To despise Nationwide and ask if your mortgage lender is any better?

[NotJustACigar]

Just got off the phone with a very rude advisor who was much more concerned about finishing on time than in helping me (I phoned at 4:30, they close at 5, was IBU to ring when I did??).

I just wanted to know about paying off the mortgage and porting it when we buy a new property. Originally I was told when we first took out the mortgage that we could port it in 3 months and not pay a penalty. Now I have been told I have to port it on the exact same day and won't get the three months. As our buyers want to close on our house in late January this is not going to be possible. But the advisor kept going on about how so many other people are able to do it, as if we are just idiots if we can't.

Also she said they used to give people a grace period but stopped that policy two years ago. They must have changed it in the fine print but never actually told us it was changing. And this isn't the first time they have done something like this. They also originally told us that we could take back our overpayments we had made at any time. Then when we actually tried to take so e back last year it was "oh, no, we don't do that anymore. Gggrrrrrrr!

The thing is, the advisor was also so incredibly rude and condescending. And at a time when we've just been told they are taking another £3,000 for us due to this penalty, that was not the attitude I really wanted to have to deal with.

So AIBU to think that Nationwide is awful? Or are they all like that? Do you have a mortgage company you could recommend instead? The irony is we went with Nationwide originally since they supposedly had good customer service even though they weren't offering the best rates! What a joke.

I've banked with them for ages, but for mortgages I always go via London & Country I think they're called.

Our mortgage is with C&G. Has been for the last 4 houses. They have been excellent with us, matching rates to keep our business etc. No problem.

I work for a different building society and would never be rude to a customer, neither would any of my colleagues. We honestly bend over backwards to help people and keep then informed of progress or difficulties.
I'd have no problem with dealing with a query at 4.30pm. 4.55pm would be a little annoying but you've gotta just suck it up and take the call!

Our mortgage is with Yorshire Building Society and they have always been very professional.

Mine is Halifax, mainly because they were ok with offering a decent rate for people on long-term but not permanent contracts (got it through an IFA though so not sure if it's available if you walk into branch). They have some restrictions on moving the mortgage but apparently are generally ok with it. They seem fairly helpful though tbh I have not had to phone them about anything complex.

I am sad though that Nationwide are being crap because I have my savings etc with them and thought they were ok.

I have a mortgage with Nationwide and have never had a problem.
they've always been helpful and polite. Guess every large organisation has its share of rude people - just luck of the draw who you get.

We're with the Yorkshire BS, have been for almost 20 years, and always found them to be very helpful, polite and professional.

Our mortgage is with Nationwide and I've never found them to be anything but helpful. Sounds like you just got a bad 'un. Maybe try ringing back and speaking to someone else?

My mum works for Nationwide, so they arent all rude and twatty, you just got unlucky with that person.

Surely if they've changed the Ts and Cs ie you can't have your overpayments back they must have sent you a letter to say so ,albeit in very small print .

My mortgage is currently with Nationwide and I hate them, they're pretty useless about everything and I can't wait to switch. Was with Virgin money before and they seemed quite flexible.

I currently hate nationwide too.

Hate, hate, hate them. I needed to borrow less than 3% of our mortgage for some work on the roof. The process took ages, they continually lost documents, and six weeks later I had to ring them to get a "no" because of negative equity. (there is not a housing boom outside London).

They never once sent a document they promised us.

HSBC gave me us a personal loan in 20 minutes. Nationwide should have advised us of that early in the process, could have told us "no" after the survey was done in week 2, and should not have wasted our time.

Now we are at Christmas, with gales, and the roof can't be done until after the holidays. I could be totally sorted now if they hadn't wasted so much of my time.

The personal loan from HSBC isn't any more expensive once you factored in Nationwides "fees."

Lucious, wish I had gotten your mum instead of the rude woman. A little friendly commiseration makes bad news go down much easier I find - though I wish they hadn't given us bad news in the first place. It's especially annoying as we have lost a lot on the house versus what we paid for it. We will bounce back, and are trying to stay positive! And we know we are extremely fortunate to be in the position to buy at all.

I will try London and Country, I think, as they are recommend by MSE. I also like First Direct as I bank with them and they've been great. And will look into the others mentioned here.

To those who say I should have read the fine print, you're absolutely right. I guess after a long day at work when we get home and there's a letter from the bank or mortgage lender it has just gone into the massive "deal with later" pile that somehow never gets dealt with. That's where we've gone wrong. But if Nationwide hadn't been out to screw us, it wouldn't ave been a problem anyway.

As a former employee of Nationwide I would say speak to the manager and make a complaint as he/she has to be made aware if a member of staff is being rude, it could be that this person has already had complaints made against them before, when I worked for them they were really hot on customer service but that was 10 years ago.

I hate them too at the moment. They are making an easy, straightforward transaction very stressful for me by not realising that not everything in life is black and white and fits in with their proof timescales.

I would definitely double check about not being allowed overpayments back. We are with the Nationwide too and have just taken a years worth of overpayments back without a problem. I just had to send a letter in and confirm which bank account we wanted it paid into.

Of the 6 mortgage companies I have been with, nationwide was by far and away the best.

Currently involved in some labyrinthine chaos with First Direct who are a right shower. As were Britannia

We've had a nightmare with nationwide trying to sort out our mortgage application. It took over three months, they then said we had to reapply as it was outside of their three month timescales and all credit checks etc were now invalid! It was their fault it took so long!!
We cancelled, reapplied with Halifax, got an offer within a week and are due to complete next week.

I work in finance so know the restrictions lenders are faced with, but they were truly dreadful!

Cornish, that's interesting that you were able to take overpayments back. I suppose it must depend on which advisor you talk to what you're told. Or maybe they just pick some of us at random to screw over and make miserable!

I will probably complain I suppose, not that I think it will make much difference. We would never consider using them again after having been treated like dirt instead of like paying customers. And seems we're not the only ones to have had problems, though not all have. Guess its the luck of the draw but I certainly wouldn't recommend them to my worst enemy ok maybe I would if I were feeling mean .

I spoke to the nationwide a few months ago about making overpayments we have 2 mortgages with them and they had no problem paying back overpayments on either....it's where we keep our savings. Maybe you could switch mortgages. Rude staff are unacceptable, they will most likely have the conversation on tape, so I'd speak to a supervisor or put a complaint in writing.

I am with Halifax & no problems so far fingers crossed.
Report the advisor to the complaints department.

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