Brokers - yes or no?

We have done that: our broker has got us a loan contract from AIB and is working on the ICS one as I type. I have just made some calculations and it seems that just a 0.3% (the difference in the 3 fixed rate between AIB and ICS) in the 3 years of the fixed term means more than 4,000 euro in interest only (without considering interest vs capital vs balances). Am I correct in thinking that there is no point making calculations for after the fixed term at this stage, as I don't know that the variable rates are going to be?

PS: Does anyone know what BOI's turnaround is at the moment?

PS 2: I am opening another thread with the questions above to try and keep things tidy.
 
Am in the same boat. BOI is about 8 days from application I am told.

Not only is there no point looking that far ahead. The rates on your drawdown date may likely be different than today, be it fixed or variable.
 
Don't know what the story is today but when I bought my house a few years ago, the cheapest mortgages available at the time were from National Irish Bank who did not deal with brokers. I spoke to a few brokers at the time and none of them thought to mention this.
 
dobbins said:
Don't know what the story is today but when I bought my house a few years ago, the cheapest mortgages available at the time were from National Irish Bank who did not deal with brokers. I spoke to a few brokers at the time and none of them thought to mention this.
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If the broker does not have an agency with NIB then they are not allowed to advise on NIB's products. If they do, they are in breach of the Financial Regulator's guidelines.

The terms of business that the broker gives at the first meeting will set out the agencies that they hold.

[broken link removed]
 
NorfBank said:
If the broker does not have an agency with NIB then they are not allowed to advise on NIB's products. If they do, they are in breach of the Financial Regulator's guidelines.
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So to answer the original question it's clearly a no to brokers!
 
NorfBank said:
If the broker does not have an agency with NIB then they are not allowed to advise on NIB's products. If they do, they are in breach of the Financial Regulator's guidelines.

The terms of business that the broker gives at the first meeting will set out the agencies that they hold.

[broken link removed]
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So, irrespective of the reason, if I had relied on a broker, I would not have been aware of the best value mortgage available to me? And that I would have spent 30 years paying more for my mortgage than I needed to? And that the broker would actually have been paid (by me or through commission) for facilitating this?
 
As a general rule in life "cut out the middle-man" and this often does mean that you save money, no?

Having said that, if you dont have the time, or the energy to run around from lender to lender and do the leg work yourself, perhaps it's better to use a Broker?

Bottom line though - by the time I signed on the dotted line, I was ABSOLUTELY SURE that I had covered all the bases. My broker didnt advise on particular products, but I researched them myself and it turned out they were the better option (only .10 % of a diference over ECB)

Am I glad I used a Broker - absolutely

Am I glad I did my own research in tandem - absolutely

Why choose?
 
Going to play devils advocat here - mainly based on personal experience.

Unless you are totally clueless, I dont see the point in using a broker.

A broker is a middle man who has to be paid, and whatever way its dressed up, the payment will be passed onto the customer who hired the broker. Any mortgage rate that is available to a broker is also available to a customer - there is no such thing as special brokers rates and its not in a banks interest to have them.

The paperwork that a customer fills in is simple enough - mainly personal details, financial circumstances and proof of income (P60, payslips etc). Can be done by most people without any help.

Banks' advertised interest rates for various products are not set in stone - most good customers will be able to knock the bank down a bit by negotiating - you dont need a broker to do it for you.

After that special rate ran out, my husband was keen to go through a broker who charged a fee to the customer. I thought this was a waste of 1000 euro, as felt we could do the research ourselves and go straight to a bank - but in the end reluctantly agreed. Turned out to be the best decision ever. Broker got us a tracker rate of ECB + 0.6% based on the LTV of our house (it would never have ocurred to either of us that our house had gone up so much in value at the time that we would have been entitled to a rate based on that particular LTV). 4 years on, I am SOO grateful to her. The company went out of business shortly afterwards and I still think of her and wonder whether she got another job - I would love to be able to thank her for her advice and help, as having such a competitive tracker is what has made the difference for us in the last few years of paycuts and additional taxes and levies of being in a constrained but secure financial situaiton and being seriously financially sqeezed.
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I did this myself without using a broker. During the boom, when house prices started getting stratospheric on my street, I simply went into my bank and said that I wanted a better rate because the LTV is more favourable. Got a nice reduction on what was already a very low tracker rate.
 
csirl said:
A broker is a middle man who has to be paid, and whatever way its dressed up, the payment will be passed onto the customer who hired the broker.
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Or...

paying a broker commission is much less expensive for the banks than paying for

- recruiting, training and holding onto mortgage consultants
- mortgage consultants salary, bonus (!), overtime, pension, staff benefits (gym, preferential rates, meals etc) & redundancy..
- rent for the premises
- advertising

etc etc.

I might be a tad biased though. ;)

Do you want to

  • pay fortnightly (topical)
  • have a payment break when needed?
  • have a deferred start
  • have overpayments set aside in a separate account that you can withdraw whenever you like?
  • Index link your mortgage so your repayments increase each year and are offset against your capital balance
  • omit months (e.g Christmas or when money is tight?)

or a whole host of other benefits?

No bank can offer all these benefits, no bank can point you in the right direction for any of these benefits but a broker who has an agency with the particular lenders can.

Most people look at rate only and that's fine but for some people there are additional and more important benefits that just saving 0.1% on an interest rate.

I would always advise first time buyers to use a good broker as most of the time is spent advising the FTB not on mortgage rates but on how the whole house buying process works, advice on house bidding, the legal process and the associated insurances.

It's all well and good saving €15 per month on a cheaper rate but not when you then spend €50 per month on mortgage repayment protection bought from the lender.

If you know exactly what you want then use a bank but shop around for your insurances, if you want independent advice then use a broker, pay a fee and get your commission back.

www.moneybackmortgages.ie
 
NorfBank said:
Or...

paying a broker commission is much less expensive for the banks than paying for

- recruiting, training and holding onto mortgage consultants
- mortgage consultants salary, bonus (!), overtime, pension, staff benefits (gym, preferential rates, meals etc) & redundancy..
- rent for the premises
- advertising

etc etc.

I might be a tad biased though. ;)

Do you want to

  • pay fortnightly (topical)
  • have a payment break when needed?
  • have a deferred start
  • have overpayments set aside in a separate account that you can withdraw whenever you like?
  • Index link your mortgage so your repayments increase each year and are offset against your capital balance
  • omit months (e.g Christmas or when money is tight?)
or a whole host of other benefits?

No bank can offer all these benefits, no bank can point you in the right direction for any of these benefits but a broker who has an agency with the particular lenders can.

I would always advise first time buyers to use a good broker as most of the time is spent advising the FTB not on mortgage rates but on how the whole house buying process works, advice on house bidding, the legal process and the associated insurances.

It's all well and good saving €15 per month on a cheaper rate but not when you then spend €50 per month on mortgage repayment protection bought from the lender.

If you know exactly what you want then use a bank but shop around for your insurances, if you want independent advice then pay a fee and use a broker.

[broken link removed]
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No Broker I had dealings with ever discussed these things listed! They only thing they were at pains to discuss were types of insurance cover, illness cover, insurance on my insurance on my insurance. All with fat commissions for them but of little use to me. I understand what I need. I know one poor girl who bought the lot!! Which were all vital when you are getting on the ladder, according to the broker!
In my view they reason to use a broker is they may know their way around the system to get you across the line, but DO NOT rely on them for impartial advice around mortgage related issues. Perhaps if you pay them up front a few hundred you might get this...
 
Or...

paying a broker commission is much less expensive for the banks than paying for

- recruiting, training and holding onto mortgage consultants
- mortgage consultants salary, bonus (!), overtime, pension, staff benefits (gym, preferential rates, meals etc) & redundancy..
- rent for the premises
- advertising

etc etc.
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The broker works for the customer, not the bank. No bank is going to use a customer's advocate as their "mortgage consultant" full stop. Bank's own staff will do their own work on their own behalf. The fact that a broker is even suggesting this actually strengthens my view that a broker is not needed.
 
Didnt want to get involved in this thread but too many anti-broker posts...

six yrs ago my bank gave me 250k loan for some commercial premises.
A Year later I needed another 250k.
Before going back to my bank -where I'd been a good customer since 1980- I spoke to a broker.

Within two days the broker got me a 500k loan. On a tracker rate home loan rate. interest only for first 3 yrs. The crazy thing was that the amazing deal he got was with the same bank that was charging me 3% more !

I immediately paid back the first ,expensive, loan of 250k and asked my bank mngr how come my broker got me a far better deal than he , my friendly bank manager got from the same bank ?

The bank mngr mumbled that some brokers may have good personal contacts with the "right people" in the bank. Also, as a bank employee his head would be on the block if things went wrong ,whereas a broker could be a bit more flexible with the facts. etc etc .
I suspect the real reason for the bank charging me directly than via the broker was that my bank mngr thought -probably correctly - that I was a soft touch.

I know things have changed in the last five years . But I haven't changed my opinion that approaching a broker can be a very useful cost-saving excercise.
My experience proved it.
 
If they were a true fee based broker they wouldn't disadvantage the consumer by refunding the commission, they be reinvesting the commission to drive down the price over the life time of the policy.
 
csirl said:
Going to play devils advocat here - mainly based on personal experience.

Unless you are totally clueless, I dont see the point in using a broker.






I would totally disagree about this, I myself used a broker some months back and would consider myslef to be far from clueless.

I found they took a great deal of the stress away and where much more helpful than dealing directly with the banks. No question was too stupid to ask and I question everything. If i was that clueles I would have just sat back and not asked anything.

Incidently to the Op I used moneyback mortgages who I found to be brilliant and would highly recommend them to anyone
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