House bank or mortgage broker: who sets up your financing better.

Mortgage brokers in Germany: licence, role, distinctions

A mortgage broker arranges loans between clients and a wide panel of banks. The profession is regulated: section 34i GewO requires a licence that is only granted to applicants who are reliable, in orderly financial circumstances, hold professional indemnity insurance and have passed the IHK competence exam. Every licensed broker appears with a registration number in the public broker register, which can be checked online in minutes.

The work itself is more than comparing interest rates: structuring documents, preparing the case so it fits the acceptance policy of the respective bank, handling queries and accompanying the process through to disbursement. Distinct from this is the fee-based adviser: anyone acting as an independent adviser must, under section 34i GewO, consider a sufficient number of contracts available on the market and may not accept payments from banks; you pay such an adviser directly.

How a broker is paid: the commission explained openly

The most common first question is about cost, and it deserves a precise answer. In the standard commission model the bank pays the broker once the loan is concluded; market sources put the usual range at roughly 0.5 to 1.5 percent of the loan amount (as of October 2026). You do not pay a separate fee; the remuneration is priced into the conditions, just as the sales costs of every bank branch sit inside its interest rates.

Importantly, none of this may be a secret: under section 655a BGB a loan broker must inform consumers about his remuneration before the contract is concluded, and he owes you pre-contractual information much like a lender. Section 34i GewO adds an often overlooked safeguard: staff remuneration must not conflict with the client's interests and in particular must not be tied to sales targets. The worry that commission taints every recommendation can be resolved pragmatically: ask about the remuneration and about the number of banks in the comparison. Both answers tell you who you are dealing with.

What your house bank genuinely does well

A fair comparison starts with the house bank's strengths, and they are real. It knows your account history, your salary inflows and your saving behaviour, often over years. That makes the first assessment fast and uncomplicated: fewer documents, short paths, a familiar contact in the branch. For long-standing customers there can be case-by-case room that an unknown institution would not grant, and with regional particularities some credit committees decide closer to local reality.

If you are permanently employed, bring solid equity and are buying an ordinary existing property, your house bank will often make a decent offer. The honest caveat follows from structure, not bad faith: the house bank checks your financing against its own product shelf and, at most, that of its network partners. Whether an institution three streets away would assess the same financing noticeably differently is a question it cannot and need not answer for you.

The core difference: one product shelf versus the market

The real difference between house bank and broker is not one day's interest rate but the number of options actually examined. Banks differ not only in conditions but above all in acceptance criteria: how the household budget calculation is run, which flat rates are applied, how part-time work, parental leave, self-employment or a high loan-to-value is assessed. The same application can fail at one institution and receive a sustainable approval at the next; how large those differences are is shown in our guide How much house can I afford.

This is exactly where brokerage comes in: instead of one shelf, the market is checked, and the further your case deviates from the standard, the more that breadth decides. The law even draws a quality line here: a broker offering advice on residential mortgage loans must, under section 655a BGB, consider a sufficient number of loan contracts available on the market. Add the time factor: a market comparison through a broker costs you one conversation and one set of documents; the same comparison on your own means several bank appointments, each with its own inquiry.

Five questions that settle the decision

Instead of a blanket recommendation, a short checklist has proven itself in our advisory practice. Answer these five questions and the right route usually becomes obvious:

• 1. Is your case standard or special? Permanent employment, solid equity, an ordinary property: then the house bank offer is a sensible starting point. Self-employment, parental leave, little equity, bridge financing: then the breadth of banks decides.
• 2. Do you have a comparison offer? Without a second offer there is no basis for negotiation. Make sure only SCHUFA-neutral conditions inquiries are made rather than hard credit applications; our guide Financing rejected explains the difference.
• 3. Do you know how the person across the table is paid? Branch or broker: the remuneration sits inside the deal. The reputable ones disclose it unprompted.
• 4. How much time can you invest? Several bank appointments on your own are doable but cost weeks. A broker bundles the comparison into one process.
• 5. Who accompanies you to disbursement? Between approval and payout lie deadlines, follow-up requests and details such as commitment interest. Clarify in advance who is reachable in that phase.

Checking credibility: register, licence, disclosure

The bad actors of the industry are rarely recognisable by their manner, but reliably by checkpoints that take minutes:

• Check the registration number: every licensed mortgage broker appears in the public broker register of the German chambers of commerce. No number, no mandate.
• Remuneration disclosed in writing: informing you about the remuneration is a legal duty, not a favour.
• No upfront costs: payments before a financing is concluded are a warning sign.
• Realistic statements: nobody can guarantee an approval or a specific rate before a bank has checked the documents. Anyone who does disqualifies himself.

How ME Finance works between you and over 500 banks

ME Finance is a licensed mortgage broker under section 34i GewO based in the Rhine-Main region; our registration number is in the legal notice and can be looked up in the broker register. We compare over 500 banks and credit institutions for our clients, disclose our remuneration and make no promises that only a bank can give after reviewing your documents. And because this guide is meant to stay honest: if your house bank's offer is the best one after the market comparison, that is exactly what we will tell you. Our approach in detail is on the page Mortgages with ME Finance; we take your key data through the no-obligation inquiry.