Better deal through broker than from bank directly?

Hello,

I am currently looking to get a 100 % mortgage. There are two of us, our combined salaries come to around 90K. I'm looking to buy around the 350,000 mark and I want a 35 year tracker loan. I ckecked most of the 100% lenders either in person or through their webpages and I think permanent tsb probably suits me best, although I need to research a bit more. What I am wondering is, if I went to a broker, could I expect to get a better deal through them in terms of for example loantime (for example AIB only does 30 year lones, could a broker negotiate 35 years) or interest rate or manage to get a tracker rate that a 100% mortgage taker usually couldn't avail of?
I know that usually you can get more money using a broker, but that is not an issue I have, as all the banks would give me more than I want to spend.
So unless a broker could get me a better interest rate or better loan terms as such, there wouldn't be much point I don't think.

What do you all think?

I'd say it depends on each individual case. Unless you want more money than you can qualify for by going directly to the bank, I wouldn't bother going to a broker. That's just my own opinion (I'm not a broker), I'm sure others will differ.

Remember that most brokers are getting a commission of up to 1% and may be happy to refund you a share of this.

This would be done only by brokers who charge a fee for their services though, or am I wrong? Don't think the "no charge" ones do that kind of thing...
I'm just wondering, because I can do all the legwork myself and with what I'm looking for only 3 lenders are really suitable. I just wondered if a broker can haggle with them on my behalf to get better lending conditions.

If you go to all the banks yourself, put in the apps (its as easy to stick 7 apps in as 1) and see who you qualify with and what theyre offering. I found that its probably best to stick to one type of product ie. when i decided i only wanted a tracker, the banks that couldnt offer a good rate kept trying to sell me something else (like a fixed rate mortgage) - and this only confuses the decision making process.

Once you know which bank and product you will be going with, contact a few brokers - tell them the deal you have and ask if theres anything they can do to put the business through them. I fired off a few emails to brokers to this effect and one came back and offered me 400 euro.

This would be done only by brokers who charge a fee for their services though, or am I wrong? Don't think the "no charge" ones do that kind of thing...

Click to expand...

Theyre all getting paid by the banks one way or another.

7 applications??? You were busy indeed. Did all the banks accept copies of your documents? I was under the impression they only want originals...

Think i might have done more than seven! Its not the most glamourous shopping you will ever do but lets face it - its important so its worth the effort. Given that you can apply from home in your own time, its no big deal.

As regards supporting documents - as far as i remember, i provided copies and let them come back to me with an offer. If I decided to take it further, I could provide that bank with the originals. For the salary cert. form - i got that filled out at work - it was a brokers form. I took off the brokers logo before getting it filled out - then sent out copies to the rest of the banks with my application.

Not a bad plan, I might just do that!