Website: http://www.marketplace.co.uk/
This is an independent search site, designed to get you a selection of the best deals. The Bradford and Bingley mortgage site is fine for identifying best buys, but complicated to use or to generate comparisons, and not much good if you're after anything out of the ordinary. Claims to offer some unique deals.
As well as originally being a building society, Bradford and Bingley have reinvented themselves here as independent financial advisers. This site therefore recommends and sells mortgages from over 40 different providers. You won't pay for the service- a commission will be taken from the provider of the product you eventually purchase from. As well as high-street mortgage lenders, the Bradford and Bingley mortgage service also offers access to adviser-only mortgages you otherwise wouldn't find by searching the web. They also claim to have negotiated deals which are better than you would get by going direct.
Making a real comparison is hard here. For starters, many types of mortgage are conspicuously absent (you won't know if a mortgage has flexible options, for example, until you've clicked through to find it). The four basic categories are first time buyers, buy-to-let, home purchase and remortgages. The best buy tables are cute but worthless unless you can compare like on like- which you can't. Access to the rest of the Bradford and Bingley mortgage service is by using wizards- excellent as far as they go, but not good if you don't know what sort of mortgage you want; nor if you're concerned about fees and penalties (which you should be).
There's also nothing here for bad credit cases, property abroad, 100% mortgages; indeed anything but the most average of clients. Use this site for a flavour of the market; but there are easier ways to buy.
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