Finding the best mortgage rate available to you is largely dependent on mortgage brokers and their willingness to shop around for you. You can go to a bank directly but this can be a lengthy and frustrating procedure. Going to mortgage brokers directly is often much faster. The downside is that some unscrupulous mortgage brokers charge exorbitant fees and present prices that are much higher than they should be or have to be. There are several things to look out for when looking at different mortgage brokers, choose carefully and you can find a good broker who will help you get the best deal.

Things to Ask For

Ask your broker for their fees ahead of meeting them. If your broker is willing to provide their fees upfront and in writing when you ask without any delay then you probably have an ethical broker. If your broker is reluctant to disclose their fees and refuses to put down their fees in writing than you should avoid this type of broker. When you pay mortgage brokers you are paying for two things, the wholesale loan price and the brokers fees.

If your broker is willing to tell you the wholesale loan price and their separate fee then you have a good idea of how the broker operates. If however the broker only offers you one price and does not disclose the wholesale loan price or their fee than you have likely been subjected to a large mark up in price. Any broker who does not break down the numbers for you is trying to make a big a profit as possible. They will not reveal their fees until after you have submitted an application, when it’s too late to do anything about it.

A good broker will lock the terms of the of the loan as soon as you ask him or her to do so. The broker will then give you a written confirmation that loan has been locked from the lender. There are some brokers who will tell you that the terms of your loan have been locked when in reality it hasn’t. This allows the broker to markup fees even more but puts you at the risk of losing your loan if rates escalate between the time your loan was supposedly locked and it is locked. Making sure that you have a good broker is important so that you can get the best mortgage rates. A good broker will always look out for the best rates for you, so keep these things in mind when looking for mortgage brokers.

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