Immediate pathway · speaking to a broker or lender
You are about to speak to a broker or lender. What should you sort out first?
A short conversation goes further when your credit file is checked, your paperwork is ready and you understand how brokers are paid. Use this route to prepare before you pick up the phone.
This pathway explains how to prepare for a broker or lender conversation in England. It is education, not a credit assessment or regulated mortgage advice.
Your route
Three lessons, in a sensible order.
Open each lesson for the explanation and questions. Every link is part of the full 48-step journey.
- 1
Before you speak to anyone
Check Your Credit Reports
Find and fix credit-file problems before a lender sees them, so nothing surprises you mid-conversation.
- 2
Before you choose who to speak to
Broker or Direct? Comparing Lenders
Understand how brokers are paid and what a whole-of-market broker can access that going direct cannot.
- 3
As the outcome of this conversation
Get an Agreement in Principle
Know what an Agreement in Principle actually confirms, and what it does not, before you rely on it.
Practise the decision
A slightly cheaper headline rate is not the whole story.
Try this before you decide between a broker and going direct.
Practise the decision
A comparison site listed a slightly cheaper direct-to-lender deal. Should you skip the broker?
You found a mortgage rate marginally lower on a direct-to-lender website than the one your whole-of-market broker has proposed.
Questions to carry with you
Keep the conversation useful.
Take these to the broker or lender when you speak to them.
- How are you paid — by me, by the lender, or both — and does that change what you recommend?
- How many lenders can you access, and are any excluded?
- What will show up on a credit check, and will multiple enquiries in a short period affect my file?
- What does an Agreement in Principle actually guarantee, and what could still change it?
Once you have an Agreement in Principle
Learn what happens when you find a property.
An AIP is provisional. Understand how to turn it into a full application once you have somewhere to buy.
Open the full application lesson