We all know that a large group of people can negotiate a better deal than just one.

In the mortgage world, I am not a large group, nor are the 9 of us in Scammell Associates. Large is probably 200+ advisers and only the corporates have that many employees. So, a mortgage adviser in a corporate will quite legitimately be able to say he has exclusive offers.

So, how does an individual like me get access to the special deals?

Well, that is a common problem and the solution came with Mortgage Clubs. A mortgage club will attract 1000′s of advisers to join (usually free to join as well) and can then negotiate bulk purchase special mortgage deals. There are probably over a dozen mortgage clubs. The mortgage club will skim, say 2 or 3% of our commission, but in return we get more deals to offer.

Sometimes these deals are relatively unimportant, but currently 2 of the best 3 year fixed rates are only available through mortgage clubs, and Mortgage Clubs have some great 5 year fixed rates too – one at 4.19% looks very good for larger mortgages. You won’t find these deals in the high street.

The thing about mortgage clubs is that some brokers will be able to join just the one one operated by the parent company, which is fine, one is better than none. But, one of the biggest mortgage clubs doesn’t pay commission if you use the Coventry Building Society – one of the biggest remaining mutuals and a lender I have used twice so far this month. So, clearly, while one mortgage club is better than none, it’s still not enough.

I am unrestricted so have joined several mortgage clubs and that means that I can properly shop around the exclusive deals as well as the deals available to the open market.