Woolwich Mortgages

...an offset mortgage, so the Woolwich Openplan was the obvious choice. I went in one morning and was quite surprised to be able to see the Mortgage advisor straight away. Anyway, she was really friendly and we talked for a while about our current situation, the house we had put an offer on and all the usual questions. The outcome of the meeting was that she said that we were ideal candidates for the Open Plan as we could put down a 10% deposit and ...
...received a letter from the Woolwich saying "thanks, but no thanks". I could not believe what I was reading and the more I read it the more I panicked. It was very vague and just said "you are not suitable for our product" - completely the opposite to what the actual advisor had advised me. It then went on to say that it may be something to do with our credit scores from Experian. I got so wound up that I went to see Marie, our friendly mortgage ...

hettie39 25.09.2003 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Woolwich Mortgages

We've had a Woolwich Open Plan mortgage for just over seven years. On the whole we have been very satisfied. The mortgage work by allowing you to set up a number of accounts and under Woolwich a number of saving pots, ie mini accounts that cannot be overdrawn, which can be offset agai9nst the mortgage. In simple terms this means all of these funds are taken off the mortgage total and interest is then calculated on the result. We set up pots for a ...
...being run by our local Woolwich branch we had only one problem. Initially our mortgage was mostly interest only, with an element of repayment. When we paid off a chunk of our mortgage the repayment element was taken off, without any notification to us. However, as the account is online, and it is possible to transfer very easily I just do a weekly transfer to reduce the outstanding amount. This is useful as some months we are to pay off more than ...

odtaa 07.11.2008 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Woolwich Mortgages

...all with regards to the Woolwich Buy to Let mortgage scheme. Whilst most buy to let lenders just want to look at multiples of income:expenditure ratios and base the lending decision simply on maths, the Woolwich will actually work with you to safeguard your interests (and ultimately theirs!) in a logical step by step approach. I have found that they also provide the best customer service and their staff are very knowledgable about the product range. ...
...the APR is not the most competitive but the Woolwich approach and felxibility more than compensate for the rate. For any would be buy to let landlords - prior to making any commitment with a nother lender - give the Woolwich a call - you may be pleasently surprised. ...

bounty 27.05.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Woolwich Mortgages

...open plan mortgage with the Woolwich then you will not have to pay any fees, this could save you up to about £600, not a small sum by any means. They are currently offering a rate capped for two years which offers 5.45% (7.1% APR) this is also available to you without any arrangement fee. After the two years you can ditch the Woolwich if you find a better option and it will only cost you £95. There are no penalties if you wish to repay your Mortgage ...
...has better rates. The Woolwich insist that you pay your mortgage from one of their accounts, so if you do not have an account with them then they will open one for you and give you a debit card and a cheque book etc. This Op is starting to sound like an advert but I really believe that this is the future for mortgages, if you are a first time buyer then this has to be the mortgage for you. ...

elmhurstgb 28.03.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Woolwich Mortgages

...mortgage payment was returned The Woolwich charged me £27.50 even though this wasn't my fault and refused to refund it. Saying that if we know there will be a problem they have no problems delaying direct debits ( which is good to know just in case) however the notice period is about 10 days before due date. which in most cases if you're going to have a problem paying you may not know that early. My bank charged me £35 but agreed fault and did refund ...
...on time does go smoothly. Our interest was by all means not the lowest there is but certainly the lowest we found who also lend higher amounts I think at the time we were searching Halifax had the lowest interest rate but only lend 3x annual income. Good luck in your house hunting and mortgage searching. I hope this helps although you cannot accept anyones opinions to mean this will be right for you as everyones situation is different therefore ...

Ortu 05.02.2007 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Woolwich Mortgages

...for it, so I telephoned Woolwich insurance line who informed me they would deal with it, as they do not even have me on the screen for insurance so I should not be charged. They said they would get back to me, at 6pm nobody called me so I called them back, guess what, they have no record of my conversation earlier so I had to explain it all over again. I decided to call the mortgage centre again, and they told me that Woolwich insurance has to inform ...
...as I do not even have a policy, they now tell me to fax my new insurance details to them and they should be able to sort this out. The customer care is appauling and if you want to spend over £10 in calls and spend at least 4 hours on hold go ahead and have a mortgage with them, I have heard worst things, a friend of mine they got her name wrong on the policy and they were going on about miras which were abolished years ago The mortgage itself is ...

draper 08.10.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Woolwich Mortgages

We remortgaged with the Woolwich a couple of years ago to finance improvements on our house. The packaged offered was an Offset Mortgage which sounded perfect, and so far to date has been very flexible and I would recomend this package. The Offset mortgage package basically takes into account any savings that are in your Woolwich current account or savings "pots" and adds them up, and you only pay interest on your mortgage balance, less the total ...
...the reserve account. The Woolwich basically allow a reserve ammount which is available at any time for the account holder to borrow (at the same rate as the mortgage) and arrange to make repayments over a period to suit your budget. So you can borrow at the mortgage rate compared to the high street borrowing rates, without making a loan application. The money can be made available by making a phone call. The amount available in the first instance ...

Carrie2001 02.09.2003 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Woolwich Mortgages

...I've went to my local Woolwich branch, in Teddington, Middlesex and I had a meeting with the local mortgage adviser, I gave him all the details, we talked about a lot of things regarding the mortgage and in the end he told me he needs to contact Barclays, so they carry on a credit check for me and see my status. He also said this should take 2-3 days and that he would call me as soon as possible. But they seem to have a different definition for "as ...
...that meeting and NOBODY contacted me, ever !! So, I was very dissapointed, I talked to other mortgage lenders in the mean time and they were much more professional, they gave me the qoutation on the spot and the service was 100 times better than with Woolwich/Barclays. As a result of their service quality, I already moved from Barclays ALL the savings we had (me and my wife) to a different bank and we're thinking about closing the accounts and cancelling ...

adicos 13.06.2003 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Woolwich Mortgages

Open Plan is certainly the way forward in the mortgage market today. The flexibility it offers is second to none - where else can you obtain 6.75% for a mortgage and have the daily interest calculated not only on the amount you owe but also taking account of the balance of your current account and all savings you have. It really works and cuts years off your mortgage. One word of warning this is not an account for those who are not good at handling ...
...you have previously overpaid to buy that much desired new item may be too great for the weak hearted! Ideal for those who wish to pay their mortgage off early and gain control of their finances. We recommend that you look into this further - it is certainly the market leader in our opinion. ...

aplowe 04.01.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Woolwich Mortgages

...mortgage through Promise with the Woolwich which is currently 6.5% (0.5% variable above the bank rate).There were no costs or fees at all & the mortgage is CAT standard (i.e. daily interest etc.) Unfotunately Promise have pulled out of mortgage brokering but have assured me that they will refund any future fees from Woolwich. We will have to see on that one. It's agreat deal and a shame that Promise have pulled out. They never valued my house either. ...

chrisco 10.12.2000 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Woolwich Mortgages

I have had a Woolwich mortgage for a few years and although their initial application fee was very steep (£440 plus all the other survey fees etc), they seemed the best deal at the time for me (I needed practically a 100% mortgage so there was not a great deal of choice). Everything seemed OK, but one day I wanted some (fairly basic) information about how the interest in calculated on my account. the question was: 'Is my interest calculated daily ...
...saying - we bet we can find you a cheaper mortgage deal - I tell them what they are paying with the Woolwich and they never contact me again!. But I think you can't take a good rate for granted - you have to make them offer you it. ...

StephenBargewell 11.12.2003 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Woolwich Mortgages

I have recently applied for my first mortgage, after spending a great deal of time, with help from a independent broker I choose a Woolich mortgage because it offered a good discount rate for three years, there was no MIP, (a big consideration for a first time buyer) and it offered no redemption penalties and was fully portable should I need to move. But, as there always is, the turn around in paperwork is slow, unusually slow according to the broker, ...

nholland 12.04.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Woolwich Mortgages

...bills. Open Plan account from Woolwich is linked with a savings account where we can keep all the "spare" money and earn interest for the short period the money stays in the account. There are multiple advantages: - the monthly mortgage is reduced because the money we kept in the account reduced the overall amount we borrowed (even when we had the money for one day) - the interest is calculated daily - we can use the little savings to repay the ...
...we can stop the payments for few months - we have the option to increase the mortgage with an extra 20k which we can use to improve or develop the property. The only pain was the initial set-up which took more than 6 months and going through to customer service every time we have a query. ...

bunicadoca 01.09.2006 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of Woolwich Mortgages

The most stressful time of our lives! The Woolich made several mistakes in our mortgage application form (e.g. giving us a 16 year mortgage when we asked for a 25 year one) and took absolutely WEEKS/MONTHS to get the actual offer through the post. This nearly cost us to lose the house we were buying as they thought we couldn't get a mortgage! Trying to get through to someone on the phone is the biggest nightmare ever- you get put through to some ...
...I was assured several times that I would get calls back or that the offer would be in the post in 48hours and every time they failed to deliver! We have secured a great offer, but I can honestly say that it was a mistake to go with them for all the stress and hassle. Be warned! You might be lucky, but we were not! ...

annanas123 13.05.2007 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of Woolwich Mortgages