Mortgage Brokers - independence?

[Islandgrid]

Hello , is it common practice for mortgage brokers to speak on behalf of vendors ? We've had two cases of estate agents checking our affordability using their mortgage brokers then subsequently conversations have been with mortgage broker who then tries to push us to our max .

Avoid. ... always go for an independent financial advisor not one that's tied to an estate agent

It's ridiculous isn't it ? But how does one bypass them if the estate agent needs to complete affordability checks ?

Just say you use your own mortgage broker. If its for rental they may have a point

We're buying a house , this is only our second time buying and we didn't have to do that the first time round. I found it quite disappointing that once you've done the checks their assumption is you should max out. Then they've clearly relayed to the vendors we can afford more. But surely no one maxes out especially these days

Don't let EAs check your affordability.

Tell them your budget. Tell them this is the max we want to spend. If they push, tell them you have NO interest whatsoever in taking out a longer mortgage term to get a bigger/better house.

Tell them you already have a mortgage broker, so thanks for the offer of speaking to their broker, but your broker is already very good and you trust them.

The only time they should check if you can afford a house is if you have put an offer in, and only then, they shouldn't be putting you through any sort of systems, they should be asking to see bank statements for proof of deposits, proof that your house is sold STC, etc.

Their brokers with dubious morals are trying to push your affordability because they get a higher commission from the lenders the bigger the mortgage they sell. They shouldn't be doing this. My brokers only ever tell me what is a available to me if I specifically ask. They never suggest ways to borrow even more money. I am not even sure it is legal for them to do that.

The EAs are not actually checking your affordability, they are trying to sell you a service, for which they get kickbacks. It's very underhand that they are telling you this is an affordability check, it's not. People are making money off this. Brokers and EAs.

Also, tell them you have your own conveyencer if they ask. Don't ever use an EA's broker or conveyencer.

I have never used the EA mortgage broker, always used my own. You don't have to pay anything if you use a company like L&C but if your situation is more complicated (self employed for example) then I think some smaller brokers may offer a more personalised service as they can access every lender not just the famous high street ones.

Well a lot of people do max out, I always have but it's not sensible to do so at the present time, I agree.

I didn't realise most people maxed out. Interestingly I also didn't expect the mortgage broker to try to do this.

They shouldn't be. It's deeply unethical. But mortgage approvals are down 30% this year so they will be absolutely desperate.

@KievLoverTwo first time it happened the mortgage advisor blatantly asked why we were putting in such a lower offer seeing how much we could borrow. And she kept asking us to increase our offer.

Hi IslandGrid,

No that is definitely not right. You should be able to use your own broker. If they also work for the vendor then there is a massive incentive for them to push you to your max.

FWIW I’m a mortgage adviser and over the past year the number of people maxing out on their mortgage has dropped. With rates going up people are a lot more budget conscious and tend to set a budget for what they want the monthly payment to be xx

The financial conduct authority would have things to say about this.

It's disappointing to hear and sounds like we could face this again. We've never maxed out even when rates were much lower let alone now. Hopefully we can find a decent way ahead

@KievLoverTwo it's happened to us twice this year. Now hoping the next EA we approach will accept we already have our own mortgage broker.

Phone L&C. Go through your finances. Get them to issue you an agreement in principle. Then simply refuse to use the agent's broker. Don't use the L&C online automatically generated AIP, the 'you could borrow up to' figures it churns out are not based on reality. Speak to them so you will know your true affordability. Then you can go off and choose whatever broker you wish when you come to buy.

Be firm!

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-10560179/Do-use-estate-agents-mortgage-broker.html

@KievLoverTwo my assumptions was that an agreement in principle was proof of affordability. We have one from one of the major high street lenders and when we mentioned this the in-house mortgage adviser pretty much slagged them off . We will definitely be firm next time we try to put an offer in

Good luck to you. Most EA’s will let you use your own broker but there are still a few bad apples out there xx

We had this. Their “brokers” aren’t always even brokers - we had one of them show us around a house the next week!

We started saying - we have our own broker. They would be very happy to have a short call with you to confirm availability of funds and affordability.

That's ridiculous , how is this even allowed. Thankfully we haven't completely fallen in love with the house and very unimpressed with the EA for permitting these tactics. We can keep looking

I’ve used the same mortgage broker every time I’ve bought a house, so we have a good relationship by now. Last time the estate agent said I had to sit down with their broker before they would take the house off the market, even though my offer had been accepted and I’d sent through my AIP. I genuinely couldn’t sit down with him for 7 days because I was working a long week at work. I called my broker and explained the situation. He already had all my info as he had done my AIP. He was a little pissed off (to put in mildly) and I think took it as a personal challenge. The valuation ended up booked in within 48 hours. Day 7 he called me - he had my mortgage offer through. I called the estate agent and advised I had My mortgage offer and wanted to cancel the appointment. They passed me to their broker on the phone and I explained my broker had called and NatWest had sent through the offer So me coming in was a waste of both our times, he was never going to sell me a mortgage. He cancelled the appointment and the house went off the market.

It’s an unethical practice. My broker said that this particular estate agent has a pretty bad rep in the industry and one of the reasons was because they pull this sort of nonsense. You don’t have to use their broker, and they can’t make you.

It's a conflict of interest in my mind. I use a mortgage broker that is not allied to any agent. And it doesn't matter what you can afford - what you offer is totally up to you. And if the vendor knows it matter either. I may have £1m in the bank but that doesn't mean I'm going to offer more than what I think a property is worth.
Just tell them the amount you are comfortable borrowing and offer accordingly. It's none of their business how much or how you spend your (borrowed) money.

Echoing other peoples thoughts- fewer people are maxing out these days, more are setting a budget and sticking to it, which is far more sensible.
I work with brokers and would take a very dim view of any of the treatment you have had, I am sorry you have been through this!