Fee-free mortgage advice: Here’s how that actually works
Most mortgage brokers charge you a fee, often several hundred pounds, on top of the commission they receive from the lender. Here at James Leighton Financial Services, we don’t, we provide entirely fee-free mortgage advice. There is no fee when you start, no fee when you complete and no cut-down version that we later ask you to pay to upgrade. Our advice is free from the first conversation to the day you move in.
That is unusual enough that you are entitled to ask why, and how. So rather than simply asking you to take our word for it, here is exactly how we are paid and how we can afford to work this way.
How we get paid
The lender pays us a commission on your mortgage. This is standard practice across the industry, and it’s how most brokers are paid. The difference is that most brokers take that commission and charge you a fee as well. We only take the commission.
Commission rates are broadly similar across the lenders we work with, so there is no financial incentive for us to recommend one lender over another. As an FCA-regulated firm, our advice must always be based on what is most suitable for your circumstances, and we'll always explain exactly how we're paid before you decide to proceed.
You will always be told what we are paid before you decide to go ahead. It’s set out in writing in the documents we give you, and you are welcome to ask us at any point.
Why we can afford to do it this way
The honest answer is scale and design, not generosity.
Housebuilders across the UK introduce thousands of buyers to us every year. That does not make our service cheap to run. We employ more than 70 people and each case costs us real money. What the volume does mean, is that we can spread those costs across far more cases than a traditional brokerage handling a handful a month, so our cost per case is lower than theirs. That is the difference, and it is the whole reason this works.
What we have not done, is try to reduce the cost by taking the people out of the process. There are no bots at James Leighton. There is no phone system that offers you nine options and then offers them again when you didn’t catch which option you needed the first time around. You call, you tell us whether you are before or after application, and you get a real person. That person will put you through to someone who knows you and knows your case. We would rather invest in these people-focused processes than on a branch network you do not need, though you are very welcome to visit our Nottingham office if you would prefer to meet in person.
What we are in it for
The biggest difference between James Leighton and a traditional brokerage is what we are playing for. We accept a lower profit margin on every case because we would rather earn your long-term loyalty and continued custom than earn more from you once.
We hope that if we do a good job on the first mortgage you do with us, you will come back to us when it is time to remortgage,and you may also choose to talk to us about protecting your home and family, or about financial planning later on. Some of those services earn us commission too, and we will always tell you when they do. We are not giving away mortgage advice out of charity, we are betting that if we treat you well now, you will want to talk to us again. But, if you never do, the mortgage advice you did receive was still free.
We’re also hoping you will tell people. Referrals from clients are already our second largest source of new business, which suggests the bet is a reasonable one.
And in case you are wondering whether a free service can last, we have been doing this since 2010 and are a comfortably profitable business. Fee-free is not an offer or a loss-leader that we will quietly withdraw. It is simply how we have chosen to operate.
We only get paid if we actually deliver
There’s one more thing worth knowing, and it is probably the most important. We are not paid anything until your mortgage completes. Not when you first speak to us, not when you apply, not when you receive an offer. Only when it is done.
Two things have to happen before we earn a penny. First, you have to be happy with what we recommend and want to go ahead with it. If you are not, you simply do not proceed, and that’s the end of it. Nothing we have done up to that point costs you anything. Second, we then have to see it all the way through to completion.
If your purchase falls through for any reason, or if you simply change your mind, we are paid nothing at all for the work we have done. That is our risk and we carry it, not you.
This matters more with a new build than almost anywhere else, where there can be many months between reserving your plot and getting the keys, and not every purchase makes it to the end. If yours doesn’t, you have lost nothing.
In these circumstances, had you paid a broker an upfront fee, and most of those fees are non-refundable, you would have paid for a mortgage you never received.
At James Leighton, we don’t get paid for advice that goes nowhere, which means our interests and yours point in the same direction from the first conversation to the day you move in.
Everything we do is included
Our fee-free service covers:
- Mortgage advice
- Researching suitable lenders
- Recommending the most suitable mortgage
- Arranging your application
- Managing your case through to completion
- Ongoing support if anything changes along the way
There are no advice fees at any stage of the process.
Before anything else, we help you find out where you stand
If a housebuilder has introduced you to us, the first thing we will do is a financial qualification. The builder does ask us to do this, because they need to know a reservation is on solid ground. We are not going to pretend otherwise. But it is considerably more useful to you than it is to them, and it costs you nothing.
In that conversation we will help you understand:
- How much you could realistically borrow, and what that means for the homes you are looking at
- What deposit you are likely to need
- Which schemes might be available to you
- The costs people routinely forget, including legal fees, valuation fees, lender arrangement fees, product fees, stamp duty, fixtures and fittings, together with an explanation of which costs are paid to third parties rather than to us
It’s also your chance to ask us anything at all about how buying a new build home works, how long each stage takes and what happens when.
Finding the problems early, while there is still time to deal with them
The most valuable part is what seeking advice can uncover. Credit issues people did not know were on their file. Income that is more complicated than it first appears, such as self-employed accounts with awkward timing, a recent pay rise that hasn’t worked through yet or sickness showing on payslips.
Things like these can easily derail purchases, and they usually come to light far too late, when the reservation is already made and everyone is under pressure. At James Leighton, we find them at the start of the journey. Once something is known about, it can usually be dealt with, whether that means working around it, reducing its effect or simply giving you the time to put it right before it matters. The aim is to get you into the strongest position we can, so that the mortgage you end up with is the best one available to you for the home you actually want.
If you would like more certainty still, we can arrange a Decision in Principle (DIP) with a lender, so you know your new home is a realistic prospect and not just a hope.
All of that is free.
And you still do not have to use us
Here is the part that surprises people. Once all of that is done, you are under no obligation whatsoever to use our services. You can take everything we have told you, thank us and arrange your mortgage with another broker or go direct to a lender. It will not affect your purchase and we won’t make it awkward.
We do it this way on purpose. The qualification stage is our chance to show you what we are actually like to deal with, rather than telling you. If we have been genuinely useful, we hope you will let us look after your mortgage as well. That advice is also completely free. But it is entirely your decision, and it always will be.
The only costs you may still have
Although our advice is completely free, buying a property usually involves some third-party costs, including:
- Lender arrangement or product fees (if applicable)
- Property valuation fees
- Solicitor and conveyancing fees
- Searches
- Stamp duty (where applicable)
- Surveys
We'll explain every expected cost before you commit, so there are no surprises later.
Who our advice is for
When we advise you on a mortgage, our responsibility is to you and you alone. We are regulated to give you advice that is right for your specific circumstances, and that duty does not change because a housebuilder introduced you to us or because you are not paying us a fee.
Our advisers are fully qualified. Their advice is checked by our own in-house compliance team and monitored by Quilter, the national network we are part of who review the quality of the advice our clients receive.
We also comply with the FCA's Consumer Duty requirements, meaning our advice must always deliver good outcomes for our clients, regardless of how we are paid.
Free does not mean basic
The reason we make a point of this is that ‘fee-free’ is sometimes used as a hook. Some firms advertise a free service, then encourage you onto a fuller one that costs you. We do not have tiers at James Leighton. There is one service, it is our best one, and it is the same whether your mortgage is straightforward or complicated.
You will speak to a real, qualified adviser who takes the time to understand your situation. You will have a case manager looking after the paperwork and keeping things moving. If you want to talk about protecting your home and family, a specialist protection adviser will help you with that. Not because it is upselling, but because it is a different specialism and you deserve someone who does it properly.
We are judged on this every day. Tens of thousands of people have used our services over the years, we have over 1,300 Google reviews and the housebuilders who introduce you to us only keep doing so if their buyers are looked after. Our reputation is our whole business. We cannot afford to be anything other than excellent at this.
If something goes wrong
If you are ever unhappy, tell us. We have a dedicated Client Relations team whose job is to listen, understand what has happened and put things right wherever we can. They are led by Craig Pepper, our Head of Client Relations, who is accountable for the team and for making sure our service meets the high standards we set ourselves here at James Leighton.
Most things can be sorted out quickly this way, with a real person. If you would rather make a formal complaint, Craig's team will help you submit it and make sure it reaches the right place. Formal complaints are then investigated independently by Quilter, a separate regulated firm, rather than by us, which you can read more about in our Complaints policy. And if you are still not satisfied, you have the right to take your complaint free of charge to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is independent of both us and Quilter and can make a final decision.
Craig Pepper
Head of Client Relations
“If something is not right, I want to hear about it. Our job is to listen properly and fix it.”
Read more about Craig and the wider James Leighton team.
Talk to us
Call us on 0115 870 9520. A real person will answer, and they will put you through to someone who can actually help rather than taking a message and promising to ring you back. If it is easier, leave your details via our online form and we will call you at a time that suits you.
The first conversation takes around 15 to 25 minutes. There is nothing to prepare, nothing to fill in and nothing to sign. By the end of it you will know what you can realistically afford, what the whole thing will actually cost you and whether there is anything in your circumstances worth dealing with early.
Then decide. No fee, no obligation and absolutely no pressure.