Sort out your mortgage deal online! - Video script

John Fitzsimons looks at the dos and don'ts of arranging a mortgage over the internet.

This is a script of a lovemoney.com video. Instead of reading it, why not watch the video instead? You can find the video here.

Hello, I'm John Fitzsimons from lovemoney.com, and on today's Make Good Property Decisions, I'm going to be looking at how you can organise your mortgage online, and the mistakes to avoid.

Gone are the days when the only way to get a mortgage was to put on your Sunday best and go for a chat with your bank manager. These days, you can handle the whole process from your own home, online. However, there are some potential pitfalls to watch out for

#1 Find the right mortgage

You have a few options on this one. You can go to each lender's site individually to look at their mortgage range, and pick your favourites, but that will take a while.

Alternatively you can take advantage of something like lovemoney.com's mortgage centre, where you enter the details on the type and size of mortgage that you are looking for, and the centre selects the best deals for your needs.

I'd also recommend making use of things like mortgage calculators so that you are absolutely clear on how much you will be shelling out each month on each individual mortgage.

#2 Don't over apply

This is the biggest mistake you can make in my view, but it's very easy to do. Just as applying for too many credit cards all at the same time can destroy your credit rating, it does the same damage when going for a mortgage if you try to get a decision in principle from more than one lender at a time.

Take your time, work out which mortgage you want to go for, and apply for it. Your back up choices will have to wait until you hear back from that first lender.

#3 Get some help

One of the great things about the internet is that you can get instant advice in a pretty informal setting. Many brokers are now happy to do much of their advice by email rather than insisting on face-to-face meetings.

Our own broker service actually offers an instant message service, so even if you have the smallest query, one of our advisers are on hand to shed a little light!

That's it for me for today, thanks for watching lovemoney.com.

This is a script of a lovemoney.com video. Instead of reading it, why not watch the video instead? You can find the video here.