Mortgage Mythbusters Part 4 of 7

Good morning, and welcome to Monday's instalment, and part 4 of our mortgage myth busters series. For the previous instalments, click the following links:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3   
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Read on for todays mythbuster!

"I’ve shopped around online for the best deal"

We are all familiar with price comparison websites. They offer a quick and easy way to see who is bidding for your business. Whilst they cover a lot of ground very quickly, they are limited to some degree. Not every lender is on every price comparison website of course. Often lenders have an online only “stripped out” version of a product so it leads on headline price but is inferior to a slightly more expensive but far more comprehensive product. We will compare products on a like for like basis and assess the true value for money. (This is even more true of things like home or life insurance, but more on that another time!!!)
 
Sometimes a price comparison website may be run by an organisation or group that has an interest in some of the brands offering their products there - often their products come top of the searches, which is slightly concerning………
 
Remember too that appearing on a high-profile comparison website with high customer awareness costs money. The lender is paying to be on that site, so who is paying for that?
 
In conclusion, the web and especially comparison websites can be a brilliant way of doing some intense research easily in one place but searching on one comparison website gives no “advice” and is not a valid second opinion.
 
We suggest that you do not consider the results as “the answer” but brilliant information to generate a set of questions for further investigation of those products. If one turns out to be the best value in the market, then go buy!
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At Foursquare Financial we are lucky enough to have access to intermediary-only exclusive products, so an independent mortgage broker should always be on your research list!
 
We cannot promise you that we will be cheaper, we are transparent about what our advice will cost you with no hidden or additional charges. Finally, you get a set of experienced professionals on your side to guide you throughout the process. The average borrower arranges a mortgage every seven years, we arrange them every day! It is also worth noting that just because a lender appears on a price comparison website, it doesn’t mean you qualify for their product. Failing credit score or applying for a mortgage in principle with a lender that you don’t fit with can be very damaging to your credit score, thus making it more difficult to get a mortgage with the lender that you do fit affordability and criteria with, which is why we aim to adopt a "right first time" approach. This may mean sacrificing the "cheapest product" in the market, instead focussing on the product that best suits your circumstances. Yes, there is a difference.
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Tune in tomorrow for more mortgage myth busters! 😊
​Pete & James