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"Since they first locked into a rate, they've now saved £6,000 over the five-year term since rates started reducing"

ended 23. August 2024

With rate cuts by lenders large and small coming most days at present, brokers have warned consumers to be on high alert so as not to miss out on any rate reductions between the point of offer and completion.

Hannah Bashford, Director at Model Financial Solutions, said: It’s now more important than ever to look at the whole of the market and make sure, if you’re purchasing or remortgaging, that you are tracking rates. I have made four changes to one client's mortgage application in the past six weeks alone and if you go direct a lender is simply not going to tell you of these changes or encourage you to adjust your rate."

Rohit Kohli, Director at The Mortgage Stop, agreed, adding: “Just this week we've saved a single client, for whom we secured a 5-year fixed rate about six weeks ago, £3,300. Since they first locked into a rate, they've now saved £6,000 over the five-year term as rates started reducing, via four changes this month alone. That's a sizeable amount of money. This is because we proactively monitor the applications we've submitted against lender product changes. A decent mortgage broker doesn't stop working when the offer is received but right through to completion, ensuring their client benefits from any reductions from a lender. When rates are regularly being cut, the broker is the borrower's eyes and ears.”

The views of six brokers are below.

6 responses from the Newspage community

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Ben Perks
Managing Director at Orchard Financial Advisers
The mortgage market is a complex and ever-changing beast at the moment and brokers are as important as they have ever been. Invest in good advice, get a broker who understands your circumstances and can recommend a variety of lenders and products options. Most importantly, get a firm that will monitor your mortgage through to completion and take advantage of any rate changes.
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Rohit Kohli
Director at The Mortgage Stop
Just this week we've saved a single client, for whom we secured a 5-year fixed rate about six weeks ago, £3,300. Since they first locked into a rate, they've now saved £6,000 over the five-year term as rates started reducing, via four changes this month alone. That's a sizeable amount of money. This is because we proactively monitor the applications we've submitted against lender product changes. A decent mortgage broker doesn't stop working when the offer is received but right through to completion, ensuring their client benefits from any reductions from a lender. When rates are regularly being cut, the broker is the borrower's eyes and ears.
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Aaron Strutt
Product and Communications Director at Trinity Financial
Mortgage brokers are doing the job of securing their clients the best deals multiple times at the moment. While the rate cuts are great news for borrowers and the market in general, the changes take a lot of work to monitor and implement. This is why some lenders are changing their product transfer qualification dates. If you are applying for a mortgage directly it is important to keep checking your lender's website and to make sure you switch to any better deals they bring out. It seems unlikely borrowers will get a call from the lender to say better deals are available. If you are using a broker, it is also a good idea to call them before completion to check there isn't a better option with your chosen lender.
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Michelle Lawson
Director at Lawson Financial
Any borrower not using a broker in the current climate is giving money away. Most brokers will charge a fee, however the savings made by changing products when the rates drop will usually cover this. Lenders will not tell you if the rates come down when you deal direct. We take all the headaches and updates away. We have saved customers tens of thousands with rate changes: a good broker is priceless right now.
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Emma Jones
Managing Director at Whenthebanksaysno.co.uk
Brokers add value for most buyers in any market but in a market when rates are regularly falling, they really come into their own. Rates could improve multiple times between offer and completion and a broker will alert you to that fact, potentially saving you hundreds or even thousands of pounds. Lenders exist to make money and they are not going to alert you if a better rate has become available.
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Andrew Montlake
Managing Director at Coreco
In a falling rate environment, the eagle-eyed broker really could save a borrower hundreds, if not thousands of pounds over the term of their mortgage simply by scouring the market every day to see if better rates have become available. For example, a 5-year fixed rate reducing by 0.2% on a £300,000 mortgage would save a borrower £1,976 over the five-year fixed rate period. A lender will not keep telling a borrower when their rates reduce, whereas a broker will keep their eyes open right up to the last possible moment to ensure that the very best product is attained.