Being Independent

July 15, 2018 by Jamie Lewis @ Affinity Mortgages

In our industry we have many different ways of obtaining the same thing seemingly so why is it so important to obtain truly independent advice, the same truly independent advice that my namesake a financial guru recommends on his website and on every piece he either writes or talks about. 

Now this is something that I truly believe in also, and I would always urge both our customers but more importantly those of other brokers to really take care with because the FCA guidelines here can lead to some confusion for clients – so here is my effort to try and explain this…. So stick with me….

A bank – they will only have access to their rates, sometimes they will have some special rates or products that can only be accessed by them, and if you receive ‘Truly Independent Advice’ a professional will always look to compare what you have been offered against what is available on the market and advise you of the most logical way forward.

A ‘Whole of Market’ Mortgage Broker – so this should be simple right, the Whole of the market….. Writing on the wall seemingly….. – sadly not and this is probably the widest area our competitors trade in – so what does it mean…. Under FCA guidelines the broker/advisor, In the context of mortgage advice, the broker is not necessarily able to look at all mortgages available in the UK from UK Lenders, they only need to have a panel of lenders who represent each sector of the mortgage market.  Therefore, a broker can still be defined as a ‘Whole of Market’ broker even when they only sell products from a very limited panel of lenders.

Scary right, so you go to a broker who says they are Whole of Market, and they still potentially aren’t looking at the whole of the market…. This generally comes down to their compliance function and the fact that they are told which banks and building societies they can transact with by their Network.

Independent Mortgage Broker – This is our space, and something that a truly independent broker should be extremely proud of, as there is an awful lot of work that goes into being independent – more importantly for our clients, we really are out there looking for the cheapest money available in their circumstances across the UK’s lenders – we are also satisfying all of the criteria of the FCA on a daily basis, and strangely our compliance function means we are even more cautious, than our sometimes much larger competitors – so the advice you receive really is born of ‘what’s right for our client’ or under the FCA regime, treating customers fairly.

The other area you have to offer to call your firm Independent is second charges – in a situation where you want some extra money during the term of your, say fixed rate mortgage, an independent broker is tasked with finding the cheapest option for you – this doesn’t necessarily mean a re-mortgage – many of the clients we have spoken to have in fact saved thousands… so again such a vital point that by giving your details to the wrong firm could prove extremely costly!

So, with a very obvious plug to make sure you make the right choice, Affinity Mortgages are an Independent Mortgage Brokerage – we look after our clients, making sure that the money they borrow is as cheap as we can make it and for as little time as a customer can comfortably afford to have finance in their lives.

You can really only instruct the right firm to act for you once, at the very start of your transaction – so we would obviously urge you to make contact with one of our qualified brokers whom are all experienced and we have constructed the best team that we possibly could to help with every facet of finance and protection!

Call us today on 01702 337003 or contact info@affinity-mortgages.co.uk if you would like Independent Mortgage advice