loan search for homeowners

Few loans will be as important in a person’s life as a mortgage. Yet consumer interest group Which? has found that very few mortgage advisors are giving acceptable levels of advice to potential homeowners.

By going undercover, Which?’s investigators found that a staggering 41 of 50 mortgage advisors neglected to give potential mortgage holders key information regarding the nature of the loan.

Perhaps most worryingly, 35 of the 50 advisors approached did not even properly establish whether the would-be buyers could even afford their homeowner loan.

Martin Hocking, Which? Money’s editor, commented on the homeowner loan scandal. “Listening to people’s needs and giving tailored advice should be the bread and butter of a mortgage adviser’s job, but too many of the advisers that we visited took a 'one size fits all' approach or seemed as concerned with selling an insurance policy on the side,” he said.

Hocking added, “With mortgage costs soaring and the spectre of negative equity returning to the property market, it’s important that people get help to find the right deal.

”There are still more than 3,000 mortgage deals out there, and the difference in cost can be thousands of pounds a year, so it’s vital people do their homework and choose their adviser with care.”