When I last moved house 5 years ago I took out a mortgage with the Bradford and Bingley Building Society (BBBS). When I took out the mortgage it was a mutual organisation and generally I have always been in favour of mutuality over the listed banks. It meant at that time that the BBBS was quite competitive compared with those banks which had demutualised like the Woolwich or Halifax. They even had a loyalty bonus which meant after having a mortgage for a certain time you got a discount off their normal rates.
That has all changed now and the BBBS has become less and less competitive. When I agreed my mortgage it had a discount for the first 2 years and there were redemption penalties if we left them in the first 5 years. Increasingly I felt unhappy with this. When I took it out I expected the BBS to remain competitive but they soon withdrew their loyalty bonus and the rates were no better than the standard rates of the others. Also the mortgage market has moved on in the last few years in particular the practice of some mortgage lenders to take all your payments through the year but not credit them until the end of the year is both archaic and totally unfair.
The newer lenders in the market like Virgin One and Standard Life Bank credit payments on the day they are made and you get the benefit immediately. Also over payments can be made at any time on some of their mortgages for which you get the full immediate saving off the amount you owe.
About 18 months ago I raised this with BBBS and asked whether the product could be changed but they said no the agreement was the agreement. Fair enough I said obviously I will honour the agreement I fairly entered into but isn’t it now unfair to charge interest on payments I have made? Well we are aware of this but we can talk about in 18 months time. Big mistake.
You see, it’s a bit like footballers on a contract and many clubs realise that the contract they have with a player is an asset and many times to keep the player the club will renegotiate the contract before it expires. If they do not do so the player becomes a free agent and can just leave without any compensation. This was of course the main basis of the Bosman ruling. The same applied to me with the BBBS. The BBS thought they could negotiate for my business after the 5 years of the original agreement were completed but of course they can’t. Not unless I let them. Which I won’t.
Of course if 18 months ago they had negotiated and said yes, charging interest on payments you have made is not fair and we will allow a variation to the original contract then the BBBS would still have me as a customer.
When the BBBS demutualised I got some free shares. They are probably worth about £700 now. There is no doubt though that the demutualisation, which I voted against, has cost me far more than that. I will not allow it cost me any more.
I will be switching to a Standard Life Freestyle mortgage. Standard Life is a mutual organisation.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
i have a bank account with them and at least find that the staff are more helpful than in others i could mention (view my halifax op!!!)good op there!!xxx
davidbuttery 21.07.2001 19:58
A salutary warning, well expressed. My views on carpetbaggers are fairly unprintable, so I shall stop here...
Advantages: Good products. Current outgoings such as credit card payments are not taken into the multiplier Disadvantages: Only available through intermediaries
BLACKDOG100 28.02.2006 ·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Accord Mortgages
Are you the manufacturer / provider of Bradford & Bingley Building Society Mortgages? Click here
Jul 21st, 2001
very helpful by (94%):
helpful by (6%):
