How much should i be paying for a mortgage broker?

[MrsT1704]

We have contacted a mortgage broker and their fee is £600. You pay once and don't have to pay again when you want to renew your mortgage or need support accessing other services such as life insurance etc.

We are first time buyers and clueless. Is this a lot of money? I have heard of people who didn't pay a fee because the broker gets their fee from the lender and then others that have paid around the £300 mark.

The broker works for a local company who have really good reviews and we are happy to pay the price but just want to know if it is reasonable.

Thanks

I paid £500 which was well worth it. I had a complicated situation and my usual source of advice (my parents!) had never bought in the same legal system as me, so I needed a lot of handholding which they were very happy to provide via as many meetings and phone calls as I needed. They were pretty well embedded in the local property market and were able to give the estate agents a poke when needed too.

It's worth noting the money was only due once I had the mortgage so their helpfulness was built into the pricing structure! I suppose it might have been a different experience otherwise.

I can’t remember how much we paid. I think around £250/£300 8years ago. It’s totally been worth it though. We’re now considering moving and we’ve been back to the broker again for advice.

We paid 395 for ours and he was brilliant, brokers are fab as they can get you the best deals and like the OP said ours was a complicated situation too, and we have just got our mortgage approved at a fab rate with Halifax 😁 he also arranged the life insurance and home insurance so it's all in one place for the solicitors x

Zero

Go to L&C, which are consistently recommended on here, and they’ll do it for free

Sounds around the right amount to me
Yes Mortgage Brokers are paid by the lender but on the average mortgage the commission paid is no where near enough to cover the work involved and like any other business they need paying for their time

£500 for us, but worth double! Helped with lots of issues, not just the obvious financial ones. Ours offers free renewals, he also sorted out all our life policies, buildings insurance etc free

London & Country. Can't recommend highly enough.

Amazing service, got me a mortgage when I thought it would be impossible and didn't cost a penny.

Another vote here for London and Country. We completed last week and they were brilliant, chasing solicitors etc. They even sent a "welcome to your new home" box to the new house which I thought was a lovely touch

L&C.

If you don't feel comfortable with the first person who answers the phone, simply phone again and get someone else. Very happy to recommend the guy I have used over several BTL transactions. Really efficient and free.

Thanks everyone! That has put my mind at ease. I just wanted to make sure we weren’t being fleeced.

As I said they have great reviews so I’m going to stick with them.

@socialistmamma that is a lovely touch and I bet it was well needed after the stress of buying a house!

London and Country were completely useless for us 🤷‍♀️ I tried them out on recommendation from here, they constantly mucked us about never managed to get hold of the person who was supposedly our contact.

In the end we went with a local guy who charged £295 and oh my god was he worth his weight in gold.

Absolutely amazing! Got us an amazing deal and nearly 40k more than l&c came up with - he actually used the correct paperwork while l&c just used my main income not my other job as well!!

We are just going through buying our first home at the moment. We are using Echo Finance as our mortgage broker, they charge £595 and they have been absolutely phenomenal. Worth every penny.

£450 for ours. Found him after trying L&C (useless) and he's totally brilliant. Just done our 3rd mortgage with him. Happy to pass on his details if you pm me.

Ours was amazing. £499 flat fee, nothing payable until after completion. Paul Ridgeway at AMW Finance, got us a great deal despite OH being self employed which can make things tricky. I have recommended him a few times on here.

If it’s fairly straight forward London and county are fab. As soon as it is more complicated - self employed, several jobs, money being gifted etc - then would go to a local broker as it’s more personal, better service and can navigate the system better

I honestly can't remember, but I honestly must have paid him a few thousand pounds over the years with multiple mortgages and their renewals, critical illness cover, investments and setting up pensions. I definitely know the feeling of worrying that he's fleeced me. He's retiring now, so I will shop around for my next ifa.

Ours was paid entirely by the mortgage company and he was great. You need to be careful that they're completely impartial though and will look at any mortgage

London & Country were abysmal for me too, absolutely useless.
I’m going through a specialist mortgage broker and it’ll cost me £895 if it all goes through but it’ll be worth every penny.

Thanks everyone! I’m really hoping it all goes smoothly with the one we have chosen.

We have used the same independent advisor twice now and were charged £395 on a “no offer, no fee” basis.

We previously tried London and Country but found them atrocious.

The independent advisor was absolutely fantastic and worth every penny.

London and Country were amazing and FREE- have used them for first mortgage and remortgage. They saved us £150 per month on remortgage. I honestly don't know what else a mortgage broker could have done for us, my partner had a previous bankruptcy and we were on a tight budget also and we were accepted onto a good deal with well known mortgage lenders.