Disclaimer: Our website and publications aim to give you general information to help you make financial decisions. It is not advice, nor can it take account of your own particular circumstances. For advice with a view to making decisions about your own circumstances you should consult a financial or other professional adviser.

© The Financial Services Authority.

Shopping around

When you shop around, it's important to know what sort of help you're looking for. You may:

  • know exactly what you want, or have an idea but need information from the firm to help narrow down the mortgages for you from which to make your own choice; or
  • need the firm to decide on and recommend suitable mortgages for you.

Check whether a firm is:

  • providing you with information to enable you to make your own choice; or
  • advising you about suitable products.

This is important because, if the mortgage turns out not to be suitable after all, you'll have less grounds to make a complaint against a firm that left you to make your own choice.

Buying with the help of information only

If you are not getting advice, the firm will provide you with balanced and neutral information about the mortgages available to you to help you make your own choice. This may include:

  • product terms and conditions;
  • leaflets;
  • tables that compare different mortgages; or
  • a list of questions to help narrow down the available options and to help you select the mortgage meeting your particular needs.

The firm will not steer you in the direction of a particular mortgage or influence you in any way about the particular mortgage you should take out: the choice is yours and yours alone.

Buying with the help of advice

If you are being advised, the firm will:

  • take you through the various options;
  • assess whether you can afford a particular mortgage; and
  • assess whether it meets your needs and circumstances and is the most suitable mortgage for you out of all of those that it can offer you.

It will influence your choice, steer you in the direction of and recommend that you take out a particular mortgage.

Spelling it out - get the Keyfacts logo

Firms who have been allowed by us to arrange or advise on mortgages have to give you information in two separate Keyfacts logo documents spelling out clearly, among other things, the level of service you will get - that is whether you will get advice or information only.

Look out for the Keyfacts logo documents. Read them and make sure you are getting the level of help that you need. Ask questions if anything is not clear.

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Top tips

  1. Think about whether you want advice before you see an adviser or lender.
  2. Check the Keyfacts logo about our mortgage services to see what they offer.
  3. Don't confuse off-the-shelf information with advice - they're not the same.