What is a mortgage? Well, when you buy your home you’ll probably need to take out a loan to pay for it. A mortgage is a loan to enable you to purchase a property. The key difference from other loans is that this one is secured against your property, and is usually offered at a lower interest rate than other loans. This means if you are unable to keep up the repayments, your mortgage provider can sell your home to recover to money you owe.

Your mortgage must be affordable

The amount the lender will give you will be based on what you can afford, so they will need information about your income and outgoings. This will include essential outgoings such as food, electricity and council tax as well as living costs such as car insurance, childcare, clothing and household costs. Other commitments include credit card bills, holidays and hire purchase payments. They will also work out how a rise in interest rates might affect your monthly mortgage payments.

Getting the right advice, will mean that you not only end up with a suitable mortgage, but also help you in finding that perfect property for you. No two mortgage services will be the same. The details you will be asked for are likely to vary from lender to lender and may be different from mortgage experiences you have had previously.

Getting advice

You can get advice about mortgages directly from an advisor at a mortgage lender (like a building society or bank), or from a mortgage broker or financial advisor. Keep in mind that a lender’s advisor is only permitted to advise you about that lenders’ particular products. They will discuss your personal circumstances, including your income and what you spend. Using this information, they will look at what kind of mortgage is suitable for you. An advisor must make clear to you what their charges are and how they are paid.

Getting a mortgage without advice

In some limited circumstances, you can apply for a mortgage without taking advice. This is usually done by post or online. However, you would need to know all the details of the mortgage you wanted, and be able to arrange it yourself without speaking to an advisor.

If you choose to do this, your lender or advisor must tell you about the legal protection you will lose by not getting advice. This includes the right to complain about how suitable the mortgage is for you.