Article contents
The winner is Habito! They’re fee free, find you the best mortgage for you and have great customer service. And if you’re buying a new home, they’ll handle everything for you – that’s the legal work, surveys and all the admin. You can’t beat that can you? Habito wins!
All ready to get your new home? Or perhaps just switching to a new mortgage deal?
First of all, great decision to use a mortgage broker – you can now be sure you’ll get the best mortgage for you (well, providing you use a broker that searches the whole market. Which Habito and Better.co.uk both do).
And second, another great decision to use an online broker. Getting a mortgage online makes things a lot easier – everything works to your schedule, rather than meetings to fit in with the brokers schedule! Plus, you can do it in your PJs while watching TV.
Oh yeah, they're both free too!
So, the 2 giants of online mortgage brokers, Habito vs Better.co.uk. Both great, but is there a clear winner? Let’s find out.
If you're rushed for time it's Habito. You can get started through the Habito website¹.
When it comes to ease of use, they’re both great. They’re both online, and you handle everything on both their websites – which you can access on your phone too.
So, no more waiting on hold for hours on-end, or waiting for a call back from a broker, and then telling them your life story. You can simply jump on their website and fill out your details whenever you like. You can even save your progress and finish the form later.
We tested both Habito and Better.co.uk, and both took around 15 minutes to complete the initial stage of filling in our information. Depending on your individual circumstances this might take slightly longer or shorter. Either way, they both seem to be roughly the same time.
With Habito they don't ask for your phone number, but with Better.co.uk you can't get started without adding it – and we all know what’s coming if you add a phone number right? Lot’s of phone calls to encourage you to finish your application.
You communicate with Habito through their 'live-chat' feature (you chat through their website), so it’s up to you when you want to chat with your mortgage advisor (you'll get an email when you have an updated message).
We think that’s better for ease of use, it suits your lifestyle rather than the brokers. You can have a call if you like, but it’s not the default option.
With Better.co.uk, you’ll most likely get a phone call to hurry you up. We think this goes against the concept of being online – and changes the process to suit the broker rather than you. Plus, it puts you in an awkward position! No one likes sales calls.
Once you’ve filled out your initial information though, you can use live-chat with Better.co.uk too if you want to.
Better.co.uk also sends you things in the post. We’re not big fans of that either. Both in terms of the environment and simply because it’s really annoying!
So, we’re giving this one to Habito. It’s actually online, and works to your schedule, not the other way round.
Winner: Habito
Their free, online, search every mortgage deal, and have great service.
This one is going to be quick! Habito and Better.co.uk are both fee free!
That means you don’t pay a fee to get mortgage advice. Curious how that works? Well all mortgage brokers get paid a commission from the mortgage lender (the people who give out the mortgages to you), when they get you a mortgage…
However most traditional mortgage brokers (those who give mortgage advice either face-to-face, or over the phone and via email), will charge a fee too. And this is on average around £500, but it can be less and even a lot more! It depends who you choose.
They charge a fee because they can only work with a few customers at a time. It takes them longer to have conversations with you and collect the information they need. Whereas, with online mortgage brokers, you provide the information yourself on their website.
So, online brokers can be more efficient and work with more customers at a time, and still have everything running smoothly. Therefore they don’t need to charge a small fortune for their service.
As they’re both free, this can only be a draw.
Winner: it’s a draw!
This is going to be short and sweet too!
Habito and Better.co.uk are both whole-of-market brokers. That means they can search every mortgage deal out there to find the right one for you.
This is essential when it comes to using a mortgage broker. If they can’t search the whole market, you can’t be sure they’ll be able to find you the best deal. And that means you could be £100s worse off per month.
There’s lots of mortgage brokers out there who can only search a few mortgage lenders, so avoid these. And never just walk into your bank on the street and ask for a mortgage – they can only search their own mortgages!
There’s 20,000 mortgages out there and over 90 mortgage lenders. So, you never know where the best deal for you might come from.
As Habito and Better.co.uk are whole-of-market, this one’s a draw too.
Winner: it’s a draw!
Now here’s where Habito shines.
If you’re looking to buy a home, it’s not just the mortgage you need to worry about, there’s the legal work too (called conveyancing), and a building survey to arrange (to check the structure of the house is all in order). Buying a home can be stressful and feel like a full-time job!
Well, here’s the big difference between Habito and Better.co.uk. Habito offers everything you need, all under one roof. So that’s the mortgage, conveyancing, building survey, and all the admin that goes with it, plus anything else you need to buy your new home. Pretty great right?
Better.co.uk on the other hand, just handles the mortgage bit. Which is great, but means you’ll have to sort everything else out yourself. Habito have just gone that extra mile. (That’s only if you want the extras with Habito. You can just get a mortgage for free too.)
What’s great with this extra service from Habito is it’s actually very reasonably priced too. It might even come in cheaper than arranging everything yourself.
So not only do you save time, and reduce stress, but you could also save cash too. There’s no harm in getting a quote to find out how much it would be for you – which you can do on the Habito website¹.
So, when it comes to buying a home. Habito is the clear winner here.
Winner: Habito
To compare customer service, it’s a great idea to look at customer reviews. So let’s do exactly that. To do this, we’ll use Trustpilot, the popular reviews website.
Habito has a score of 4.7 out of 5 from over 7,500 reviews. That’s excellent! You can’t really beat that, can you? The reviews mention the great service from the mortgage advisors, great customer support, finding the best mortgage deals, and the fact they’ll handle everything for you when it comes to buying a home.
Better.co.uk also has a score of 4.7 out of 5. Again, excellent! And that’s from over 6,000 reviews. The reviews are praising the mortgage advisors service, and finding great mortgage deals.
Well, we’ll have to call that one a draw too.
Winner: it’s a draw!
Getting a mortgage can be a stressful experience, but with Habito and Better.co.uk, it’s a lot less stressful – in fact, it’s pretty easy!
Plus, you can be sure you’re getting the best mortgage deal as they’re both whole-of-market brokers, and amazingly they’re fee free.
Habito is more online focused, and it works to your schedule rather than the mortgage advisors schedule (i.e. they won’t call you up trying to hurry you along). We think it’s great, and perfect for almost everyone (we’re all super busy these days aren’t we!). You can handle everything when you have a spare few minutes, or even when you are lying on the sofa watching Netflix.
Habito also helps you with everything you need when buying a home. That’s the legal work and the building survey, plus any other admin. It’s an all-in-one service, you don’t need to worry about a thing, just get the keys to your new home at the end. And they’re the only company who offer this.
For that reason, we’re crowning Habito as the winner! You really can’t go wrong. The best mortgage deal, everything handled for you, and awesome customer service.
If you want to learn more about both, here’s our Better.co.uk review and Habito review. If you’re keen to get started with Habito, visit the Habito website¹.
Their free, online, search every mortgage deal, and have great service.
Their free, online, search every mortgage deal, and have great service.
Their free, online, search every mortgage deal, and have great service.
Christopher Dowling combines a communications degree with over 10 years experience in the financial services industry in London – with focus on educating people on a wide range of money topics in an easy to understand way. He writes about savings, investing, pensions, mortgages, insurance, banking, loans, business finance and other money topics.
This article was written, reviewed and fact checked by the expert team at Nuts About Money. You’re in safe hands. Learn more.
We're experts in all things mortgages, with years of combined experience working in the mortgage industry, and some of our team are qualified mortgage advisors. We understand the ins and outs of mortgages, how to communicate mortgages in an easy to understand way (we hope you agree), and of course, how to get the best mortgage deal for you.
More than 20 years of combined experience researching and writing about mortgages and mortgage advice
Qualified team (CeMAP - Certificate in Mortgage Advice and Practice)
A wide range of mortgage companies researched and reviewed, and a transparent review process
We follow a strict editorial code to ensure you get the best information possible
Their free, online, search every mortgage deal, and have great service.