Taking on a mortgage is a serious matter and choosing the wrong one can mean you pay thousands of pounds more in interest and charges over the years. Below you’ll find information on the top three mistakes that people often make with regards to their mortgage and hopefully after reading them you’ll know how to avoid them.

1. Using your current bank or building society as your mortgage lender
Many people think that their current bank or building society will offer them the best deal with regards to their mortgage simply because they are already a good customer. Unfortunately this is rarely true and going to your own bank/building society will only have the effect of seriously limiting your options. Very few, if any, banks and building societies offer independent advice on mortgage products and so the options they offer you will be exclusively from their own range.

It may be that their range is the best option however you won’t know this unless you compare it to the mortgage deals being offered by others. One way to ensure impartiality is to use the services of an independent mortgage advisor. This will incur a charge though and so you might want to research the market yourself instead. The BUYability comparison engine allows you to compare the options available from a variety of lenders so you can see what’s on offer and what would be best for you.

2. Using the mortgage advisor recommended by the estate agent
Most large and well established estate agents retain the services of an in-house mortgage advisor and while these people tend to be independent they can still be in league, to an extent, with the estate agent they work closely with. The last thing you want as a buyer is for your mortgage advisor to ‘accidentally’ inform the estate agent of your financial situation – especially if the mortgage you’re asking for is a lot less than the potential mortgage you can have.

A few unsavoury estate agents may be tempted to push your offer up by a few extra thousand if they know you can afford it, simply because they work on commission. Obviously this doesn’t happen often but if it did you could end up paying well over the odds for the house of your dreams. Combat this potential mistake by choosing a mortgage advisor that has no connection to the estate agent or the in-house advisor.

3. Paying your current lender’s Standard Variable Rate
Most mortgage products these days are offered with a special low interest rate for the first two or three years and these are the ones you want to look for. When the special offer period expires though your interest rate will revert back to the lender’s SVR and this is often much higher than the rate you were paying. Thousands of people continue to pay the SVR though because they either can’t be bothered to find another special offer or because they don’t realise they can change lenders whenever they want.

When you know that your special offer interest rate is coming to an end you should start to look round for another offer. Again this can be done with the BUYability comparison engine or you can consult an independent mortgage advisor. Either way you should never pay the SVR for more than a few months while you sort out a new lender and by doing so you can save yourself a lot of money over the next few years.