Why You Shouldn't Remortgage DIY

“I’m saving money by cutting out the mortgage broker and their fees.”

It’s a common assumption. But when it comes to remortgaging or switching your mortgage product, the real question isn’t whether you pay for advice, it’s whether you’re seeing the full range of options that could be available to you.

The issue: what you see online may not be the full picture

Many borrowers start by checking their lender’s app or website. That can be helpful, but it can also be incomplete.

In some cases, lenders may offer different pricing for the same product depending on how it’s accessed. This is often referred to as dual pricing.

With dual pricing, the options shown directly to customers may be limited to a subset of deals, and those deals can be priced differently to alternatives available through other access routes.

So even if the app shows a “good” rate, it may not be the lowest-cost option a borrower could access.

A real-life example: the cost of choosing from a limited list

Here’s a practical scenario that illustrates the point.

A landlord client checked their lender’s app and was presented with six direct-to-consumer switch options.

In that case, a broker was able to access additional options from the same lender. Those extra options were priced at a lower overall cost.

In the example shared:

Direct-to-consumer option: 4.41% fixed for 5 years, total payments over 5 years of £41,084
Broker-access option: 4.26% fixed for 5 years, total payments over 5 years of £39,898.80

That difference equated to a gross saving of £1,185.20 over the 5-year period.

Note: This is an example to illustrate how access and pricing can differ. Your own options and costs will depend on your circumstances and the deals available at the time.

Lowest Rate Buy-to-Let Remortgage

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These current lowest-initial-rate examples use an illustrative 75% LTV buy-to-let remortgage, not the client’s figures above. Check fees and total cost as well as the initial rate; availability depends on your circumstances.

Why the “DIY” approach can backfire

DIY can be perfectly reasonable when the market is transparent and the choice set is complete. The problem is that mortgage switching isn’t always presented that way.

If you only compare what your current lender shows you (or what a single channel offers), you may:

miss lower-cost deals available through other access routes
overlook options with different fee structures
fail to compare the total cost over the period you care about (not just the headline rate)

It’s also worth noting that the “do nothing” route can be expensive if your deal ends and you move onto a higher rate such as a standard variable rate (SVR). Even if you’re not actively remortgaging, it’s still important to understand what happens next.

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Fees vs savings: the comparison that matters

When people decide to DIY, they often focus on the cost of advice. But the more meaningful comparison is usually:

How much could you save overall? (based on the deals you can access)
What would you pay for advice and implementation?
What are the risks of choosing a deal without full comparison?

In the example above, the gross saving could outweigh advice and implementation costs, depending on what those costs are, especially when you factor in the time and complexity involved in arranging and managing a switch.

If you’re a portfolio landlord, the impact can multiply

For borrowers managing multiple mortgages, the effect of missing a lower-cost option can scale.

Using the same example logic:

If the saving were applied across 5 mortgages, that could be £1,185.20 × 5 = £5,926 (gross saving over the relevant period)

The key point isn’t the exact figure, it’s that small differences in access and pricing can become significant when repeated across multiple loans.

The takeaway: DIY isn’t always “cheaper”, it can be narrower

Checking your lender’s app is a sensible starting point. But if your goal is to minimise the cost of a remortgage or product switch, it helps to be aware that the deals you see may not represent the full set of options.

A mortgage is one of the biggest financial commitments most people make. Before you commit to a switch based on a limited list, it’s worth understanding what you might be missing, and how access to a wider range of options can change the outcome.