oadly speaking, advisers may be divided into two categories, the I.F.A. (Independent Financial Adviser) and the independent mortgage adviser or broker.

The Independent Financial Adviser

Controlled under the Financial Services Act 1986 and also under the conduct rules of 1987 they are compelled, when giving investment advice to disclose the capacity in which they act, for example, for an insurance company. They are empowered to give advice on and sell, regulated products such as endowments, pensions,

When you want a mortgage, you take advice, arm yourself with a lot of information and are in a position to choose a lender and the mortgage product which best suits you.

Or are you? Where do you start?

There are literally thousands of different mortgage products available at any one time. Where do you start to look for the one that is right for you? Of course you could walk down the high street calling in at the various bank or building society branches and ask for their advice. Do remember that this may not necessarily be completely unbiased advice as there just may be a vested interest in steering you towards one of their own products, even if the advisory service appears to be separate from the prime lending function. Also it may be surprising to learn that not all the lenders’ products will necessarily be mentioned as many are only made available through an accredited network of ‘introducers’.

There are companies advertising details of mortgages on the net with their own web site and you can trawl through these to check terms and rates. It can be a pretty time consuming task, however, not only to find the right rate but also to establish the conditions relating to any particular product. Conditions which you now realise are of some importance in making your decision but which may not be immediately apparent from the publicity material of the proposed lender. After all, most people would not know what is relevant and, therefore, what to look for. Assuming you are lucky enough to land on the ideal product for you, you have to be aware that you may be charged a fee for actually placing the business. This is not unreasonable, after all, a service is being provided. The normal fee would be to a maximum of 1% of the loan facility but may vary according to how much work is carried out on their behalf.

You may feel, if you are going to pay for a service, you might just as well engage an adviser or introducer to trawl the data for you. In this context we are not talking of the adviser employed by the lender. Broadly speaking, advisers may be divided into two categories, the I.F.A. (Independent Financial Adviser) and the independent mortgage adviser or broker.

The Independent Financial Adviser

Controlled under the Financial Services Act 1986 and also under the conduct rules of 1987 they are compelled, when giving investment advice to disclose the capacity in which they act, for example, for an insurance company. They are empowered to give advice on and sell, regulated products such as endowments, pensions,

is may not necessarily be completely unbiased advice as there just may be a vested interest in steering you towards one of their own products, even if the advisory service appears to be separate from the prime lending function. Also it may be surprising to learn that not all the lenders’ products will necessarily be mentioned as many are only made available through an accredited network of ‘introducers’.

There are companies advertising details of mortgages on the net with their own web site and you can trawl through these to check terms and rates. It can be a pretty time consuming task, however, not only to find the right rate but also to establish the conditions relating to any particular product. Conditions which you now realise are of some importance in making your decision but which may not be immediately apparent from the publicity material of the proposed lender. After all, most people would not know what is relevant and, therefore, what to look for. Assuming you are lucky enough to land on the ideal product for you, you have to be aware that you may be charged a fee for actually placing the business. This is not unreasonable, after all, a service is being provided. The normal fee would be to a maximum of 1% of the loan facility but may vary according to how much work is carried out on their behalf.

You may feel, if you are going to pay for a service, you might just as well engage an adviser or introducer to trawl the data for you. In this context we are not talking of the adviser employed by the lender. Broadly speaking, advisers may be divided into two categories, the I.F.A. (Independent Financial Adviser) and the independent mortgage adviser or broker.

The Independent Financial Adviser

Controlled under the Financial Services Act 1986 and also under the conduct rules of 1987 they are compelled, when giving investment advice to disclose the capacity in which they act, for example, for an insurance company. They are empowered to give advice on and sell, regulated products such as endowments, pensions,

wl through these to check terms and rates. It can be a pretty time consuming task, however, not only to find the right rate but also to establish the conditions relating to any particular product. Conditions which you now realise are of some importance in making your decision but which may not be immediately apparent from the publicity material of the proposed lender. After all, most people would not know what is relevant and, therefore, what to look for. Assuming you are lucky enough to land on the ideal product for you, you have to be aware that you may be charged a fee for actually placing the business. This is not unreasonable, after all, a service is being provided. The normal fee would be to a maximum of 1% of the loan facility but may vary according to how much work is carried out on their behalf.

You may feel, if you are going to pay for a service, you might just as well engage an adviser or introducer to trawl the data for you. In this context we are not talking of the adviser employed by the lender. Broadly speaking, advisers may be divided into two categories, the I.F.A. (Independent Financial Adviser) and the independent mortgage adviser or broker.

The Independent Financial Adviser

Controlled under the Financial Services Act 1986 and also under the conduct rules of 1987 they are compelled, when giving investment advice to disclose the capacity in which they act, for example, for an insurance company. They are empowered to give advice on and sell, regulated products such as endowments, pensions,

ct for you, you have to be aware that you may be charged a fee for actually placing the business. This is not unreasonable, after all, a service is being provided. The normal fee would be to a maximum of 1% of the loan facility but may vary according to how much work is carried out on their behalf.

You may feel, if you are going to pay for a service, you might just as well engage an adviser or introducer to trawl the data for you. In this context we are not talking of the adviser employed by the lender. Broadly speaking, advisers may be divided into two categories, the I.F.A. (Independent Financial Adviser) and the independent mortgage adviser or broker.

The Independent Financial Adviser

Controlled under the Financial Services Act 1986 and also under the conduct rules of 1987 they are compelled, when giving investment advice to disclose the capacity in which they act, for example, for an insurance company. They are empowered to give advice on and sell, regulated products such as endowments, pensions,

oadly speaking, advisers may be divided into two categories, the I.F.A. (Independent Financial Adviser) and the independent mortgage adviser or broker.

The Independent Financial Adviser

Controlled under the Financial Services Act 1986 and also under the conduct rules of 1987 they are compelled, when giving investment advice to disclose the capacity in which they act, for example, for an insurance company. They are empowered to give advice on and sell, regulated products such as endowments, pensions, investments etc. and many link this with advice on mortgages. They will be registered with the Mortgage Code.

Independent Mortgage Adviser

At the present time the independent mortgage adviser is under no statutory regulation, but by far the majority subscribe to the Mortgage Code. This lays down certain procedures relating to conduct and advice which must be adhered to. Many lenders will only accept introduced business from those who are registered on the Mortgage Code Register of Intermediaries. In order to be registered the adviser (or firm of advisers) must have a current consumer credit licence from the Office of Fair Trading, professional indemnity insurance and they must also give an undertaking to abide by the mortgage code in their dealings with the client. This is designed to protect the borrower as it sets out minimum standards which both mortgage lenders and intermediaries have to meet.