If you have read any of our Mortgage Success stories, you will probably notice a common theme where we go off to do research.
Research is a small word for something that might take 15 minutes or 5 days! This post will just go into what can be involved in our research. I also think when I say we do the research, I am also to an extent downplaying that part of the process.
It can be very time consuming but it is also important that it is done accurately and not rushed especially on the more complex applications.
Different types of research
When we speak to customers, typically they have bad credit to varying degrees. In the main when we are talking through adverse we have a pretty good of what lenders will accept what levels of adverse at what LTVs and the rates to expect.
Sometimes however we get things that are a little more complicated. This can mean we have to spend more time on the research.
- Firstly we have a mortgage sourcing system. This is something that we typically use to generate a list of mortgages and rates. We can filter out the products we do not want (for example we may want £100k mortgage on a £150k house and only looking at 3 year fixed rates). They are very good for that.
The sourcing system does also allow us to put in other bits of information – adverse, type of property etc and then filter our products not applicable. However as with a recent success story here, that is not always very reliable.
- Secondly we have past experiences. Its not uncommon for me to go through old applications for customers who had something similar. We can see what we did with those cases – they were successful applications so it makes sense to take a look at them.
- We also have our peers. As we have over 10 years experience as a broker and around 15-20 years in financial services, I have quite a few contacts and past colleagues who are also brokers. We have whatsapp and facebook groups. This means we discuss cases to try and help one another. Just to be clear, no personal information is ever shared with other brokers).
- Lastly we have our account managers and the training they provide. As we have over 80 lenders available, that means over 80 companies we call to discuss the case specifics to see if we can find an answer.
How long to research?
As mentioned previously, research can be quite quick. If someone has 5 defaults all over 2 years old – we know the lenders who are most open to that. The research would just come down to does everything else appear to fit? Does it pass affordability? And who has the cheapest product on the day.
If you have a Fixed term contract, defaults, looking to purchase a property with 2 acres of land with a gifted deposit from your friend, then that is going to require a lot more work.
The research could quite easily be the shortest or the longest part of the process. But it is 100% the most important part of the process. If this bit is not done correctly then we have wasted time making an application. A poorly packaged application can be rescued, an application submitted to the wrong lender cant.
Summary
Research is an extremely important part of the application. Yes, we have a lot of it in our head from past experiences. We also have to go back over it every time just to ensure we have not missed any changes in criteria.
As mentioned above, it can be a job that takes very little time. But also quite easily could be the longest part of the process.
But we always do our best to ensure this is done thoroughly to get the best outcome for your application.