I have been a customer of the Nationwide for over ten years, I have not missed or even been late with a single mortgage payment in that time nor have I ever gone overdrawn. So when it became time to move to a larger house we naturally turned to the Nationwide for our mortgage (mistake one).
I assumed that because the Nationwide was a building society as opposed to a bank they would be in the best position to serve my needs and offer me solutions to any problems that I might encounter (mistake two).
Here is our (still ongoing) story…
As we are all too aware the cost of housing has risen dramatically over the last few years, in fact more and more people are finding themselves in a position that they are unable to find a house that they can afford. I am lucky enough to work for a national company and as such they have jobs all round the country, therefore I am able to look for a move to any part of the country that has affordable housing and a house that suits our needs, wants and desires.
The present house we reside in is too small for our needs add to that larger houses in the same area are outside of our
price bracket. We decided to search the Internet in the first instance to find houses that matched our needs. Well after a few nights of mouse clicking and head scratching we found a house, not just a house but THE house, our dream home, oh I could go on for days about how we felt about it. Then once we had viewed it we knew it was the house we wanted.
So sell ours, buy this one, mortgage through the Nationwide and in between get a job transfer to be nearer to the house. Sounds simple, it should have been.
Everything was going smoothly, got the job, got the mortgage, sold our house, bid accepted for our new home. Wow we were going to be in our new home by Christmas, Yippee!!!!!!
Not so…….
Due to unforeseen circumstances the purchasers of our house had unexpected problems which delayed the process. The owners of the house we want gave us a deadline, this passed and we feared we were going to lose our dream home.
But wait……
The Nationwide will help us, all we need is to be able to complete our purchase and let our buyers complete at their leisure. I know that can be risky and expensive, but having looked at our financial situation we knew we could afford it, in fact we could afford to keep both mortgages going (tightening our belts a bit) even if our buyer pulled out and we needed to put our house back on the market. They Nationwide says “Nationwide puts members first by providing a range of top value, quality financial services that are widely available and delivered with speed, courtesy and reliability - backed by policies of fairness, honesty, employee importance and corporate responsibility. After a detailed strategic review, the Society has decided that the best commercial route to deliver this proposition is to remain a building society”. Yep they will help we thought, but no matter what we said they said NO, we explained the situation, NO they said. We appealed NO NO NO. From all quarters of this Caring building society, this building society that puts its members first (unlike banks that put shareholders first, their words not mine) said NO. The reasons they gave amounted to one of two. Firstly their rules meant that on paper we would not be able to afford it. Now hold on a moment, I have been with them in excess of 10 years, have never been overdrawn or missed a mortgage payment, surely I might just know what and how long I could afford to make payments. Were we not the sensible people choosing a house that we could afford? Does the Nationwide have anyways of helping? Well it seems not, I eventually got to speak to a gentleman from the Nationwide that seemed all clued up, he suggested a bridging loan, and to apply to a BANK as they can be more helpful when it comes to situations such as this. The reason so I was informed that the Nationwide were unable to help is because the Nationwide is regulated by the Building Societies Commission.
To date…..
Our move is still on going, the people selling us our dream home have extended the deadline, the Nationwide will still not help and our purchaser is getting closer to exchanging contracts (fingers crossed).
Up until this has happened to me, I have never had any problems with the Nationwide, it seems such a shame that they are now unable to be more flexible.
The amounts concerned are not vast in fact running both mortgages would have cost us less than £180 extra per month, not really a large amount when you consider the cost of housing.
“Nationwide has mutual (as opposed to Public Limited Company) status, which means that it is owned by its members”, says the Nationwide. I for one am now doubting as to whether this mutual status is that good for the members after all I was told that a Bank might be more helpful. I wonder what way I will vote next time a carpetbagger stands for election?
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
I have never had any bother with Nationwide although I don't have my mortgage with them
anonymili 12.02.2006 22:42
I hope you eventually got your dream home and that you're very happy there with your family :) Banks and building societies are all a bit hit and miss when it comes to putting customers first. x
Dec 18th, 2001
very helpful by (94%):
helpful by (5%):
somewhat helpful by (1%):
