Honest Pricing

Passion – We genuinely care about finding the most suitable mortgage for your circumstances.

Price – We keep our fees low, without compromising on service – offering fee-free advice and Agreements in Principle (AIPs), cashback to first time buyers, discounts to existing customers and no fees for protection or insurance advice.

Integrity – We’re up front about what we charge and what commission we receive. Plus, we will always tell you the cheapest deal available, even if it’s from a brand that doesn’t deal with brokers, like First Direct, Lloyds or Yorkshire Building Society.

Advice – We work with Ethical Consumer to advise on the ethics of different lenders, and green mortgages – read our guide.

Generosity – We donate at least £50 of every application fee received to charity.

Structure – We organise ourselves in a way that doesn’t revolve around chasing profits or excessive salaries.

Switch – whether a change to a new product with your current lender, or a like-for-like remortgage (same borrowing, same term, but switching lender).

Standard – most applications are standard (over 80%), and you can assume this is what you will pay unless we tell you otherwise.

Specialist – Some applications require more work, so we need to charge a higher fee. This includes shared ownership, first homes, right to buy and other special schemes; complex residential applications (e.g. JBSP, complex income and/or credit) and complex buy-to-let (HMOs, Student lets, MUFBs, let to family member, First time buyer & first time landlord, Company BTL).

Insurance – We will not charge a fee on any insurance or protection we arrange for you.

As an incentive, and in recognition of the challenges of buying your first home, we offer cashback to first time buyers. This is payable once we receive our commission from a lender. Normally, this is 1-2 months after completion.

These are where you ask us to make a change to your application after it has been submitted (such as applying for a different mortgage product, changing the loan amount requested, or even the property you are buying).

If this can be done within the same application:

If this requires a new application, then a new fee will be charged – but at the ‘Existing Customer’ rate.

Why do we charge existing customers less?

We want to thank you for your loyalty! Since we already know you, any future applications are a little quicker, so we pass this saving onto you.

How do we make money?

We get some of our income from the application fees above. 

We also receive commission from your lender if you take out a mortgage, and your insurance provider if you take out insurance with us – exactly how much will be on the illustration you receive from your product. We do not consider how much commission we will receive when making a recommendation.

Usually, where we pass your details on to another firm (such as a conveyancer or surveyor), they will give us a referral bonus – typically 10% or less of what they charge you.

Here’s an example of how our fees & income work:

Here’s an example for a first-time buyer couple in full-time roles looking for a £270,000 mortgage:

Initial consultation, recommendation & obtaining an agreement in principle

£0

All initial meetings and advice are free, including researching your options, providing recommendations, getting an AIP, and supporting you with advice on properties and the buying process.

Application

£245

Once you’ve had an offer accepted on your property, it’s time to send us your documents, agree together which mortgage to apply for.

We will charge £245 to review everything, make the mortgage application and follow it through to completion. We give £50 to charity at this point.

Completion and cashback

On completion, we will be paid around £750 commission (0.25% – 0.35% of the mortgage balance, usually). We give £250 back to the first-time buyer.

In total the first-time buyer will be £5 to the good, we will have an income of £695 and £50 will have been given to charity – it’s a simple and ethical way of doing business.

Here are some important things to note:

Having submitted the application, we give £50 to CAP UK, inHope or Client Earth, or Twin your Toilet for £60 – you choose.

Application fees are not refundable.

Full terms and conditions are available in our Client Agreement.