In This Guide
Apply for a mortgage
1. How much can I borrow?
2. How much can I afford?
3. Mortgage application
4. Mortgages online
5. Agreement in principle
6. Confirmation of offer
Buying at auction
Buying in Scotland
Conveyancing
Find and view
Negotiate
Plan your purchase
Success and failure
Surveys and valuations
To buy or not to buy
Apply for a mortgage
Mortgages online
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These days, virtually everyone has an e-commerce strategy. Or an i-commerce strategy. Or an m-commerce strategy. The buzzwords and jargon of the online world have infiltrated our lives as everyday businesses change the way they think and operate. We take it so much for granted that it's sometimes easy to forget that it's still a relatively new phenomenon.
The Internet is great for many things - keeping in touch, finding out about weird and wonderful things, communicating. Shopping around is also one of them. Take mortgages, for instance. Information sites give up to the minute news on the latest mortgage deals and offers; dozens of websites can be accessed in a short space of time, providing detailed information on the products of a wide range of providers; interactive guides and calculators empower us to decide our own needs and online commerce means we can fulfil those needs without stepping outside our own homes. The world is changing and businesses have to keep up. Mortgage lenders must shake themselves from the complacency borne of decades of easy profits, or they will find that they are not part of this new landscape. So just how are they shaping up?
Considering the money they have at their disposal, lender websites
are often (but not always) a little disappointing. There still
aren't that many sites with online applications. Too many sites
still resemble little more than online replications of their sales
literature, forcing you to make a phone call or arrange a meeting
to set up the mortgage deal. But the number of commerce-enabled
sites is growing fast, as the main pack finally starts to catch
up with the early pioneers.
Some operators are harnessing the efficiency of online systems and changing their business processes. Shedding layers of inefficiency they are devising new ways of driving down costs and we as the consumer can only benefit from this. Some lenders (who shall remain nameless unless they pay us lots of money to promote them) offer an online agreement in principle, application tracking and a very swift turnaround on the full offer.
The main trouble with lenders sites is that they don't always offer the clearest view. One set of products; information is written to help stimulate you to buy; no comparison with the competition. This closed-wall approach is not what the web-savvy consumer really wants.
Many people predict that the IFA will be the main victim of the
online mortgage revolution. Cut out the middleman they say, disintermediate
the intermediaries. Not if they're clever. Those that can adapt
their businesses can make a success of the new environment. As
a new wave of sophistication flows across the customer, new opportunity
washes up for the broker. If people want power, they can have
it. Don't want a broker? Don't have one. You can go start to finish
on your own and never speak to a soul. The costs are in setting
up systems that work and which people can use. Once that's done,
the money should just keep rolling in. They still get their commission
after all…
Many brokers, advisers and IFAs have not really made the most of the new technology. To them the Internet is just a way to say hello and get your details. Closing a deal is easier face-to-face and it's not in their interest to give too much information on their site. There will always be a place for the personal touch and the best professionals can probably live without the Internet. But the best professionals are probably making the most of it.
Those Intermediaries not yet on the Internet can learn a lot from
the vast array of personal finance websites now in operation.
Dedicated to being a one-stop shop for all your financial needs
they offer impartial information, commentary and analysis, interactivity
and most importantly, personalisation. Enter your details and
what you want then zap, in an instant you have a range of products
from different providers that are closest to the needs you have
described. No more salesmen pushing one deal over another because
it offers them the best commission. You still need to read the
small print and have your wits about you but the power is now
there for the taking.
Find as many mortgage sites as you could ever possibly need in SiteFinder.
Once you have found some mortgage products that you think may be suitable, why not use our mortgage calculators to work out your repayments, compare two mortgages and see your equity to debt ratio over time. Please click here to visit our calculators section.
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