What does a mortgage advisor do?
An impartial mortgage advisor is an intermediary who acts solely in the interests of the mortgage borrower and not the lender, while offering the widest possible consumer protection.
Additionally, unlike banks, impartial mortgage advisors provide advice from products across more than one lender, offering a much wider choice. For information, please see our Why Use First Mortgage page.
To read more about feedback we have received from happy clients, please see our Testimonials page.
Can using a comparison site do the same job for me?
As Mortgage advisors, of course, you would expect us to say no, but we do so with very good reason. Although these basic search engines can be useful for completing some initial self research, they can never be as sophisticated as the specialist mortgage search tools designed and used by brokers.
Additionally, they do not show the many exclusive mortgage offers negotiated by brokers with top High Street lenders offering lower mortgage rates than are generally available to the public directly. Unlike arranging your car insurance, matching a client with exactly the right mortgage requires huge expertise and in-depth knowledge of the financial markets and of each lender’s specific underwriting criteria. Because small differences in rate can result in huge differences in repayments, the cost of getting it all badly wrong can be quite substantial.
There is also a lot of complex paperwork involved in the mortgage process that our brokers will expertly complete for you, something that cannot be done via a comparison site.
How is your service provided free of charge?
Unlike many other Mortgage Intermediaries who, in our view, may exploit their clients by charging a fee while also receiving payments from the lenders and insurers for underwriting their products, we directly pass on our economy of scale benefits to our clients by not charging client fees.
In other words, the huge volume of mortgages we complete by offering our services on a fee free basis allows us to offer an award winning service that most of our competitors can only envy. The quality of service we provide is not adversely affected by being free to you with an advisor to client ratio that is quite simply second to none.
Why is it important to use a salaried mortgage advisor?
We believe that when you only pay an advisor a commission (with no salary) that is directly linked to mortgage sales that this hugely increases the potential risks of mis-selling for the most obvious of reasons. This is why we pay industry leading salaries that reflect our qualified advisors professional expertise, all helping to ensure the impartiality and quality of the advice given.
Many other brokers only pay their advisors a commission based on achieving quite substantial sales targets with the obvious risks associated with such practices.
Are you regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority?
Yes. We are directly regulated by the FCA for your complete protection.
Am I protected against bad advice?
Yes. We have our own complaints and compensation procedures in place and on top of this you have the ability to also pursue a claim through the Financial Ombudsman should you be unhappy with our complaints procedure or the outcome of your complaint.
Am I obligated to buy my insurances through your firm?
Absolutely not. Although we offer the widest possible range of insurances, including building and contents cover through the UK’s leading insurers, there is no obligation on your part to arrange your cover through us. However, we would hope you would give us the opportunity of discussing and hopefully competitively matching all your insurance needs.
For further information, please see our pages below:
Building and Contents Insurance
Accident, Sickness and Unemployment Cover
Income Protection
Life Assurance (Mortgage Protection, Life Cover, Term Life Insurance)
Mortgage Payment Protection
Home Buyer Protection (England only)
What mortgage types do you offer advice on?
Buy To Let MortgagesÂ
First Time Buyer MortgagesÂ
New Build MortgagesÂ
Shared Equity MortgagesÂ
RemortgagesÂ
Capital Raising MortgagesÂ
Cashback MortgagesÂ
Commercial MortgagesÂ
Equity Release MortgagesÂ
Graduate MortgagesÂ
Part and Part Mortgage DealsÂ
Poor Bad Credit Mortgage AdviceÂ
Student MortgagesÂ
Commercial RemortgagesÂ
Fixed Rate Mortgages
Capped Rate MortgagesÂ
Discounted Mortgages
Can you advise me on the Scottish Government schemes?
Yes, our advisors offer specialist advice on all the current mortgage schemes
LIFT (formerly known as Homestake)
First Home Fund
Help to Buy
Further mortgage information
Family Equity Loan PlanÂ
Self Certified MortgagesÂ
Self Certified RemortgagesÂ
Cheap MortgagesÂ
Compare MortgagesÂ
Payment Guarantee MortgageÂ
Repayment Methods
