... A very happy abbey customer, I hasten to add!!!
The first time I plucked up the courage to take that giant step onto the property ladder, I was young, naive and a little bit wet behind the ears!!
My mortage advisor (from the estate agent) sorted all the technical stuff for me, at the ... Read review
Advantages: Simple, friendly and helpful Disadvantages: They keep moving the mortgage centre!!
I have been an abbey banking customer for a many moon now! ... A very happy abbey customer, I hasten to add!!!
The first time I plucked up the courage to take that giant step onto the property ladder, I was young, naive and a little bit wet behind the ears!!
My mortage advisor (from the estate agent) sorted all the technical stuff for me, at the time, the best mortgage around was with the Abbey.
As most ... ...for an attractive endownment linked abbey mortgage, with a great rate!!
Don't worry the wet behind the ears teen, soon learnt to kick the endownment to the kerb, but the one thing I have to thank that advisor for is my abbey mortgage.
Pretty soon after I took this mortgage out, I lost my job, leaving me in a financial difficulty, Abbey National were superb, I never once got threatining letters from them or anything, ... more
I have been an abbey banking customer for a many moon now! ... A very happy abbey customer, I hasten to add!!!
The first time I plucked up the courage to take that giant step onto the property ladder, I was young, naive and a little bit wet behind the ears!!
My mortage advisor (from the estate agent) sorted all the technical stuff for me, at the time, the best mortgage around was with the Abbey.
As most mortgage advisors tend to, he clevely got me to sign up for an attractive endownment linked abbey mortgage, with a great rate!!
Don't worry the wet behind the ears teen, soon learnt to kick the endownment to the kerb, but the one thing I have to thank that advisor for is my abbey mortgage.
Pretty soon after I took this mortgage out, I lost my job, leaving me in a financial difficulty, Abbey National were superb, I never once got threatining letters from them or anything, I talked to them, and they wanted to help me keep my house and much as I wanted to keep it!
Since having my mortgage with them, I have taken out two home improvement loans, on both occasions, I went into the branch to see the financial advisor, who was extremely helpful, and everything is done on the computer, so you can see what they are entering, and then when its done they print it and get you to sign it!! (no form filling ... greeeeeeeat!!!). Also they have the ability to over-ride things at their discretion, if things dont initially come out as you would have liked.
I have constantly reduced my mortgage term, all done by a simple phone call (again no form filling!!)
There have been two occasions where I have had a problem with them. The first was when I kicked the endownment policy to the kerb, I went into the Abbey and changed to a repayment. Unfortuanately (or maybe not), they actually didn't process it, so after about 9 months, I reaslised that my payments hadn't increased that much (it was a time of interest rates changing a lot), so I queried it, and they forgot to process the change, so to ensure I didn't lose out, they actually credited my account with all the additional payments I should have made if they had done it!! (£800 in my favour!!) damm I should have left it a lot longer!!!
The 2nd occasion, I had finished a product and taken on a new one, they took a long time to process the offer, (in fact it took almost 3 months), they were too busy focussing on new customers!! SO after a small (!!!) whinge from me, they backdated the offer to my application date, and credited my account with the overpayments i had made!
That was 10 years ago!! In that whole 10 years I have always kept my mortgage with abbey. I have listed below the pro's and cons of abbey
*** Pro's *** 1) They do not have lots and lots of additional charges that some mortgages have. Unless you get into severe arrears.
2) You don't have to go into the branch to deal with them, a lot of the time you can just deal with the mortgage centre over the phone (for those who prefer to go into a branch you can)
3) They offer new build properties a great deal with no completion deadline! (great opportuinity to take advantage of current low rates)
4) They offer a huge variation in products, so they should have something to meet everyones needs.
5) You are free to change product as soon as product ends (no tie ins)
6) Great rates on home improvement loans (and no masses of forms to fill out)
*** Cons *** 1) Their variable interest rate is slightly higher than average, so their discount mortgages are not as great as some other mortgage lenders
2) They offer better rates to new customers than existing customers (where as mortgage companies like Nationwide offer exisiting and new the same)
All in all, I still advise anyone to shop around when chosing mortgages, but for me service is sometimes as important as the deal. And abbey have always offered me a great service, which is quick, simple, approachable, flexible, and the important thing is they listen!!!
I dread the day that the deal they offer me is so poor, that I have to seriously contemplate going somewhere else!!! Until then Abbey you have got my vote!!!
check out their mortgage offers on www.abbeynational.co.uk
Advantages: Easy to organise. Good package options Disadvantages: Little contact with them.
...many people complain about the Abbey National as a lender for Mortgages.
Well, I will stand in their corner and defend them to the hills.
Basically, because they helped me out with a great deal and are not full of extras.
When I first took my unsteady steps into the world of mortgages, I realised that it was a minefield that I was about to enter.
After experiencing 2.5 years of an "Interest Only" mortgage, I vowed I would not fall into the same ... ...me, I opted for the Abbey National.
Why?
Well, look at my situation. I was Selling my flat in February. Buying a new house at the same time and getting married in the June. This meant 2 of the most stressful things in the world were happening at once, not to mention most expensive.
I therefore was going to have very little money available to me for the next couple of years.
What I needed was a low interest rate, so the mortgage would not increase ...
andycharger 10.12.2002
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Abbey Mortgages
Advantages: Well Known Company Disadvantages: Bad Service and Incompetance
...applied for a mortgage through Abbey National to purchase my current property.
At the time the deals on offer were widespread and there was so much choice on the market.
I opted for a discounted Capital & Repayment mortgage which means that my mortgage is discounted against the Bank of England base rate for interest.
Having had a bad experience with Endowment mortgages I wanted a simple straightforward Capital and Repayment which means that the ... ...to my financial adviser and Abbey National are so called experts I thought all was fine!
By chance I decided to read through the mortgage offer back to front to ensure that I knew what I was letting myself in for. Good job I did.
I noticed that the repayment figures quoted in the offer were a less than my previous mortgage. Now taking into consideration that I had borrowed a lot more money and the interest rate was not that different I could not ...
DavidWilcox 09.09.2002
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Abbey Mortgages
Advantages: Flexible Mortgage Product Disadvantages: When Things Go Wrong They Go BADLY Wrong!
Although the Abbey claim that mortgage problems in April were due to payments being taken twice, I can exclusively reveal the truth of what occurred. I was one of those affected by the 'Mortgage Madness' which struck several thousand Abbey National Mortgage accounts recently, mainly accounts beginning '915'. The problems actually started way back in March. To give you some idea, my mortgage payment is made by Direct Debit on 23rd of each month. In ... ...read in the Press that Abbey National had ‘inadvertently’ charged some customers their April mortgage payments twice. After all, I was not due to pay them anything further until 23rd April. I was therefore shocked to discover that despite having had the usual mortgage payment deducted from my account on 30th March, the Abbey proceeded to make FOUR further debits to my account, two on 2nd April and two more on 4th April. Two of the payments ...
fallen121 06.05.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Abbey Mortgages
BACKGROUND.
-----------
Abbey national is a High street bank converted from a building society. They provide similar products to all other major banks but are'nt as competitive.
The only product that seems to be competitive is their mortgage for which they have been awarded twice by Your mortgage magazine.
In 1998 Abbey National launched their Internet bank "Cahoot" now hugely successful initially provided credit cards although now they also ... ...-------------
My own experience with Abbey National has been relation to having held their mortgage account for four years. Although not a flexible mortgage (for which I would have to pay additional charges), The mortgage is a repayment mortgage capped at 6.55% meaning if the SVR (standard Variable Rate) for Abbey national reduces below 6.55% so will my mortgage interest rate, but if the rates were to rise there will be no change to my payments ...
mazhariqbal 04.09.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Abbey Mortgages
Advantages: Fairly hassle-free, will accept applications from non-UK-residents Disadvantages: Interest rates higher than building societies'
...been generally satisfied with my Abbey Nat mortgage. That is, nothing has happened that would make me want to give them a really negative review. Then again, they're not so great that I could give them an overly positive one either.
I took out an Abbey National mortgage by necessity really - at the time (autumn 2000) I was in the process of applying for permanent residency in the UK (I am Canadian, my spouse is British), but because I didn't have ... ...by a financial advisor.)
Abbey did a survey of the property we wanted to buy, and after a few weeks we got our mortgage offer; everything seemed to go very smoothly (although of course this was just our experience, maybe it doesn't happen for everyone). We had a nice 6-month period of a discounted interest rate, so our payments were a bit lower than normal, which was a great help since we needed to buy furniture, fix the place up etc. They have ...
cypress 20.07.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Abbey Mortgages
Promptness of service
Efficiency of service
Competitiveness of char...
Similar reviews »
Reviews which might be of interest for "Abbey Mortgages"
Advantages: This bank will never be taken over Disadvantages: Most products uncompetitive
My father has been a Lloyds Bank customer since the early 1960s. He expected me to do likewise when I was older. But as part of my teenage rebellion I chose Barclays instead. My father’s bank manager was not pleased.
In 1987 when buying my flat, an adviser from Abbey Life who promised to set up a mortgage with Abbey National ripped me off and dealt with the Chelsea Building Society instead. This deal probably increased his commission. Anyway 3 years later I paid £2000 to transfer my mortgage to Lloyds Bank. By this time Lloyds had already acquired Abbey Life. God moves in mysterious ways.
Part of the mortgage deal was that I would have to transfer my current account from Barclays to Lloyds. Cancelling various direct debits and standing orders and setting up new ones was a pain. But at least the mortgage burden was reduced ...
mrpaella 26.01.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Lloyds TSB
Advantages: Financial information Disadvantages: Rates not always right, no support
Used this site to find a new mortgage, did not want to move house just get a cheaper rate. My wife had been on at my, you know.
Anyway, answered all the questions, found a mortgage and thought I was applying on the web with the bank (Abbey). Great I thought.
Instead got a call from a guy nothing to do with Abbey wanting to give me advice and some hard sell.
No idea how he got to call me.
Bit of a shame, so went down town to the local Abbey and they sorted it for me.
Using the internet can be quick to find a mortgage, but from my experience do it by walking into the bank and leave off these sites. ...
Advantages: Easier to budget, an option for people with poor credit Disadvantages: Not everywhere accepts it
have a Solo card. I have no choice in the matter, as many of you will know, I was the victim of fraud, and have yet to clear my name with the credit reference agencies, so on paper, I am a bad risk for credit. Not being able to get credit does not bother me too much, as I just save hard. I have a mortgage with the Abbey National who saw me as more than a blemished credit record. Anyway, I have got off the subject for a moment then.
I bank with Natwest, and the only account they could offer me was a Step Account, which comes with a Solo card. Initially, I was disappointed as I was used to having a cheque card, but as the fraud had happened again with LloydsTSB, I had no choice but to close that account. In a way, I felt like a second class citizen, as I only had a Solo card, but as I did some research, I have found that it is not as ...
nicanddarrell 14.01.2003
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Solo
flexible, available for 95% mortgages, interest calculated daily, no arrangement fee, no indemnity premium, no tie in period, online/ telephone 24hrs
lacks personal touch, not available for 100% mortgages, (mortgage deeds not stored), may not suit older persons i.e. up to 65 years due to age restric (*)
