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A mortgage broker works out which lenders will lend you what you need, on what terms, and then runs the application for you from the first fact find to the day you complete. The visible part is the recommendation. The larger part is the criteria matching, the document packaging and the chasing that happens between application and offer.
I am a whole-of-market broker, which means I can place a case with any lender that accepts applications through intermediaries rather than a panel of a few. I am paid a procuration fee by the lender when the mortgage completes, plus a flat £350 from the client, payable only once the offer is issued.
What is the difference between a whole-of-market broker and a tied one?
A tied or restricted broker can only recommend from a fixed list of lenders, sometimes a single one. A bank’s in-branch adviser is tied to that bank. A whole-of-market broker searches across the lenders open to brokers, which in practice is most of the residential and buy-to-let market, and recommends from that. The distinction matters most when your case has something unusual about it, because the lender that fits is often not a high street name.
Do I need a broker at all?
Not always. A straightforward employed applicant with a clean credit file and a 15% deposit can apply direct to a bank and may get the same product. A broker earns their fee when the case has a wrinkle: self-employed income, a recent job change, a small deposit, a student loan or a property that some lenders will not touch. Those are the cases where picking the wrong lender costs a declined application and a hard search on your file.
A broker runs the case from fact find to completion, most of the work is criteria matching, packaging and chasing
Whole-of-market means access to every lender that accepts broker applications, tied means a fixed list or a single bank
Brokers are paid a procuration fee by the lender on completion, HTG charges a flat £350 once the offer is issued
What does a mortgage broker do from start to finish?
The fact find comes first. That is a structured conversation about income, outgoings, credit history, deposit, the property and what you want the mortgage to do. It takes about an hour and it is where most of the later problems are found early.
Affordability across lenders. Each lender has its own model and the same applicant can get materially different maximum loans from different lenders. I run the case through the lenders that are likely to fit and see where the numbers land.
Criteria matching. Lenders publish criteria on hundreds of points, from minimum time in a job to how they treat a bonus or a flat above a shop. This step rules lenders out before an application is made, which is what avoids a decline.
Decision in principle. A soft or hard credit check with the chosen lender giving an indication of what they will lend. Estate agents usually want to see one before taking an offer seriously.
Packaging. Payslips, bank statements, ID, proof of deposit, accounts for the self-employed, all collected, checked against the lender’s rules and submitted in the format the underwriter expects. A well-packaged case goes through faster than a correct one submitted piecemeal.
Application and chasing. Once submitted, the case sits with an underwriter and a valuer. I chase both, answer their queries and supply anything extra they ask for. Most of my offers in 2026 have come through in under two weeks, though timescales vary by lender and case.
Offer. The lender’s formal commitment to lend, with the product terms attached. This is the point at which my £350 fee becomes payable, as set out on my fees page.
Solicitors to completion. I liaise with your conveyancer so the offer, the searches and the exchange line up, and I stay on the case until the money is drawn down.
Protection, where relevant. Life cover, critical illness and income protection are discussed alongside the mortgage because the mortgage is the liability they exist to cover. Nobody is obliged to take any of it.
How is a mortgage broker paid?
Two ways, and a good broker tells you both up front.
The procuration fee. The lender pays the broker a fee when the mortgage completes, typically a fraction of a percent of the loan. On a £250,000 mortgage that is a few hundred pounds to a little under a thousand depending on the lender. The client does not pay this and it does not change the product’s price; the lender pays the same amount whether you apply direct or through a broker.
The client fee. Some brokers charge nothing to the client, some charge a percentage of the loan, and some charge a flat amount. Mine is £350, flat, regardless of loan size, and it is only payable once the mortgage offer is issued. If the case does not reach offer, there is no fee.
What that means in practice is that a broker’s income depends on the case completing, which is a reasonable incentive but also worth understanding. Procuration fees vary slightly between lenders. A whole-of-market broker is required to recommend on suitability, not on which lender pays more, and the recommendation should be explained in writing so you can see the reasoning.
Fees for buy-to-let and limited company cases can differ from residential, and they are set out separately on the fees page.
Things to ask a mortgage broker
Before you appoint one, these are the questions that tell you what you are dealing with.
- Are you whole of market, or do you work from a panel?
- What is your fee, when is it payable, and is there any charge if the case does not reach offer?
- Are you directly authorised by the FCA or an appointed representative, and of whom?
- How many lenders did you consider for my case, and why did you rule the others out?
- What is the early repayment charge on the product you are recommending?
- Will you handle the case through to completion, or hand it to an administrator?
- How do you get paid by the lender on this product?
What I see in practice
Criteria checking is the task that takes the most time and that clients never see. A client applying direct can go to one bank at a time and find out whether it works after the application is in. I can check the criteria of 120 lenders at once and rule most of them out before an application exists, which is where the time goes and where the value is.
Speak to an expert
If you want to know whether your case is one a broker adds value to, send me a line about your income, deposit and the property and I will tell you honestly whether it is.
When is a mortgage broker not the right route?
A product transfer with your existing lender is often simpler to do direct, and it is always the first thing I check on a remortgage anyway. If the loan is not changing and the current lender’s retention product is competitive, there may be nothing for a broker to add beyond confirming that.
Some lenders do not accept broker applications at all. A handful of banks and building societies are direct only, and a whole-of-market broker cannot place a case with them. If you have a strong reason to use one of those, apply direct.
A broker also cannot make a case fit. If affordability fails at every lender, or the credit history is inside a lender’s exclusion window, the answer is to wait, save or repair, and a decent broker tells you that at the fact find rather than after a decline.
What a broker does add is the criteria work and the chasing, and the value of that rises with the complexity of the case. Whether that is worth £350 to you depends on how straightforward your situation is and how much of the process you want to run yourself.
I am based in Winchester and work with clients across Hampshire and the rest of the UK by phone and video. My background and authorisation details are on the about page, and HTG Mortgages Limited’s FCA reference is 1017945 if you want to check the register.
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