Mortgage intermediary firm Alexander Hall starts a series of articles with What Mortgage on the mortgage market, looking at different types of home loan lending. Greg Cunnington, Director of Lender Relationships and New Homes at Alexander Hall, begins by explaining the role of a broker/intermediary
As a mortgage intermediary we often get asked, “what do you do?”
Essentially, we’re here to help people find the best mortgage deals in the UK. We aim to make that as simple and stress-free as possible, looking at each person’s situation and finding the best product to match their needs.
The mortgage product minefield
There are over 13,500 residential and buy-to-let mortgage products currently available in the UK, according to mortgage tech firm 27 Tech. This number is increasing every year, highlighting the sheer number of options out there.
That is a big minefield to navigate if someone wants to look into all of those without help.
Combine all those options with infinitely-varied personal and income circumstances, plus the variety of property types and how they can impact a buyer’s options… the value of obtaining correct advice has never been higher.
It’s important to speak to an adviser with access to as many lenders on the market as possible. At Alexander Hall, we have access to more than 50 different lenders on residential mortgages and close to 50 on buy-to-let mortgages, which equates to several thousand mortgage options in total.
Mortgage market complexity
The excellent Value of a Mortgage Broker research by Legal and General recently highlighted the value of using a mortgage broker. 25% of customers surveyed said they had used a broker because the mortgage market was complex and they needed guidance.
This is hardly surprising! Over the coming months, these articles will aim to cover some of the key areas of the market where the value of an adviser can be highlighted with case study examples. Topics will include:
- Complex income structures
- Self-employed clients
- The buy-to-let market
- Government schemes such as Help to Buy
- Remortgaging
- Lending into retirement
- Interest-only mortgages.
Homeowners recommend brokers
More than nine out of ten homeowners (92%) who had used a broker in that same Legal and General survey were ‘quite likely’ or ‘very likely’ to recommend using a broker to their friends when getting a mortgage. This highlights why it’s important to educate the public on the value of mortgage brokers.
I’d like to think a survey of our clients would come out even higher – a quick look at our Trustpilot page certainly backs that up. Potential borrowers can benefit from a broker’s access to a huge number of products, and the right advice is key, which is why we are so passionate about this.
Liaising with lenders
My role as Director of Lender Relationships and New Homes makes me Alexander Hall’s main point of contact for mortgage lenders. As you can imagine, that means my weeks consist of a lot of lender meetings.
What has become apparent from these meetings is the increasing competition among lenders, and how this is driving further choice for clients, both in lending criteria and interest rates.
The larger high street lenders are focused on maintaining market share. To do this they seek to constantly innovate on criteria and mortgage products. Meanwhile, the influx of new ‘challenger’ banks and lenders is keeping everybody on their toes and bringing a welcome fresh approach to the mortgage lending world.
Increasing interaction
Most encouraging of all, we’re seeing lenders liaising with broker firms such as ourselves to get feedback on the market and policy, asking about areas they can better assist clients in.
It’s great to see lenders looking at the challenges our clients face in the property and mortgage market and to be actively seeking solutions. From a personal perspective, one of the highlights of my role is working with lenders in this way and seeing lending policy shaped and changed on the back of some of this feedback.
This increased interaction also means that lenders use firms like ourselves to pilot criteria changes and to launch exclusive rates that you can only access via intermediaries. Clients are not always aware of this benefit, and this again highlights the value of using a mortgage broker.
The best outcome for borrowers
The culture of Alexander Hall, and indeed our industry, is very much to ensure the best outcome for the client. This is absolutely embedded into everything we do.
Constant improvements and tweaks to lenders’ criteria and product ranges means that it is vital clients speak to an intermediary to get the most up-to-date advice and, of course, the most competitive deal available to them.
To see why our clients rate us so highly and to ensure you’re getting expert mortgage advice from one of the top brokers in the UK, do get in touch via our website: https://www.alexanderhall.co.uk/.
THINK CAREFULLY BEFORE SECURING OTHER DEBTS AGAINST YOUR HOME.
YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON YOUR MORTGAGE OR ANY OTHER DEBT SECURED ON IT
