Many of those who have tried to compare mortgages from company to company describe the selection process in terms of a lottery; the material offered by mortgage companies is often riddled with jargon and perplexing percentages and the Internet will only source information to a certain degree, depending on an applicant's own industry knowledge.



There are also services available that give applicants the opportunity to transact a mortgage online, but this again depends on how confident they are in their working knowledge of mortgages and research suggests that as few as 17% of Britons fully understand their mortgage deals to the letter. In this situation, many people opt to use the services of a mortgage broker. Choosing the right one ensures that the broker works for the client and not the lender. But what are the deciding factors?

There are in essence two types of mortgage broker; those who operate on a ‘whole of market' basis and those who work with a smaller panel of lenders. A ‘whole of market' mortgage broker will compare mortgages and mortgage products from all the UK's mortgage lenders and try to evaluate the best for their client. Many of these mortgage brokers offer speedy services, designed to save their clients time and money.

The Mortgage Broker, for example, offers a service that compares thousands of mortgages in minutes. These types of broker can often be preferable to those who rely on a small panel of lenders. While they may offer a competitively fast service, the list of products they can source from is likely to be smaller and desirable deals can often go overlooked.

There is also the question of fees; where some brokers charge commission and fees, many brokers, known as Independent Mortgage Brokers, offer an option to pay fees only, with any commission earned available to be rebated. It is also worth noting that most brokers deal with the ‘sub-prime' market, i.e. applicants who may have had credit problems in the past and most of them do not charge any extra for this facility. The Financial Services Authority has exerted strong industry guidelines to ensure that applicants who fall into this bracket are not charged unfairly.

A well sourced mortgage broker can quickly identify a suitable product, taking into account the client's needs and circumstances, and also offer an extra layer of protection if things to not workout as planned. They may also have extra negotiating power with lenders and be able to influence the acceptance of otherwise unobtainable mortgages.

A mortgage is likely to be the biggest financial commitment that anyone makes. A reputable mortgage broker can help to make sense of the mortgage market, compare mortgages and offer a selection of he best deals for their client. Rather than sifting through the often the often unintelligible and occasionally uncompetitive products on the market, a good mortgage broker can help to save time, money and stress.