People are always complaining about how much things cost these days. The socialist-student-worker-miser thinks that capitalism is bad on its own. Someone wants to mess him up. Yes, someone does want to screw you over, and they will if you let them. They don't have to give you the best deal, and you don't have to take the first deal they give you. Don't let your desire for a mortgage get in the way of what you know to be right. Usually, if a deal looks too good to be true, it is.
Start with banks and credit unions that are well known. Start your research with your current bank or large credit unions. These are known to be good. With a big bank, you might not get the best rate, but the security can be worth it.
If you live in the UK, check to see if the company is a member of the Finance Industry Standards Association (FISA) and registered under the Data Protection Act (DPA).
A borrower and a lender come to an agreement about a mortgage. Find out first if you want a fixed-rate, variable-rate, capped, buy-to-let, bad-credit, or self-certification mortgage, and then go from there. This will make your research go faster.
You don't need to apply everywhere. Try getting a loan from a bank, a building society, a credit union, an independent loan company, or the Internet. The trick is to get rid of the businesses with high interest rates and fees on one end and cubicle farms on the other. If you are having trouble paying your bills, the second won't help. If your application to a good 'un is turned down, don't worry about it and move on to the next best thing.
Make sure you think about how much money you have. No matter how cheap your deal is, pay it off as soon as you can so that you don't have to pay a lot of interest.
But it's important not to push yourself too far. Save some of your regular monthly income for emergencies and bills that come up out of the blue.
The broker you apply to will need at least:
- Name;
- Address (including zip code);
- The time at that location;
- How much money you want;
- Work (how long have you been at your current job? );
- If you have a bank account, and for how long.
You might have to get used to getting cold calls from other lenders for a few weeks or months. Try to stop this by telling the first broker what's going on "Please don't sell or give other companies my personal information. Thank you."
It is hard to find information that is not from the mortgage company. Everyone wants to make a few pounds, and this is especially true when it comes to financial products. It's a big business, and people in need can be used to make a lot of money.
Many sites that look like they are on their own are actually linked to well-known lenders. They can't give information that is not biassed. If it's a financial product, most of the sites that show up on the first and second pages of a search engine are probably connected to one of the biggest lending companies.
