First time buyer looking at a mortgage for a property. We have already been given a ‘decision in principle’ by London & Country, but has anyone had experience with them?

Did you find them efficient?
Did they offer the best mortgage advice?
Was it worth saving the fees over a broker?

Any other thoughts/advice would be much appreciated…

Cheers folks!

I used them a few months back and was very happy. Decent service, better rate than I could get without spending weeks and weeks searching, excellent comms and no fee. What’s not to like?

go to a broker and see if you can get a better deal. In my opinion the only things to really consider with a mortgauge are the rates (inc fixed or variable), length of the deal and any fees. These guys may charge less fees up front, but it only takes a tiny %age on a mortgauge rate to offset this completely.

Moneysavingexpert have an excellent mortgauge guide. Give it a thorough read.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/mortgage-guide

Used them several times – excellent.

Excellent chaps, very useful advice. Cheers.

MSE seem to recommend them, although I had read a few mixed reports. I am taking these with a pinch of salt. 😉

Definitely rate them. We went searching all over last year for a first time buyer mortgage and then was eventually told to give them a call. They managed to find us a deal 0.75% cheaper than we could find anywhere else and it was all free. give em pop

London and Country are mortgage brokers anyhow.
I used them for my first mortgage and also my re mortgage. I was very happy.
Then I came to the end of my fixed rate period and they pressed me very hard to go for another fixed rate. This was at the time interest rates plunged. I hung on a bit and my current lender dropped me onto their standard variable rate which is 1. somthing percent at the moment and has been for a few years now. I’d have spent an extra £400 a month if i’d taken L&C’s advice.

L & C would have got paid if you had taken a new deal. That was obviously their priority.

Good job you did what was best for you, innit?

Brother in law used them a few times and they were fine, until the market started to dry up at which point they resorted to what he described as high pressure tactics.

This probably had something to do with them processing less deals each month & so finding that, as they weren’t charging a fee, they had less & less revenue coming in each month.

Long & short of it is that if you are happy dealing with a firm over the phone they may be fine but i prefer to deal face to face & so i find do my clients.

Oh & yes i am an Independent Mortgage Advisor before anyone points it out 🙄

Hmm, very useful feedback, cheers. My main concerns are competence and efficiency. I’d like to think I wouldn’t have a problem turning around and saying no if I felt pressured.

I might investigate a local broker, but they seem to tick the boxes so far.

I wasted a week with L&C. I had to keep telling them the options to explore to find the right mortgage. I needed to keep phoning and emailing and eventually they found a mortgage for me. When I asked them to apply for it the next day they told me the bank had removed the product and it was no longer available.
Of course I asked them to find me something else instead but they just gave up!
Went to another adviser I had used some years ago and found me a suitable mortgage within a couple of days.

Total waste of time and effort and nearly lost my home purchase over this company. Better to go to a normal broker and pay £400 to some who cares abt you and get the job done properly.