If you’ve started looking at mortgages lately, you’ll have noticed that rates aren’t in a great place.
In early October, Moneyfacts reported that the average five-year fixed rate had hit 6% for the first time in roughly three years, while the average two-year fix reached 5.98%, its highest since December 2023.
When rates are this high every fraction of a percent matters even more, which is exactly why you need to know: do mortgage brokers get better rates or not?
The short answer is that we often can get you a more competitive rate than if you went directly to your bank.
That’s because we compare more than 28,000 deals from over 100 lenders across the UK market, including some you can only get through a mortgage broker. So you’re not limited to the deals your bank shows you, which often aren’t the cheapest.
Here’s a more detailed explanation alongside some advice on when a mortgage broker might actually not be your best option…
Will you get a better rate with a mortgage broker or your bank?
As we’ve just explained, we can compare the market and look at thousands of deals to find you the most competitive rate for your situation; however, the answer to the question above still isn’t a simple yes or no.
The truth is that while you’ll often secure a better rate through a mortgage broker, it can sometimes be the same rate you’d have got without one, and now and again, it can even be worse.
How do mortgage brokers get better rates?
A mortgage broker can usually secure you a lower rate for one of three reasons:
1. Comparing a range of lenders. There are so many lenders out there, including some you’ll never have heard of, and any of them could have a better rate for you. Going direct to one lender (or even several) means you’ll only see their deals, which may not be the most competitive.
2. Broker-only mortgage deals. Some products can only be secured through brokers.
In our guide to the 100% mortgage, for example, April Mortgages’ No Deposit mortgage is advisor-only, Melton Building Society’s is distributed through brokers, and Metro Bank requires specialist advice before you apply.
Plenty of specialist lenders, such as those focused on buy to let mortgages and limited company director mortgages, lean heavily on brokers too, so if you only ever look at high street banks you simply won’t see their deals.
3. Providing advice on how you can access better rates. Lenders price their deals according to specific criteria, and a broker who knows these criteria can help you shape your application so you can access a lower rate.
For instance, lenders price their deals in loan-to-value (LTV) bands, so a small change to your deposit can move you into a cheaper one.
According to Rightmove, the average five-year fixed rate when buying at 95% LTV is currently 6.0%, against 5.6% at 90% LTV. That’s a gap of 0.4 percentage points, which adds up to a lot of money over the course of your term.
If you’re sitting just above a threshold, a broker can tell you whether a slightly bigger deposit, or a gift from family, would be worth it.
When the rate is exactly the same
If a lender sells an identical product both directly and through brokers, you’ll see the same rate either way.
That means if you went to your bank, say NatWest, and they happened to have the most competitive rate at that moment, going through a broker wouldn’t get you a better one.
That said, you can’t guarantee your bank will have the most competitive rate, so it’s always best to speak to a mortgage advisor who can check for you.
A good advisor also does far more than secure you a rate…
At The Levels Financial, we support you through the entire homebuying process: liaising with your solicitor, negotiating with the estate agent, completing all the paperwork, and even keeping an eye on your mortgage for the whole of your term.
When your bank might win
There are instances where going directly to your bank can get you a better rate. Two of the main ones are:
- Your own bank may have an existing-customer deal
- Some lenders only offer theirs directly to consumers so a broker cannot access them for you
For instance, mortgage brokers can’t access deals from Lloyds Bank.
However, we still recommend speaking to a mortgage broker first. If we see that you could get a better deal elsewhere, we’ll point you in that direction. That may sound hard to believe, but we pride ourselves on always putting our clients first, which is why we were named the second-best broker in the UK for customer service in 2025.
How many people use a mortgage broker?
The Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA) forecasts that around 87% of regulated mortgage lending will go through the broker channel across both 2026 and 2027.
However, that doesn’t mean everyone is convinced that using a broker is the right option.
In Barratt Homes’ First Time Buyers Report 2026, which surveyed 660 prospective buyers, nearly one in three said they wouldn’t consult a mortgage broker as their primary source of advice.
A common worry is that a broker will cost more than they save you. Well, this next section will show you why that isn’t the case…
What is a lower mortgage rate actually worth?
Here’s how it stacks up on a £250,000 repayment mortgage over 25 years, starting from the 5.52% average five-year fixed that Rightmove recorded on 3rd November 2026:
| Interest rate | Monthly payment | Monthly saving | Saving over five years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.52% (average 5-year fix) | £1,539 | Baseline | Baseline |
| 5.42% | £1,524 | £15 | £900 |
| 5.32% | £1,509 | £30 | £1,800 |
| 5.22% | £1,494 | £45 | £2,700 |
These figures are illustrative rather than quotes, and they assume the rate applies for the full five years. You can plug in your own numbers using our repayment calculator.
So, is it worth paying for a mortgage broker?
At The Levels Financial, our fee is £499 for a purchase and £299 for a remortgage. You only pay once your mortgage has been offered. There’s no charge for submitting an application or for any initial advice.
To show what that can mean in practice: if we secured you a rate just 0.2% better than your bank was offering, as per the example above, you’d save around £1,800 over the life of your mortgage. After our £499 purchase fee, that’s still £1,301 in your pocket.
The larger your mortgage is above that £250,000 example, the more a better rate saves you, and the figures can climb quickly into some very big sums.
On top of the saving, you’d also have a far less stressful mortgage process. Someone would talk you through each step, answer your questions in the evenings and at weekends, liaise with your solicitor, handle the paperwork, and make sure your application is watertight.
For anyone who has heard house-buying horror stories from friends or family, that peace of mind is hard to put a price on.
Book your free initial appointment today to learn more.
Looking at total cost, not just the headline rate
It’s not just about the headline rate itself, the overall cost of your mortgage can be influenced by other factors too, most notably product fees.
A mortgage product fee (also known as a mortgage arrangement fee or completion fee) is a one-off charge set by a lender to cover the administrative and setup costs of arranging a mortgage.
Here’s a simple example on a £200,000 repayment mortgage over 25 years with a two-year fix:
| Example | Deal A | Deal B |
|---|---|---|
| Interest rate | 5.60% | 5.75% |
| Product fee | £1,999 | £0 |
| Monthly payment | £1,240 | £1,258 |
| Total cost over two years (payments plus fee) | £31,763 | £30,197 |
Deal A looks cheaper every month, but Deal B works out around £1,566 cheaper over the two years.
(These are illustrative figures with the fee paid upfront. On a much larger loan or a longer fix the answer can flip, which is why we run the numbers for every case.)
Could I just use a comparison site?
Comparison sites are undoubtedly handy for getting a feel for the market, but they only show headline rates and fees.
What they can’t tell you whether a lender will accept your income, your credit score or the property you want to buy.
That’s why we’d suggest you use one to get your bearings if you’d like, then ask a broker to confirm what’s actually available to you.
Who benefits most from using a mortgage broker?
The gap between a broker and your bank is widest where lenders differ the most. Here’s how that plays out for different types of borrowers:
Do mortgage brokers get better rates for…
First-time buyers?
The biggest challenge facing first-time buyers is undoubtedly saving a big enough deposit.
73% of renters currently feel locked out of the property ladder, and with the average first-time buyer deposit in the first half of 2026 standing at a staggering £69,523, according to L&C Mortgages, it’s easy to see why.
What many first-time buyers don’t realise, however, is that some mortgages require only a very small deposit, and a few require none at all.
If you simply can’t get a deposit together, which is completely understandable, a mortgage broker becomes even more valuable.
This is because only a select group of lenders offer no-deposit or 100% mortgages (whichever name you prefer), and of the five that currently do in the UK, two can only be accessed with professional help.
As we mentioned earlier in this blog, April Mortgages’ No Deposit mortgage is advisor-only, and Melton Building Society’s is distributed through brokers. Metro Bank, meanwhile, requires specialist advice before you apply.
So if you’re buying without a deposit and don’t use a broker, you’ll have access to far fewer rates, which could leave you with a less competitive deal.
Home movers?
If you’re moving home, you probably have an existing deal, a chain to coordinate and a lot of moving parts.
The big decision is usually whether to port your current mortgage or switch to a new lender, and the answer comes down to arithmetic rather than instinct.
Porting lets you take your current rate to the new property and avoid an early repayment charge, but you’ll still need to pass the lender’s affordability checks again. If you need to borrow more, the extra is usually offered at today’s rates, which gives you a blended rate. Here’s an illustrative example:
| Part of the mortgage | Amount | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Existing ported deal | £200,000 | 3.00% |
| Extra borrowing | £100,000 | 5.98% (the current 2-year fixed average) |
| Blended rate | £300,000 | about 3.99% |
In a case like that, porting could easily beat a brand-new deal at 5.98%. In another, a new deal elsewhere with a lower rate can come out cheaper overall, even after an early repayment charge.
A mortgage broker will compare all of your options to present you with the one that will save you the most money in the long-term.
Homeowners remortgaging?
There are really two routes, when it comes to remortgaging:
- Product transfer. You move to a new deal with your existing lender. It’s quick, there’s usually no new affordability check and no legal work, but you only see one lender’s range.
- Remortgage. You switch to a different lender. It takes more paperwork, but you can compare a wide range of lenders, and many lenders offer free valuations and legal work to win your business.
By working with a remortgage advisor you will be presented with which one of these options will lead to you securing a better rate. If you were to just blindly do one or the other, you wouldn’t know what potential deals you’re missing out on.
Landlords?
Very often. Many specialist buy-to-let lenders, including those for limited companies and portfolio landlords, only take applications through brokers, so a high street bank shows you only part of the picture.
How to get the best mortgage rate, whichever route you take
Whether or not you use a broker, doing these four things will give you the best shot at securing a competitive rate:
- Check your credit report first. Fix any errors, make sure you’re on the electoral roll and avoid taking out new credit before you apply.
- Weigh up fixed against variable. A fixed rate mortgage gives you certainty, while a tracker can offer flexibility if it comes without early repayment charges. The right choice depends on how much payment risk you can stomach.
- Match the deal to your plans. If you might move or overpay within a few years, a deal with heavy early repayment charges can cost you more than a slightly higher rate with flexible terms.
- Start early. If remortgaging, you can often secure a new deal up to six months before your current one ends, which gives you time to compare properly and avoid sliding onto your lender’s Standard Variable Rate (SVR) which can prove very costly.
If you follow these steps, you’ll be in the best position to secure a competitive rate regardless of what route you choose to go down.
So, do mortgage brokers get better rates?
A broker can’t conjure up a cheaper version of the same product. It’d be great if we could, but it’s simply not a thing.
What we can do however is show you far more of the market, open the door to broker-only deals, match you with the lender whose rules fit you and judge the total cost rather than the headline rate.
With rates where they are, even a small improvement is worth chasing, because that could lead to thousands of more pounds being kept in your pocket over the coming years.
Get in touch today if you’d like to understand a bit more what the process of working with a mortgage broker looks like!
