To think nationwide are taking the pee

[Meekonsandwich]

I swear to George I'm going to lose my skittles if any thing else goes wrong with this mortgage application.

We went to 3 local banks originally,

Lloyds told us we could only get a 10% mortgage which as our deposit was 5% we didn't accept. They did a soft credit search, no bother.

Nat west said they didn't open any time other than 9 -5 which as both of us work was going to be difficult.

Then we get to nationwide.
First "mortgage advisor appointment"
Was actually a lady showing us the mortgage calculator on the website that we did at home.
Fine okay but I wish they hadn't wasted out time telling us it was with a mortgage advisor when it actually wasn't. She said she would set us up an appointment with the mortgage advisor.

We then discover they've done a hard credit check. Taking out score down to good instead of excellent. With no warning it was going to do this. This is vital later in the story.

Okay. We go to the appointment and it's a video link. Which is fine (bollocks to the advert that says they're investing in their branches because they believe that doing business face to face is important)

anyway. The meeting goes well and we give our confidential documents to a lady to scan to the advisor on the video link. He says they can't approve it as they need to look into a few things so it's pending and they'll get back to us in no more than 3 days.

1 week later.
We ring and they say they have not received our documents .
Well then who the heck did she send them too?!
We send them again. Attaching all the documents into the email.

Magically they can't find them somehow so we send them again.

They they want certain pages they can't find AGAIN.

Weeks pass. We ring again.
"Oh yes, we wanted to know what this large direct debit that goes out every month is"
" that would be the rent."
"Ah. And we have no proof of your deposit"
"See the thousands sitting in my bank account??"
"Yes"
"That would be it."

A week goes by. We ring again.

"Ohhh were sorry but your application has been closed. There was no activity for a certain amount of time"

WTF.
So she has to write to somebody to get it opened again.
We ring AGAIN.
Our application has been declined.

Why?
Our credit score wasn't good enough?

Why? Because their systems changed and they did another hard credit check for no reason what so ever so our score took a beating.

So now we have to appeal.

In the mean time, we started this process two months ago, our land lady wants to sell and our tenancy agreement ends mid may.
So we have 6 weeks to sort it out or find another rental which accepts pets and move!!!

Arrrgggg I'm pulling my hair out here!!!!!
Im already planning a huge complaint once it's all done but how do I go about this? Is there anything else we can do?!?!

Definitely go to a broker. They'll do all the hard work for you.

I used to work for nationwide, tell them you're thinking of taking the case to the financial ombudsman and they'll very quickly listen. Do an official complaint with an order of events, ideally with dates etc. You SHOULD have the mortgage agreed if everything else was ok :)

Ask Nationwide to deadlock your complaint and go to the obudsman who can look into it for you

The ombudsman won't do anything until you've been through the complaints process with nationwide. They have to be given the chance to resolve the complaint. You don't even really know yet exactly why its been declined so give them a chance to explain and resolve.

A bit shit that you have to threaten to bring in the grown ups because they've been pissing about in the sandbox. Perhaps do find a more capable lender with properly trained staff?
(Also, interesting that doubting customers is the go to of even the "helpful" one is implying it's all a misunderstanding/ not true. Hello Nationwide service bots).

Nationwide told us we couldn't have a basic bank account due to poor credit rating. I was terrified something had happened to compromise our rating and quite upset. Couldn't see anything on any of our credit reports.

Weeks later we got a massive mortgage for a new house with no problems. Nationwide are nothing like how the portray themselves in the adverts.

I got my mortgage through Nationwide in December and had no problems at all, although I did do it through a broker as we get one free through work. He said they could be slow but mine went very quickly, text updates to let me know exactly what was going on etc. I'd definitely complain as it sounds like they've been very poor with you.

As a side note if you do end up with them they send out quite a useful welcome to your new home gift pack. My family seemed very impressed until I pointed out with the hundreds of thousands of pounds I will be giving them they probably can afford to give me some posh tea bags, cleaning wipes and hand wash etc!

We secured our mortgage through Nationwide, via a broker and it was a brilliant experience.
2 years down the line we swapped to a new mortgage product with them and again, couldn't have been easier. We are just about to move our current account to them, they have been excellent. My advise, use a broker as they trade in knowledge anout and relationships with the lenders which is critical in securing a mortgage. Going it alone is Russian roulette with any lender. Good luck OP

They truly are shit. I can let you know a very good broker, who had nothing to do with our nationwide debacle, if you like. PM me and I'll fwd his details to you x

Use a broker or direct with only HSBC or First Direct. They can do all the application online and also the interview via the phone. Approval within a few days. All the branches are useless. The staff who are useful don't work in local branches.

Your "score" does not exist, neither does the poor/average/good/excellent scoring system you seem so focused on. No one sees this apart from you.

As explained 2 credit checks will not have caused you to get a mortgage rejection.

But that's a red herring, it does sound like you have been treated quite poorly.

Sounds like you've had a terrible time. I see a previous poster recommend London and Country. I've used them 3 times and they've been superb. They certainly take all the stress and form filing and document filing away.

You need to contact the bank and make a formal complaint. They have 4 weeks to give you an update and 8 weeks to resolve. If their solution does not suit you, speak to the ombudsman. Make sure you have the details of all the dates and times things happened and names of the people you spoke to. I know this will not solve the problem today- but this will sort it out long term and you may get a few pennies from it too.

Another here saying use a broker - and a vote for London and Country. They have been great for us over the past few years and really know their stuff. I've recommended them to friends who have also had great experiences with them. Nationwide were rubbish for me when I had a current account either them. They sent a new debit card to my old address (they were definitely aware I'd moved some months earlier). New resident used it. A lot. It took months for my account to be credited whilst they 'investigated' - this should be code for nationwide procrastinating and just saying how surprised they were it had happened every time I called for an update. Was eventually sorted out but pretty ridiculous!

Awful, OP. Definitely complain but don't go forward with them.
Our first mortgage was 'approved' by Nationwide, who suddenly 'unapproved' it as we were ready to move which led to a frantic search/application for a new mortgage deal elsewhere.

They wouldn't explain why so we requested all information they had on us through data protection and ended up with huge bundle which seemed to suggest OH's lack of credit (savings but no mobile or credit card; how did we get so far into process then?) and concerns over our financial advisor/broker were reasons for declining?!

Water under the bridge, but they won't ever get our business and OH still mutters obscenities when he sees a branch.

Ooh, breezy, does your hubby swear at the telly when their adverts come on? If he does we're married to the same man!!

Also just used London and Country and they were VERY good. Would definitely recommend. I also tested their findings with two other advisors and L&C gave the best rates and very good customer service. HSBC are also good direct in my experience, although they told me a couple of things that turned out to not be true which is why I went through a broker in the end!

If Nationwide are this useless at this stage, it would put me off going with them generally I think.