WHAT WE DO

Introduction

A good mortgage broker will save you time, money, and effort. From the outset of your enquiry to the day of Legal Completion, we assist you in the complete process of buying your property.

We are an internet based Independent Mortgage Advice firm, using technology to run our business, to keep in touch with you and process your applications and keep you informed during the property buying process.

As we are truly ‘Independent’, we are able to give you access to the products and services from the whole range of UK mortgage lenders, both large and small, both high street names and ‘centralised’ lenders, who you may not have heard of, but are usually owned by large banks, with all the protection they provide. All lenders in the UK are regulated and authorised by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), just like we are.

The Process

This is the process we go through to source a mortgage for you. It is similar for protection and insurance products, but here, we will just concentrate on a mortgage case.

Our regulator, the FSA, require us to ‘know our client’ and ‘give advice and a recommendation’. Those two phrases are explained in the following paragraphs, and how we implement them.

As we conduct business over the telephone and Internet, we will send you by email an ‘Introduction Pack’, which includes our Services and Costs Disclosure Document (SCDD), our Terms of Business , a business card, and a Fact-Find form. Everything you tell us about will be treated with the utmost confidentiality, and won’t be shared with any 3rd party, like a mortgage lender, and until you give us permission to proceed with your application.

Fact-finding (or ‘Getting to know our client’)

The process starts with the completion of a ‘Fact-Find form’, which is simply a comprehensive form that captures all your current information (like your income and commitments), your previous credit history (like whether there were any problems in the past), the new mortgage you require and your thoughts and attitude towards the new mortgage (Do you want a Fixed rate? Are you willing to accept that your monthly repayments can change?) and the provision of any protection plans you already have and may need for the new mortgage (What happens if you were to die during the term of the mortgage? What happens to your income if you get ill?). The form is very comprehensive, as the information you provide is the basis of the advice and recommendation we make to you. If you don’t complete the form fully, there is a danger that the advise and recommendation we give you might be wrong, and different, were we to have the full, correct, information.

Information in, information out

Once you send the Fact-Find form back to us, we then start on your case, in earnest. We input your information into our ‘back-office’ system, exactly as you provided it to us. Once we have completed the inputting, we get the ‘green light’ that says we have sufficient information to give out advice and make a recommendation. This information is then transferred electronically to our mortgage sourcing system. This system is updated every day with any changes that have occurred in the previous 24 hours from all of the UK’s mortgage lenders. This way, we are always using the latest information and there is little chance that the information we provide to you is out-of-date, before we give it to you.

Using a comprehensive filtering system within the mortgage sourcing system, we determine exactly which mortgage schemes are available to you. The results could be any number between just one product, and up to 15,000 products (although this figure changes depending on the availability of mortgage products by mortgage lenders). We then fine-tune the filtering selection, and eventually reach a manageable selection of schemes, usually between 1 and 5. At this point, we can select the schemes based on your main priority objective, which may be ‘lowest cost per month’ or ‘least cost over the initial term of the scheme’ (say, during the first two years of a fixed rate scheme), or the scheme that has ‘the lowest upfront fees to pay out upon application’. We are now able to make our final choice of the most suitable scheme for you and we can then confidently make our recommendation to you.

The paperwork

Once we have determined the mortgage product that is most suitable for your needs, we produce the personalised Key Facts Illustration (KFI), as required by our regulator, the FSA. The KFI shows the exact scheme details, and includes information like the initial costs, the monthly costs, the overall cost, what fees you must pay to arrange this product, the Annual Percentage Rate (APR), the commission the introducer receives, and a table of the payments and mortgage balances over the term of the mortgage.

We check the KFI against the lender's website, and may also call the lender selected to determine 100% that the scheme is still available and the borrower’s profile meets the lenders criteria.

Once we are happy with the selected scheme in every aspect, we provide you with a copy of the KFI, usually by email.

Sometimes we provide a list of schemes, and discuss the finer points with you before ultimately deciding which scheme is best suited to your needs and circumstances.

If you are happy with the scheme selected, we can progress to making an application to the mortgage lender.

The application process

Making the application can be done in one of two ways. Either you can apply for an ‘In principle’ decision, or you can go straight into the ‘Full application’

An ‘In principle’ decision is a way of the lender determining whether you fit their lending criteria, and whether they want to lend to you. The positives of this is that you find out immediately after making the application whether they will lend, so you know that a ‘Full application’ will progress smoothly to allow the lender to produce a ‘Formal Offer’ to lend you the funds. The decision is normally ‘Binding’ which means that if they accept you, you will get the mortgage. The downside of an ‘In principle’ application is that a ‘footprint’ is recorded on your credit file to show that the lender has made a search against you, whether successful or not. If the application is not successful, and you make applications to other lenders, the next lender could be alerted that you have already made an application to a previous lender, but no mortgage account had been created, and therefore they may be alerted to look deeper into your credit history, and also reject your application.

Online applications, and the use of technology, means that lenders can verify who you are and your residency status sufficiently so they do not require proof of these by sight of original copies of your passport or driving license and utility bills. Not all lenders offer this facility so we will let you know exactly what supporting evidence you are required to supply to satisfy the lenders needs. We are authorised to verify authenticity of ‘original’ documentation, so you can be assured that the time in the post of your personal items is reduced to a minimum.

The ‘Full application’ can either be made online or on paper. If the lender offers an online facility, we are able to apply to them, whilst you are on the telephone to answer any particular questions the lender asks. The process usually takes about 30 minutes, at the end of which you can be assured the application is lodged with the lender and your application is under way, without any postal delays. At this point, some lenders require you to sign a Declaration and a Direct Debit, which we supply by email.

If a paper application is required, we can usually email you a copy that you can print out and complete. Alternatively, we will supply an original lenders application for you to complete and return to us, with any supporting evidence required by the lender. We quality check the application and, if all is well, we forward it to the lender on your behalf.

Legal works

At the same time as applying for your mortgage, you should select and appoint a solicitor or conveyancer to complete the legal requirements of transferring the property to your legal ownership.

1st Call 4 Mortgages can suggest a solicitor to you from a list of firms we have had long-term relationships with, and have continually produced excellent progression of our clients’ cases. We would not recommend them otherwise!

Ongoing liaison with the Lender and Solicitor

We will liaise with the lender and solicitor on your behalf. We are used to the intricacies that many lenders have and can ensure your case progresses smoothly up to the point when the lender is able to make you a ‘Formal Mortgage Offer’. Your solicitor needs this ‘Offer’ to allow the purchase of your property to go through. Until it is made available, the solicitor will be unable to ‘Exchange Contracts’ and you will not be able to ‘Complete’ on your purchase. Our ongoing input will save you a great deal of time and effort.

The Formal Offer is made

Once the lender has determined they will lend you the funds, they produce a ‘Formal Offer’ which states the terms of your mortgage. This letter is sent to you, to your solicitor and we also receive a copy. We check this ‘Offer’ with a fine tooth comb to ensure that it contains everything you applied for, and nothing else!

Legal Completion

Now you have a Formal Offer, and the solicitor has done their work, and the lenders valuer has made a survey of the property, you are now looking at the finishing point of the whole process. At this stage, your solicitor is in control of ‘closing the deal’ and they will ensure all last minute requirements are fulfilled, and that you become the legal owner of the property you are buying. The process from initial mortgage application to Legal Completion usually takes about four weeks.

Latest news – Immediate ‘Offers’ now available !!

With the introduction of ‘Immediate Offers’ and Automatic Valuations by some mortgage lenders, this whole process can be reduced to just a few days. If this is a facility you require, just let us know and we will see if you are matched with the lenders criteria.

After reading this page, you can get an idea of the benefits of using 1st Call 4 Mortgages as your Independent Mortgage Adviser.

If you have any questions, or any further information, just call us on 08458 386938.