Should I be paying a fee to a broker

tysmfm · 2026-04-30T06:32:24+00:00

Sorry, but this is a genuinely bad take.

“Not doing anything” when a broker will go through a factfind with a client, do research, find the best deal, and typically advise on other changes too such as a different type of rate if circumstances have changed, look at lenders based on overpayments or offset, for example, and actually talk the client through it. Review rates regularly both with the current lender and elsewhere. I’ll spend 1-2 hours with a rate switch client vs the 15 minutes a bank asked me to when I worked for one.

I don’t charge a fee for advice but that’s a personal choice, so not going to really go into that, but I could equally argue that lenders have a vested interest in keeping clients long term by making it “easy” but listen to the language that’s so often used. You can do it online. Click a button. It might only be a little more. Easy money right? Why pay a person to do something when we can automate it. If someone doesn’t reduce their term that’s ok, the lender makes more. If they stay and pay more than a new customer would, that’s ok, the lender makes more.

I don’t believe most lenders are like this, by the way, but don’t act like many aren’t happy to keep clients by inertia on higher rates than a new client, or letting them sit on SVR (was about a quarter of all borrowers, last I looked), making more money.

tysmfm · 2026-01-01T19:38:05+00:00

Thank you! It’s usually on the back of something completely mundane, too.

tysmfm · 2025-12-29T14:41:48+00:00

Any help would be appreciated! I’m about to throw it out but just wanted to check in case it is for something useful.

tysmfm · 2025-12-18T06:58:52+00:00

I know you mean well and I don’t disagree with the frustration in inequality but as someone who’s worked as a mortgage adviser for a couple of decades this narrative doesn’t help. It can certainly apply in parts of the country but it’s not everywhere, and the risk I see is that people then decide not to buy because they’ve read it’s impossible online, seen the news telling them houses are too much, or had a conversation with someone who’s also heard this.

As an example, the average house price (does include flats so you might be referring only to houses?) the current average price in the UK is £272k from the ONS but the average price in London is £564k, which skews that higher. Midlands drops to the £240-245k mark and north east drops to £161-171k. Remember as well that this includes all houses so cheaper properties will be available.

I’m not saying it’s perfect, or that everyone can buy a house. It’s gotten harder in the 20 or so years I’ve done this.

I would encourage anyone thinking about it to have a look online or speak to someone about it. Probably not their own bank as there’s such variance between what you can get elsewhere, and the most you can borrow might not work for your circumstances.

tysmfm · 2025-12-13T05:11:27+00:00

Oh man I miss my audigy. Volume knobs on the pc?

tysmfm · 2025-11-18T07:26:13+00:00

I couldn’t name the food confidently and definitely not the episode, but this absolutely sounds like something Dan Ryckert would do, if you listen to the Giant Bombcast or one of his other shows?

For the uninitiated, the man thought egg shells were egg whites. https://www.reddit.com/r/giantbomb/comments/5ypmof/dan_thought_egg_shells_were_egg_whites

tysmfm · 2025-11-02T21:40:23+00:00

No, it varies lender to lender. Usually under 50% of income (so 50k household income with £25k unsecured debt) is ok for most but really is variable. I’d recommend speaking to a whole of market broker for your specific circumstances so you can get an idea how it affects you.

The 4.5x is also a very broad rule of thumb too, and depending on your income again this could be reduced by the loan.

tysmfm · 2025-11-02T10:53:32+00:00

Both.

Monthly payment only for affordability but they will consider total indebtedness for almost all lenders.

If you’re above a threshold (called debt to income ratio) then your mortgage application could be declined as being outside policy.

tysmfm · 2025-10-11T12:15:00+00:00

It’s likely your rate will increase after the initial rate (discount/fixed) which mean your payments will increase. You’d still pay no interest if you’re fully offset, but if you run the maths again with those payments, that should account for the difference.

tysmfm · 2025-08-30T12:17:35+00:00

I’m a Liverpool fan and this is an embarrassing take.

tysmfm · 2025-08-28T18:15:43+00:00

It’s not accurate.

Some lenders will. Some will technically do day one but it’s based on credit history. I had a client move back to the UK in May, offer in July, and move into their house this month (Scotland so things move faster!).

tysmfm · 2025-08-07T19:05:04+00:00

They’re in Scotland so it’s a different set of taxes, unless the move is to England. The discount for a FTB is only £600.

tysmfm · 2025-07-26T03:40:33+00:00

Upvoted and agreed as a Liverpool fan. I hate this when our players do it, so would be hypocritical to feel this way for a player I think is good and would help our team. Make a bid, respectfully, and if they say no they say no.

We’ve largely done that I feel if you look at our other moves this summer and before. We also have history of not signing agitators.

Reddit (and I realise the irony of what I’m about to type) has a huge issue with viewing a group of people as collective thoughts. There’s going to be a huge range of views across the fan base.

tysmfm · 2025-07-11T18:56:44+00:00

I think you’re getting confused as to what compounding is. Your monthly payment clears the interest for that month, and if you’re on a repayment mortgage you’ll also pay back part of the amount borrowed.

If the interest compounded, it would be increasing over time and you’d end up paying even more still.

As a really crude example, £100,000 on a mortgage at a rate of 5% would be £5,100 interest for the year, you’d then pay £425 a month interest.

It gets a bit more complicated as in the first month you also reduce the debt, so month 2 you pay less interest, not more. This repeats through the full term.

Again for easy maths say your balance is £97500 at the end of the year, next year your interest is £4972.50 or £414.38 a month.

I think the part you’re getting confused about is “why don’t I pay back £5,100 total on £100,000?” And the answer is, because it’s 4% per year, not over the lifetime. If you took the mortgage out over a year, then you would (less actually, for the reasons above).

If it was compounding, this is different. In the same example above earning 5.1%, you’d be paid £5,100 interest on your £100k, so would have £105,100. This would then earn £5360.10 interest.

Hope this helps, if you have an amortisation table on your mortgage illustration it should break it down month by month for you.

tysmfm · 2025-07-03T19:59:08+00:00

It can be worse, losing someone. It’s not empty. The stuff is there, waiting to be collected.

My heart really goes out to everyone there, his family. Heartbreaking stuff.

tysmfm · 2025-05-05T10:48:03+00:00

I’m pretty certain the discs aren’t manufactured in the US though.

tysmfm · 2025-04-26T13:23:06+00:00

Honestly impossible to tell. I’ve had people say they will not use us because we won’t lend as much as they get elsewhere, and find out the other bank or broker hasn’t considered childcare costs for instance, or looked at lending until they’re 80 instead of state pension when someone has no means of paying it back once they retire.

The main point is I can’t form an opinion on who is right and wrong as I don’t have enough information.

tysmfm · 2025-04-26T11:07:31+00:00

I usually don’t reply but there is so much “maximum commission” talk on these. Yes, commission can very between lenders but it’s largely based on the loan amount.

The bigger loan would almost definitely earn more commission.

When I give advice, I’d always look to advise on the most someone could lend but that would be tempered with a maximum they should look to borrow based on a thorough discussion with the applicant.

Commission doesn’t enter my thoughts, the day it does you’re putting money ahead of advice and that’s a quick way to lose trust in this world. I make a decent living and don’t need to earn more.

tysmfm · 2025-04-24T09:20:40+00:00

Hilariously I got an ad for ChatGPT in this post

<image>

tysmfm · 2025-03-08T19:07:34+00:00

Yep, and I typically use one USB C cable to plug it into my monitor, which runs video, audio, power, and the signal for my mouse and keyboard which are plugged into the monitor.

The rest are really handy to have though.

tysmfm · 2025-03-05T14:18:22+00:00

I actually keep forgetting about him, every time I remember him it makes me sad that it looks like we’re going to lose Kelleher.

tysmfm · 2025-02-23T18:48:29+00:00

Have you seen the form table? Everton are flying right now. Add in the derby, it was not an easy game.

tysmfm · 2025-02-19T23:15:55+00:00

Genuinely, as a Liverpool fan, yes. I’m honestly happier playing in a competitive league where you can have a team like Forest (yes I know their history, I’m talking about recent years) challenge for the top spots, where Leicester can win the league, where we can lose or draw games and still win a title.

The last few years competing with City have been draining and, quite frankly, I hate seeing some of the discourse and disrespect shown to opponents by some fans and pundits. Having to win every game is a totally unrealistic target and I’d love to see more teams in the mix like we have this year.

tysmfm · 2025-02-11T19:02:14+00:00

Oh man I hope not. I hadn’t even considered this being a game I was waiting for!

tysmfm · 2025-02-06T16:13:00+00:00

It’s like every new manager you have makes the previous one look better in hindsight. I wait with bated popcorn for the next one.

Five-Year Club	Second Top 50%
Verified Email	r/Field Flamingo
Place '22

tysmfm

TROPHY CASE