What's the difference between a mortgage broker and a mortgage adviser?

When you’re shopping around for a home loan, you may come across the terms ‘mortgage adviser’, mortgage broker’, and even ‘financial adviser’. When talking about home loans, all of these job descriptions offer a similar service - so why the different names?

‘Mortgage broker’ is so yesterday

These days, the term ‘mortgage broker’ is falling out of use and being replaced with ‘mortgage adviser’. This is because when it comes to financial transactions, a broker is understood to be someone who receives, deposits or holds money or property on their customer’s behalf - meaning they ‘touch’ the money in some way. Think of a stockbroker, for example.

This doesn’t typically happen when you’re just in the market for a mortgage. During the mortgage process, the finances are usually handled between the lender and your lawyer.

#adviseme

When looking for a great deal on a mortgage, you simply want an expert intermediary to help find the best deal for your situation, so a much better term for this job description is a ‘mortgage adviser’.

Mortgage advisers are paid a commission from mortgage lenders to find customers, and they’re duty-bound to ensure that as the customer, you get the best deal possible.

All mortgage advisers are also financial advisers, meaning they’ve undergone extensive training to be able to give a very high standard of financial assistance to their customers.