Having apposite knowledge about insurance, mortgages and loans before you take a finishing step is imperative and that helps in many ways. This is what most of the citizens in UK thought and raised their voice to legalize a act and the result is Mortgage code that came in to existence by Council of Mortgage lenders in the year July 1997 and Mortgage intermediaries on 30 April 1998. It is an obliging code that consists of complete information regarding mortgages, loans, services in the market. The code is followed by the mortgage lenders and intermediaries who deal with customers of United Kingdom. The code set standards and regulations that are followed by everyone and encourages the co-operation among the lenders, borrowers, intermediaries.
With the help of Mortgage Code, cent percent justice is done to the mortgage customers. However, there are few commitments that must be kept in mind by the lenders and intermediaries before dealing with the customers. They are
1. Act fairly and reasonably in all dealings with you( Customer)
2. Ensure that all services and products comply with this code, even if they have their own terms and conditions.
3. Give you information on services and products in plain language, and offer help if there is any aspect which you do not understand.
4. Unless you have already decided on your mortgage, help you to choose a mortgage to fit your needs.
5. Help you to understand the financial implications of a mortgage.
6. Help you to understand how your mortgage account works.
7. Ensure that the procedures staff follows reflect the commitments set out in this code.
8. Correct errors and handle complaints speedily.
9. Consider cases of financial difficulty and mortgage arrears sympathetically and positively.
10. Ensure that all services and products comply with relevant laws and regulations.
Apart from these commitments, the code brings you the information in choosing the appropriate mortgage by offering three kinds of services. They are
1. Advice and Recommendation: According to your requirements and needs, a best mortgage would be chosen for you. Depending up on the relevant information and market conditions a proper advice while selecting the mortgage is provided.
2. Information on the different types of mortgages availability is provided in this section so that you can select the best one.
3. Information on a single mortgage product only in case we offer only one mortgage or you already made up mind in choosing the mortgage.
Also the below information must be provided.
1. The information regarding the costs and fees associated with the mortgage like legal fees, arrangement fees, valuation fees.
2. Explaining the information about the monetary implications in case the user wishes to repay the mortgage before hand.
3. If at all the user wants to take any insurance with the mortgage, the information like whether the service is provided by the intermediary or lender must be given.
4. Information regarding repayment period and repayment method.
5. Information about Tax relief in Mortgage interest.
6. Information regarding discounted interest rates, fixed interest rates and variable interested rates.
7. In case if you are shifting the house, then the situation about the selected mortgage whether to continue or discontinue.
8. Information about paying high percentage lending fee.
In case if you are using Mortgage intermediaries then information about intermediaries must be provided. It is classified in to two sections namely
Appointed agent status: if the intermediary is the appointed agent of a lender for mortgage business then intermediary acts on behalf of the lender. All the actions and advice of the intermediary is directly controlled by the lender.
Access to the market: The intermediary will generally arrange the mortgages from a selected list of lenders or market as a whole. If this is the case, then proper information will be provided to the customer.
The above information will help you in choosing the Mortgage Loan Brokers services and provides awareness about the security. If at all, the information provided is not up to the mark, then you can directly interact with the lender or the intermediary and file a complaint. After that also if you are not satisfied you have every right to ask the lender or intermediary to direct you in taking the complaint to higher officials of Mortgage Code Arbitration Scheme.
