I had a phone call from a prospective client today, she’d been pointed in my direction by a friend of hers.

She had a flat, that was currently rented out and wanted to move in herself, and for that she needed her Buy To Let mortgage to be swapped for a normal residential mortgage.

She had spoken to…X (do I name names? a major state owned bank), who had explained that they offered no advice, just information (very commendable, I feel sure some people try to hide this distinction) and had shown her quoted on a 2 year fixed rate at 5.79% and a tracker, at, I think she said 5.34…

When she called me, she told me about the existing deal on her West Bromwich mortgage which we calculated to be at 2.5%. As an adviser, I can look outside the box at different ideas. My 1st suggestion was that she should try to pursuade West Bromwich to let her live there, and carry on with that product.

There’s no product available anywhere at 2.5% so this conversation, which would work with some lenders, was worth having, even though success would mean me losing a customer…or at least, she’d probably be a loyal customer, but I’d lose the ‘deal’.

Anyway, this afternoon, she called – West Brom weren’t interested at all, so we have to switch her to a residential product.

And, this is the second reason it’s handy to speak to on Independent Adviser about your mortgage – the best 2 year fixed for this lady is at 4.19%, a good £90pm cheaper than the bank’s best offering, and the best tracker is at 3.88%.

It’s not a ‘secret’ product, she’d have found it herself after having meetings with a few more banks or building societies, but that would have taken hours. We had it nailed in 15 minutes or so.