The firm has found that 70 per cent of the top 250 mortgages available today are offered by building societies.
A survey carried out by Moneyfacts.co.uk covering the whole mortgage market, including fixed, discounted and variable rates over various time periods has shown that those looking for a mortgage today may well be better off going to a building society than to one of the larger banks or mortgage lenders.
The top ten lenders, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) only offer 27 of those 250 top deals, a mere 11 per cent.
Julia Harris, mortgage expert at Moneyfacts.co.uk, said: “It is shocking to see that so few of the top priced mortgage deals are offered by the largest mortgage lenders. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group under the brands of First Active and Direct Line lead the way offering a meagre six out of the top 250 deals, and very disappointingly the largest lender the HBOS group, did not appear at all.
“Despite the vast amount of information in the public domain and the still prominent role of the financial adviser, brand and high street values still seem to be winning customers.
“While some deals offered by these providers may offer the best solution to an individual customers needs, the findings show that, for the majority of borrowers, the deals from building societies and smaller lenders are winning hands down.
“Making one of your biggest financial decisions should not be based upon brand or the perceived convenience of your existing lender. It should be about finding the most competitive and suitable deal.
“Take the time to shop around, and don’t assume that bigger means better. In fact when choosing a mortgage quite the opposite is true, both with building societies dominating the field and the lack of large lenders appearing in the top 250 products.”
