Mortgage Broker Chippenham

Many years ago I was a soldier and like many young soldiers I had lots of disposable income. It was quite easy to get credit and I soon found myself in a situation with some bad debts, because I wasn’t managing my money properly. 

After a few years I left the army and those debts followed me, causing me a few issues. I moved into the motor trade, doing car sales, and looking at the finance options within that showed me how important the credit score is. 

I spent the next six years sorting out all my debts and getting myself into a really good position. I carried on in the motor trade and specialised in finance. I got married and had a young family. 

My son is autistic so I needed more freedom and space within my working life to support him and enjoy life with him. The motor trade wasn’t necessarily the most conducive place to do that – so I retrained to be a mortgage advisor, and here I am now.

When I qualified I started looking around. I originally had the idea of going to a network and then potentially becoming directly authorised myself as an advisor via the Financial Conduct Authority. 

But looking at what a network could offer, it didn’t fit my plan. After speaking to Mike and Kal and looking at the way Grand Union works as a directly authorised firm, I realised it would give me scope to be able to offer not just mortgages but other types of funding like business finance and commercial mortgages. 

That worked with what I was hoping to do, to bring some of my expertise from the motor trade alongside offering mortgages and protection.

As a mortgage advisor and also with motor finance, it’s all about bringing someone’s dreams to life. People were dreaming of having a beautiful car or they needed a car to do their job – I always tried my best to help them achieve that, whether it was a dream or a necessity. 

It’s the same with mortgages and buying a home, or investing in a Buy to Let to start your own business. It gives me that same satisfaction. That ability to help people with their lives and prosper is so rewarding. 

Mortgage Brokers will be whole-of-market or they may have a restricted panel. They give you the ability to look at a very big proportion of the market rather than restricting yourself to one lender’s criteria and products. 

That gives you the ability to make an informed decision based on what you need. A broker will look at a number of different things, tailoring the solutions to your circumstances based on lending criteria, affordability and your own preferences. 

We do all the hard work and research, to reduce the amount of time it takes to make a decision. You could invest an awful lot of time going to high street lenders or looking online – but you don’t know the criteria. You don’t necessarily know what that lender is looking for.  A broker really could be the difference between having a successful application and being rejected.

We have close working relationships with estate agents, solicitors and other property professionals because at the end of the day they’re the people who are going to get you into your property. 

Prior to even getting to that stage we will get a Mortgage in Principle, to get you ready to view properties and be confident to put an offer in. We also look at remortgaging when your deal is coming to an end. 

Buy to Let is another big area of the market that we can help with. If you’re wanting to go and buy a property to rent, we’ll look at that and make sure that it covers off everything required. 

Most importantly, we also offer mortgage protection, which is sometimes overlooked. The properties you’re buying are the most expensive part of your life. We make sure we protect you as best we can for this very big purchase that you’re making.

A mortgage broker should be involved as early as you like. Ideally, I would want to have a chat with you when you’re starting to think about going for a mortgage.

I’d like to understand how you’re looking to budget and help get you into a position where you can apply for a mortgage, with your deposit ready.  We’ll make sure your credit history is all in place, so at the stage of wanting to look at some properties, I know about you, you know about me and we work together to find properties that you’re going to be able to afford. 

Realistically, I’d say three to six months prior to you making that decision to move home, or buy your first home, or remortgage, we need to be putting the foundations in place. 

No – we will have a very generic discussion about your circumstances initially. If we then move further into the process, depending on the complexity there may or may not be fees. That’s the same for many mortgage advisors. 

We are objective in what we can offer and make sure we offer what is right for you. It’s very important that we do that compliantly and properly. So there are fees, but for the initial consultation, definitely not.

I want people to be able to enjoy the opportunity to own their own home. The process may seem daunting, but people like myself are here to help you, to walk you through that process and help you on that journey. Just pick up the phone, send an email if you feel more comfortable, use Whatsapp… or whatever form you like in this modern world. 

It’s about having conversations to get the right information and make informed decisions about your plans – that’s the benefit of talking to a mortgage and protection broker. It’s a really important part of the process when it comes to looking at properties.

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up with your mortgage repayments.

The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate most Buy to Let Mortgages.