Incapable of comparing mortgages, because they add on fees at the end.

[Oblomov]

I am finding it frustrating. Been on websites and moneysupermarket.com, but still hard work.
So We want a 5 yr fixed rate.
HSBC offering x.xx% £499 fee. Great. The rate, and the fee are quoted, on HSBC website, moneysupermarket, and many other websites, declaring it as one of the best deals atm.
I have 4 phone calls with her. Laborious. Finally, we are 3/4 way through my application, when she tells me I have to pay £197 valuation fee. Non negotiable. If I had clicked on an optional 4 links, during my on-line application form, I would have seen this broken done, or so she tells me. into Transfer fee, booking fee, valuation fee, etc etc. So its not £499 then. Thats misleading, misrepresenatuion. Its £696. And I have to pay this upfront. There is no adding it on to our mortgage.

I seem to be encoutering this everywhere I go. People quoting 1 figure, then FINALLY, £125 xxx fee, added to the £599 fee .... added to the xxx fee, comes out. Santander was the same.

Please could you explain what I am doing wrong, because this is driving me mad.

see a broker. they can do all the hidden stuff for you.

You will always have to pay a valuation fee, most lenders this will be a fairly similar price. You should be able to add the fees onto the mortgage unless it will take you over the required loan to value amount for the mortgage :)

Find a proper adviser, most people get recommendations. I work just on word of mouth, the websites and over the phone business is a nightmare because it's not decent advice you have to figure a lot of it out for yourself. Ask around see if anyone you know has seen a good broker.

Right. Thank you. We have used a broker in the past, but he has emigrated. Will try and source another good one from friends recommendations. I did not realise it was such a nightmare!!

Not advertising but I had a lot of help from London & Country mortgage brokers (it was free) and they do everywhere not just London.

You'll have to google them sorry.

Thank you Arthur. They rang me back last night and were very helpful, so thanks alot.

the fee advertised on the site is the fee for the interest rate only. the bank has to 'buy' the interest rate so the better the rate the higher the fee. some banks do offer free valuations but not usually for new house purchases. the transfer of funds fee is what the bank has to pay to send the money (before being made redundant i worked in mortgage application processing)

London & Country mortgage brokers are whole of market mortgage brokers (which is good), but are tied agents for some insurance (i.e they only sell for certain companies). If you want insurance ensure you are seeking advice from the whole of the markets as not doing so can be costly. Refer to their Key Facts to see exactly what is what.

Also the advice is NOT 'free'! They are paid a substantial commission.. which you pay for on your mortgage rate.

Yes they are paid by the mortgage lender in commission, which probably gets passed on to you but as part of the whole deal, but what I meant us you didn't directly pay them a fee.