You can now use Facebook to help you find the best mortgage deal
Digital mortgage broker Nuvo's new Facebook chatbot uses artificial intelligence to answer all of your questions about mortgages
HOUSE hunters can now find out what the best mortgage deals are on offer to them by chatting to a Facebook bot.
Digital mortgage brokers Nuvo has launched an automated chatbot on Facebook Messenger aimed at giving advice to people looking for a mortgage.
A traditional mortgage broker is a person or company that arranges the loans between buyers and the banks. They usually charge a fee for the service.
But you can use the bot for free to get a quick quote or ask it for advice about the jargon that comes with buying a home.
It uses AI which means that you can ask it questions in any format and it will give you advice - you're not limited to yes and no answers.
But when the Sun Online gave it a go, it was super quick to give us a go quote but struggled with the advice.
You'll also need to tell the bot thing like how much you earn and how much money you have saved, then you'll then be given a quick tailored quote within seconds.
But when we asked it if it could tell us what LTV means (loan-to-value) it didn't seem to understand.
It happened again when we asked it what a an arrangement fee was, it replied with "Not much. What's new with you?" Whilst it is funny, it's not that helpful.
Okay, so it is in the trial stages and they hope to roll it out full in the coming months.
If you're looking to get a quote, the bot asks you questions like "What would you like a quick quote for?" and you have to click on the right option they give you in the chat.
Really, it works like a price comparison site and searches through 30,000 mortgage deals on the market, but they claim that they show you ones that are tailored to you.
It's free to use and you're not constrained to normal working hours when it comes to getting a quote, but it's not quite up to scratch yet.
Once you're shown the deals you can choose between being transferred to someone who works for the brokers in the chat, or you can arrange for them to call you.
How to get a mortgage
LOOKING to get on the property ladder? Here's some advice from the MoneyAdviceService to help you get a mortgage:
Talk to your bank - A mortgage advisor at your bank is usually free but they'll only tell you about their own offers.
Choose the right broker for you - Some brokers are tied to specific lenders, some look at deals from a specific list of lenders and some look at the whole market. The expertise come at a price, as some brokers can charge up to £500 for the service, which will eat into the cost of moving.
Check comparison sites - They're a good starting point but bear in mind they may have deals with specific lenders and they may be more likly to push those deals that might not necessarily be the right one for you.
You can go it alone - But if you do choose to go with a broker then you're protected by the Financial Ombudsman if things go wrong later down the line.
At the moment, call centre staff are only available to speak to during office hours but there's potential for this to be extended.
There are other digital mortgage brokers like Habito and Trussle who also offer free advice, but they also rely on a human adviser to qualify any offers.
This is great news for house hunters who typically sit down at 9pm on a Tuesday evening to search the market, according to Rightmove.
Nuvo claims that they work differently to price comparison sites. Rather than offer you the cheapest deal, the tailor the results to what suits you taking into account interest rates and monthly payments.
They make their money by charging the lenders a fee if you opt with one of their offers through them, but they say that due to "strict financial bodies" they cannot "show favouritism to any lender."
Richard Hayes, co-founder and CEO of Nuvo said: "We all know that buying a house is a costly process. We aim to cut those costs as much as possible.
"Why pay £500 when you can get great advice and an even better service, at a time that is convenient for you, for free?
"Behind the technology there is a team of qualified mortgage experts on hand to help and guide customers through the process should they want to speak to someone.
"We manage everything through from start to finish taking the hassle and stress away from the customer."
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They were able to save for their £135,000 three-bed house whilst on apprenticeship wages.
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