If you are going to buy a home, and it is time that you apply for a mortgage loan, then you have two options in front of you: one is to work with a mortgage broker, and the second option is to go to direct mortgage lenders.

Advantages of Direct Mortgage Lenders
These direct mortgage lenders, banks or financial institutions lends you their own money in the form of loans. These lenders or institutions are directly benefited by the monthly mortgage installments you deposit with them, along with the interest. Some other investor usually buys your mortgage by paying an upfront fee, to your lender; these investors are interested in the interest that you pay along with your monthly installments.
Some of the advantages of getting your home loan financed from direct lenders are as follows:
- The charges are comparatively less
- Loan officer works very closely with the underwriter, than a mortgage broker would do
- The representative would be more aware of ins and outs of the mortgage plan, as he/she would be working for a single institution, unlike a mortgage broker
- Direct lenders can make great concessions for you. In other words, opportunity to negotiate is open.
Disadvantages of working with direct lenders:
There are definitely some disadvantages of working with a direct mortgage lenders, than with a mortgage broker. The first disadvantage is that these lenders have usually only a single set of home loan scheme. Each institution has its own set of conditions and criteria to be fulfilled. If the applicant disqualifies, he or she would be required to approach a totally different lending institution, and start the application process again. This would result in loss of so much precious time.
Mortgage Brokers
Mortgage brokers are those companies which help you to get a loan, but they do not give away their own money as loans, rather they are like a middleman with access to a number of mortgage schemes that are offered by different financial institutions.
It might be interesting to know that most of the loans that originate these days are through mortgage brokers. Let us know why.
Advantages of using mortgage brokers:
- Mortgage brokers are proficient in their work. They go around for their customers to get them no less than best home loan, with the best possible conditions.
- They have contacts with a number of lending institutions or lenders; therefore, they can get their customer the best loans with less terms and conditions to qualify, as against the loans from direct lenders.
- Mortgage brokers are also very much aware of the more rigid lenders than the other; they recommend particular lenders to their customers, on the basis of their customer credibility etc. This can really help the consumers in the long run.
Disadvantages of working with mortgage bankers, as against the direct mortgage lenders:
- Mortgage brokers charge higher fees to some extent
- If the representative does not happen to have very good knowledge of all the loan schemes offered by different lenders, then he may end up wasting your time by submitting your loan application to wrong lender.