Whole of Market Mortgage Advice

What does Whole of Market mean?

If there is one phrase in my industry that gets on my nerves, it is this. The financial industry is heavily regulated and we have to be incredibly careful with what we do and say, yet brokers sell themselves as “whole of market” and infer that people shouldn’t shop around as they have access to everything.

This is incorrect. Whole of market simply means that they are able to access rates representative of the whole market and are not tied to a limited panel of lenders, or one particular lender.  So, if a broker works for Lloyds bank, he/she will only have access to Lloyds products, meaning they would be a “tied” broker.

Lloyds is a good example as they don’t release their mortgage products through intermediaries. If you want a Lloyds mortgage, you must go directly to Lloyds. What this means is, not a single “whole of market” broker in the UK has access to Lloyds products. 

This is why, despite being a whole of market broker myself, I don’t like the phrase as I find it a little misleading. In fact, when you google “What does whole of market mean?” You get the following (wrong) answer:

What does 'whole of market' mean? A mortgage advisor who is 'whole of market' is a mortgage broker who has access to the entire mortgage market. Some advisors are 'tied' and only have access to a certain panel of lenders.

This also says something about making sure that information on the internet is from a trustworthy source and must be independently fact-checked.

On top of this, brokers regularly get exclusive or semi-exclusive products from certain lenders. Semi-exclusive products may be available through multiple broker firms and exclusive products would only be available through a single firm. So, this is why shopping around is important – don’t just speak with one whole of market broker and call it a day. If a broker tells you not to shop around because they are whole of market, that means they are scared you will find a better broker, a better rate elsewhere, or even worse; maybe they don’t understand what it means!

I will not be offended if you speak to multiple brokers to shop around. I am more than confident in my abilities and the deals that I have available, so I don’t feel that I have to lie to you to win business. If you find a cheaper deal through another broker and I can’t beat it, I will recommend you go through them, because I want what is financially best for you.

This is even more true in the current economic climate.