsewhere.

I am a much worse risk than you (older and much lower income) and my Mortgage Broker took an hour to find me a suitable mortgage.

I am a mortgage advisor and I don’t think you’re in a bad position at all! Current advisor should have been quicker off the mark so maybe shop around and see if there’s someone you prefer. Feel free to message me if you have any questions

I'm older than you, earn half as much as you, similar deposit and recently completed on a house around half your purchase price with no guarantor. Get another broker. People are recommending L&C but I actually had a similar experience to you and went with Habito in the end.

So the only benefit of using a mortgage advisor is that you don't have to fill in many electronic forms (which takes seconds with autofill)?

I always assumed they had some sort of access to mortgages the public couldn't see but, having recently looked for a mortgage im no longer convinced - its all out there on the internet. What is the benefit of using a mortgage broker apart from not having to do any online searches yourself? Either you have to pay them commission, or they recommend products that benefit them financially rather than you. Not sure I see the need anymore, for someone like me that likes doing comparisons etc, anyway.

And my first thought also was are you sure you even need a guarantor mortgage OP?

Having a small debt e.g. Credit card, that you pay regularly may improve credit rating. If you can save a bit more your options would be more plentiful and cheaper. Your broker is a knob

Another one who says use L&C mortgage broker.

I found my own mortgage using the mortgage comparison sites. L&C popped up as a live chat. So pleased I did. They found me an even better mortgage with £1000 cash back and were incredibly quick.

I had a lot of stress to handle with my house move, getting a mortgage was not one of them.

I used a mortgage advisor who specialised in finding mortgages for freelancers (both DH and I are contractors in well-paid fields but on one depressing day walking down our local high street realised that for most high street lenders ‘computer said no’ despite us having a good deposit and proof that we’d had no more than three weeks between contracts in the previous three years.

Best £200 I’ve ever paid. Got an agreement (with one of the high street banks that turned us down) great rate and contacts us every two years with cheaper options when our fixed terms end so we’ve been overpaying the difference.

I appreciate your mum being a guarantor is an additional factor but I’d really recommend finding a broker who specialises in unusual situations.

A mortgage broker should be able to find you a deal (or several) there and then, or certainly confirm within a couple of days.

I'd just use Moneysavingexpert or Moneysupermarket for a start and maybe also look at going direct to whoever offers guarantor mortgages, which may be quite a niche product, especially given that your income source is a little non standard.

Have you also looked at help for FTBs (ISAs where the governmnent adds to your savings, but do you have to be under 40 for these?)

We didn't have a great experience with one of the big, often recommended brokers to be honest (I can't remember if it was L&C or John Charcol), although it was 14 years ago now. I was very clear about what we wanted - lifetime Bank of England base rate tracker and they only offered us short term discounted from SVR mortgages.

So I went direct to HSBC and am very glad that we did because we have ended up paying 0.4% above BoE base rate, which has been virtually nothing for the last 10 years.

Yes just use a different broker. However your deposit is low which will be the issue. Don’t think a guarantor will be something anyone Looks at in your circumstances. L&C will let you know within a few hours what your options are

I also used Nick Green as well! @EmmaJR1 posted his details above.

Such a lovely chap and got us our mortgage within a few hours! I'm self employed and DP has only been at his job 6 months but he gave us lots of options. Always quick on his emails too.

Pass there are special guarantor products designed precisely for the OPs situation.

Instead of securing the mortgage on the OPs property, it will also be secured on her DMs. Because there is much more security compared to the value of the loan, her low deposit is less of an issue.

Ah I see. Makes sens e