Habito Review: Personal Experiences of Applying for a Mortgage Online

As an introvert, I’ve never liked the idea of wandering into a bank to ask about mortgages. 

Luckily the internet has revolutionised the mortgage industry, with companies like Habito now offering a far simpler alternative. 

For the uninitiated, Habito is essentially an online mortgage broker. You sign up for a free account, fill in some forms, and then they search their panel of lenders to find you the best deal.

And all this happens online, so you can fit your application around your hectic lifestyle, and without you having to speak to anyone in person.

Sounds ideal.

When I chose to buy my first home in early 2019 I decided to give Habito a try – especially as I’d heard so many positive things about them.

But where they warranted? 

In this Habito review I want to walk you through my own impartial experiences. I haven’t been compensated to write this review and I’ll be revealing both the good and the bad. And ultimately, the end result.

For anyone considering using Habito for their mortgage, this article is for you…

The Mortgage Application Process

The mortgage application process is reasonably simple, and is broken down into a number of steps.

Once you’ve signed up for a free account you’ll be confronted by a page that looks something like this. Your initial goal is to complete steps 1, 2 and 3. It’s at stage 4 that you’ll receive mortgage recommendations. 

Each step suggest how long it’ll take to complete.

Perhaps I’m a bit slow but I found the estimations were a little short. For example, step 1 supposedly takes 15 minutes to complete, but timing it the process took me 20 minutes. That’s not the end of the world, but just to say to take these estimations with a pinch of salt.

The period of time it takes to complete these initial steps also depends on how organised you are, and what paperwork you have easily to hand.

I think the initial application can easily be made in an evening, and quite a bit less if you make sure you have all the necessary paperwork ready to go. 

During my application Habito also recommended Premier Property Lawyers for conveyancing and offered to connect me to them.

If you’ve read my Premier Property Lawyers review then you’ll know that’s who I ultimately used. However, I didn’t do this via Habito because I didn’t want the “hard sell” of someone ringing me up. 

My experience of filling these forms in was very positive. The information requested was reasonable as was the time it takes to fill everything in. In just an hour or so you could be well on your way to becoming a homeowner.  

I also really appreciated the way that everything was done online. No potential embarrassment if your credit comes back poor, or you’re not able to borrow as much money as you’d like. There you are – safely protected behind a computer screen which you can turn off at any time.

Considering Your Options

If I’m honest, the step that I had my doubts over was the “Expert help” section.

Call me silly but I found the possibility of having to speak to a broker on the phone quite intimidating.

After all, I’ve never applied for a mortgage before and had zero idea what I was doing. 

Much to my surprise, however, this could be done via online chat. You’re connected to a your own broker who considers your submitted information then searches their database to recommend the best options for you.

As this was the first time I had a lot of questions for my broker. Things like:

• What if I can add £5k onto the deposit – how does that affect things?
• What if I opt for a longer repayment time – how does that change things?
• What if I choose a cheaper property than in my initial application – can I see some options?

If I’m honest I knew I’d be hard work – but I wanted to make sure I had all the relevant information.

Like most people, I wanted a “buffet” of options so I could decide which mortgage made the most sense for my needs – high enough to get a decent house, with payments low enough I could afford them without worry. 

There are, after all, a lot of ways you spin this seemingly simple combination of house value, deposit size and repayment time. And that excludes other things like mortgage application fees, ability to overpay and so on.  

Amazingly, my broker answered every question I had. He was often responding to me late into the evening – sometimes 9 or 10 at night.  

Finally, his patience was rewarded and a decision was made. Let’s take this thing to the next level and actually push my application through. 

Just before that happened though, my broker said they needed to talk me through a few things.

OK – like what? 

The Cracks Start to Show

Up until this point in the process I consider Habito’s service to be exceptional. Almost beyond fault. It was literally at the point of applying for the mortgage they recommended that issues started to arise for me. 

Firstly, they sent through a vast list of additional questions on top of all the other paperwork I’d submitted online. 

Here’s the actual list:

BREAKDOWN OF THE DEPOSIT: 

Is there more than one source and what is the breakdown? Eg. how much from savings, from parents (in the UK/EU/Outside the EU), from sale of property, from inheritance etc

PROPERTY DETAILS:

Full address

Approximate year of construction

Property type

Is it ex-local authority? 

Is the construction something other than brick walls/tiled roof?

Number of kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms; number of floors

Any parking spaces/garage

CURRENT HOME:

Landlord’s or managing agent’s name

Rent amount per month

DIRECT DEBIT:

Sort code, account number, names of account holders and preferred day of the month for mortgage payments

NI Number for each applicant (unless shown on payslips):

VALUATION:

Estate agents’/developers name, address and contact details

If buying a new build, are you receiving any cash incentives? 

Would you like to pay for survey or is basic valuation sufficient? (costs available on request) 

SOLICITORS:

Solicitors firm’s name, address and contact details

IF APPLYING with less than 12 months in current employment:

Previous employer’s name, your job title and previous salary.

I think you’d agree that’s a pretty juicy list there.

Furthermore, I’d never heard of the lender that Habito recommended (“Digital Mortgages”) and therefore I wasn’t certain how comfortable I felt giving them so much information, such as the contact details of my letting agent. 

This was especially so because I was deliberately applying for a mortgage without telling my letting agent.

The reason? My letting agent was terrible, and I didn’t want them trying to bombard me with properties for sale if they heard I was looking. No thank you.

So I stumbled.

I took a step back.

Was Habito right for me?

Was this the right mortgage?

I wasn’t sure.

I needed to think. Buying a house is a big step and Habito just wrong-footed me. 

Then another bombshell.

Apparently I also needed to be aware that this particular lender only worked with certain conveyancers. My solicitor would need to be on their “approved” list. That shouldn’t be a problem – I’d already instructed Premier Property Lawyers – the very firm that Habito was pushing earlier in the application process.

Turns out, no, they weren’t on the list.

My conclusion was that I’d either need a different mortgage or a different conveyancer. And I’d already instructed my conveyancer.

So I dropped out for a few days to consider my options. 

If I’m honest I was really quite angry that these additional hurdles hadn’t been discussed earlier in the process. If they had been then we could have wasted less time, or found a way round them.

But suddenly throwing them in at the end seemed quite “smoke and mirrors” to me. Maybe I’m being unfair; this is just a personal opinion. And maybe it’s just a one-off experience.

Perhaps everyone else is perfectly happy with those extra steps at the end. 

What Happened Next?

I’ll be honest: applying for a mortgage and buying a house was a stressful experience for me.

It was all new and I needed to be gently coaxed down the pathway.

I needed someone to put my trust in, someone who would explain all the options then lead me to make an informed decision.

These hurdles thrown in at the end kind of shattered the trust that Habito had been building up in my mind.

Maybe I should look at not just other mortgages, but also other mortgage brokers?

So that’s what I did.

I jumped straight over to competitor Trussle to give them a try. You can read my full Trussle review here.

Suffice it to say that I never concluded my application with Habito. I instead got my mortgage elsewhere. In many ways I’m sorry – up until the last second Habito had done a fantastic job.  

Conclusion of My Habito Review

So what are my thoughts now about Habito? Would I recommend them to other people? Would I consider using them again myself?

In truth, Habito have a pretty good reputation. Look around and you’ll find lots of other reviews singing their praises.

I’m sure the way my application progressed was really very unusual. Habito didn’t necessarily do anything wrong, I just didn’t feel they had provided all the information I needed to make a decision until after the decision was made. And that left a bad taste in my mouth.

In the end, that was enough to make me question my decision and look elsewhere.

To reiterate – up until that point Habito was essentially perfect. A nice, easy, stress-free application system, a helpful professional giving you advice. And all online, which fitted perfectly around my busy work life

In fact, if you’re at all on the fence then I’d strongly suggest you give them a try. After all, you’ve got nothing to lose apart from a little time. And if, like me, you ultimately end up looking elsewhere, most of the paperwork you gathered for Habito is directly applicable to the next broker you try.

Or, of course, you could just give Trussle a try – the online mortgage broker I actually ended up using (and loving).

To learn more about my Trussle experience please read my article here.