Introduction

Finding the best mortgage rates can be a laborious task due to the fact that there are so many mortgage products available through a wide range of financial services companies. The temptation is to opt for popular high street lender mortgages rates simply because we assume that they will be just as competitive as any one else, but this could mean paying higher repayments in the short term as well as making your mortgage more costly overall. We have produced a guide to help you find the best mortgage rates to suit your individual needs.

1. Applying Direct Through a Lender

The most obvious way to find the best mortgage rates is via a specific mortgage lender’s website. Usually they will list the products they offer and provide a detailed overview of the unique product features along with the mortgage rates that they offer. Whilst this method is useful if you have a specific mortgage lender in mind, because you can cut out the middle man and go directly to the lender, it is rarely an effective way to find the best mortgage rates on offer and you could therefore be missing out on a better mortgage deal and save yourself thousands, just by conducting a little research. However going directly to a mortgage lender will mean that you get the correct and most up to date information and there will be no additional commission fees to be paid to agents.

2. Using A Search Engine

Search engines, like Google or Yahoo are a powerful tool to help you find the best mortgage rates. Firstly they often list the most up to date information because it is in the best interest of the search engine to provider online users with the latest most relevant search results or face visitors going to a rival competitor. Secondly they are useful to track down reviews of the latest mortgage products written by customers, companies and financial experts alike. Usually if new mortgage rates are released or a new mortgage product is made available, a review of these mortgage deals will be posted by others within hours along with their personal experiences or professional opinion of the product. These reviews are often independent and reading through them can help you identify the best mortgage rates available and enable you to choose the right mortgage product.

3. Mortgage Rates Comparison Sites

Online comparison sites like, www.moneysupermarket.com, www.fool.co.uk, www.moneynet.co.uk or www.themortgagebroker.org.uk are often popular choices for finding the best mortgage rates. These sites have a dedicated team of staff who will frequently research and update the best mortgage rates as they are released by mortgage lenders. Online comparison sites allow you to search for specific criteria like Buy to let mortgages, fixed rate mortgages or variable rate mortgages along with the mortgage term for example 20 years, 25 years or 30 years. They will then search their database of mortgage products and return relevant search results within a few seconds. You can then view these results side by side on one page in order to help you make a comparison and find the best mortgage rates to suit you individual needs.

The process of using an online comparison site can be very quick and effective and within 5 - 10 minutes you could be viewing a screen of information offering the best mortgages rates. However it should be remembered that few online comparison sites are independent, meaning that most are likely to have agreements with specific mortgage lenders and are therefore unable to compare the whole market. So you might be told that the search results listed are the best mortgage rates , but what they actually mean is that they are the best mortgage rates from the specific mortgage lenders that they are affiliated to. Our advice is to consider using 3 or 4 online comparison sites to get a broader picture but do not rely upon them individually to find the best mortgages rates available.

4. Independent Financial Advisors

Independent Financial Advisors hold probably the best source of accurate and up to date information on the best mortgage rates available. Unlike online comparison sites, or specific mortgage lenders themselves, IFA’s exist to find the customer the best mortgage rates by comparing the whole mortgage market. Essentially what an independent financial advisor will do is to conduct a short 30-40 minute interview with you to ascertain your specific needs and then trawl the market place to find the best mortgage rates available and then present the most relevant results back to you, enabling you to make your preferred choice. The drawback of using an Independent Financial Advisor is that there is likely to be a charge for their services usually of somewhere between £200-500 which you will need to pay in addition to any mortgage related costs. However it is likely that you will gain in the long term by paying a lower rate of interest because the Independent Financial Advisor has been able to provide you with the best mortgage rates available at that time, rather than being locked into specific commission agreements with mortgage lenders.

5. Best Buy Tables

Best buy tables are an excellent free resource that can even be better than paying an Independent Financial Advisor to locate the best mortgage rates available. Best buy tables are usually provided by newspaper organisations and updated weekly to reflect new mortgage products as well as changes in mortgage interest rates of existing products. Usually a best buy table will list the mortgage product, mortgage rate, type of mortgage i.e. fixed/variable/tracker/buy to let, arrangement fees, early repayment charges, loan to value ratio, minimum deposit and the name of the mortgage lender offering the specific product. Best buy tables exist as a tool for organisations to encourage you to read their newspaper or visit their website on a regular basis therefore boosting readership numbers, which are the key to getting lucrative advertising deals. It is in the newspaper’s best interest to provide you with the most relevant and up to date information about the best mortgage rates or risk the fact that you may not stay loyal to them. I have personally used best buy tables to secure our last two mortgage deals based upon the best mortgage rates available at that time. Two best buy tables that will help you quickly locate the best mortgage rates can be found at The Guardian, and Mortgage Sorter.

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