Broker or banker, how to choose?

The purchase of a property and the mortgage that is usually attached to it often represent the project of a lifetime. As such, you wish to leave nothing to chance and obtain the best for your borrowing?

However, between your banker or a property broker, the choice is a difficult one and many questions arise regarding how to properly manage your mortgage. We shed light on the subject to help you choose the best solution.

First of all, it is necessary to make the distinction between the profession of banker and that of broker. The former is a generalist who, guided by the commercial interests of their entity, will only offer you their own products. The latter is a specialist in property loans who works in collaboration with multiple entities to compare and offer you products that have been negotiated in advance.

Taking out a mortgage with your bank:

This is the convenient solution; your banker knows you and has been accompanying you for several years. They know your situation and your needs and will therefore be well placed to advise you and offer you a product that matches your project. However, this is limited because they can only present you with the offer of their own entity, although you can hope for a fairly wide margin for negotiation due to your length of time as a client, and your banker’s willingness to maintain this relationship. If you do not wish to spend too much time searching for the ideal borrowing, this option will be perfectly viable, all the more so as your various services will be grouped together in the same establishment. Your file can be processed quickly because your bank already has access to the majority of the necessary information.

However, do not rush; if you have more time and wish to approach several banks yourself, we advise you to do so! Do not forget to consult online banks which often offer lower rates than traditional establishments. There are also online mortgage comparators that could help you with this time-consuming task.

Using a broker:

This is a professional specialised in mortgage brokering, they have a good knowledge of requests, whether classic or atypical, and can therefore give good advice. Brokers like CAFPI allow, via a single questionnaire, to quickly find banks that match the client’s profile and thus save you multiple unsuccessful visits. Once your file is compiled, it is sent simultaneously to several banks capable of responding to your request in order to explore several possibilities and choose the best one. This represents a considerable time saving for those who wish to consult several establishments before making a final choice. Beyond a very good mortgage rate, which banks can offer you themselves given the economic climate, the broker can offer you advantageous terms. In terms of insurance, for example, the mortgage professional can release you from the bank’s group insurance which can represent a real saving on the total cost of the credit.

It should also be noted that, contrary to popular belief, it is possible to use a broker free of charge! Indeed, they are most often paid by the lending bank which pays them a referral commission. Some establishments may, however, charge fees ranging from £900 to £1500 but it should be noted that this is equivalent to the administrative fees that your bank could charge you. The offers proposed and the advice given can thus be obtained free of charge to guide you in your choice.

To choose your broker, do not hesitate to ask your relatives who can advise you on a trustworthy person. Keep in mind that they should ask you for all the supporting documents to compile your file, clearly present their partners, the conditions and terms of the contract and finally not require any fees before the validation of the contract.

The right strategy to adopt:

To give yourself every chance, we advise you to combine these two solutions. You can therefore go to your banker first, to find out their offer. Then, use a mortgage broker who will be willing to offer you different offers adapted to your needs without making you lose precious time. Finally, you can return to consult your bank in order to negotiate the first proposal with the maximum of cards in hand to ultimately choose the best offer!