TIP: Watch out for the 'Deal Of A Lifetime'. When loooking for your online mortgage advice, watch out for the deal that seems too good to be true. If you see that a few web sites are quoting much lower than average, ask: Why so? If you you can never speak to the same individual, or you have to wait 'on hold' for a long time, this speaks badly for the level of service you are likely to get.

Avoid advertisements for online mortgage advice. If you are going to read ads to find a online mortgage advice service, be careful. The 'advice' you get will rarely be independent. More likely you will be talking to a rep. for a mortgage broker.

Any online mortgage advice web site should have a Privacy Policy. What are they going to do with your data once they get it? In practical terms, you are on umpteen databases simply by existing. You can ease your aggravation with the cold calls by saying "I'm sorry, I don't want any financial products at this time, thank you, good day", and hanging up, three seconds into the conversation. Puts them on the back foot. Polite, but swift and direct.

You may find a lot of lenders offering very low initial rates, but hiding high additional costs within the small print. Ask the broker to explain all additional costs, variable rates and payment conditions, do not only read the small print yourself. If you still have doubts, or if you have a feeling that this particular company is hiding something from you, just go away and continue looking for more believable online mortgage advice.

Make a list of wants versus needs. Most people tell their web site what they want, not what they need. If you cannot afford what you want, you may miss the mortgage you need. By making a list, you'll zero in on the best deal for your budget. Show this list to your online mortgage advice professional.

Here's another tip: be wary of internet sites with names like Go4-online-mortgage-advice.co.uk or Your-online-mortgage advice.gb.uk. These sites are often the tertiary site of the real online mortgage broker; they might be a big name in the business, or they might be a few East London geezers chancing their arm in the online mortgage game.

The site may have been set up by a big lender to focus solely on online mortgage advice, and get more internet 'traffic' from people looking for same, or it may just be a 'throwaway' site with no proper support, run by people who sell on your contact information.

Internet sites of this type won't be able to help you with unusual queries. Your information will be flogged on to three or more 'real' online mortgage brokers, with the result your phone will be ringing off the hook for the next two weeks with calls from eager loan officers, flicking through a database, and finding your name.

Get it in writing. Any negotiations need to be in written form. If you do not have a copy in writing then you can consider it non-binding. Do not trust anyone at their word. If a broker is offended you asked for a copy, it could mean they are being less than honest. That's why you should request it.

The best online mortgage advice is easy to find. Just go to one of those sites offering to compare 100, 200, or 2986 different mortgage lenders, UNLESS THEY ARE AN INSUBSTANTIAL, 'TOUT' SITE. You should check they are registerd with the appropriate authority, like the FSA or OFT in the UK, and that the people behind the site are clearly identifiable.

In order to give you their best online mortgage advice, the web site you apply to will need at least your:

Your post code is the key identifier. With that, your credit history can be looked up. If you just want a rough idea of what you can borrow, tell them you don't want them looking up your credit rating.

You may have to get used to the idea of getting cold calls from other web site for weeks or months afterwards. Stop this by telling the initial web site "Please do not sell or pass my personal data on to other companies. Thank you."