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How to get the best mortgage deal Mortgage advice - 4 steps to get the best

Coins in front of a red house

Work out a monthly budget and make sure you stick to it

Choosing a mortgage is one of the most important financial decisions you'll ever make, with the wrong decision potentially costing you thousands of pounds.

A good mortgage adviser will guide you through the thousands of mortgages available, and recommend the best deal for you based on a thorough exploration of your needs. The Which? Group offers an independent mortgage advice service that looks at every mortgage from every available lender. You can also find an adviser at Unbiased.co.uk.

Check your adviser is authorised to give mortgage advice by consulting the FSA register.

Follow our four steps to getting the most out of your mortgage adviser:

1Do your homework

Work out your monthly budget. You can do this by setting out your monthly take-home pay and then deducting all your expenditure, including regular credit commitments, bills, food and entertainment.

You can do this using our special mortgage calculator for working out how much you can afford to spend on a mortgage.

You also need to work out how this might change once you've got the mortgage.

It also makes sense to check out the deals that are available yourself using our mortgage comparison tool before going to see an adviser. Some of the best deals are now only available directly from the lender and not through mortgage advisers or brokers.

2Keep track of the consultation

Make sure the adviser is doing everything they should. This should include the following:

  • Explaining which level of service they are offering and giving you an initial disclosure document (IDD) saying this.
  • Asking about your income, debt, expenditure and any likely future changes to these.
  • Explaining the deals and repayment methods available and advising which is most suitable.
  • Discussing the most suitable term and comparing overall repayment costs.
  • Clearly explaining their recommendation and giving you a key facts illustration (KFI), which sets out details of the mortgage.

3Make sure you understand what's recommended

Advisers should be able to give you good, clear reasons why they're recommending a particular mortgage deal. If your adviser doesn't do this, or you think the recommendation is not appropriate, tell them and get them to explain it again or in further detail.

4If you've been badly advised, complain

If you think you've been badly advised and you think you've got a valid complaint, you should make a formal complaint. First go to the firm that advised you to see if it can offer a solution to the problem.

If it is unable to resolve your complaint satisfactorily within eight weeks, take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (0845 080 1800).