Barclays Buy Standard Life mortgages

CPS

BBC, amongst other media, this morning advise that Barclays have bought Standard Life Bank (savings and mortgages). As of this month i have moved onto the Standard Life SVR of 5.35% (a joke of a SVR). I notice Barclays SVR is 2.49%. I was hoping beyond all hope that my mortgage would move onto the Barclays SVR when the buy-out happens (Jan 2010). However the Standard Life website advises T&C's will remain the same. Boooo

Anyone have any further info on this or has any Standard Life mortage holders spoken to SL?

herbiesjp

Shame

They were quite a flexible lender. And pre-credit crunch had some good deals and good criteria.

I just hope that they maintain their own service standards as opposed to adopting the Barclays/Woolwich ethos - as their customer service and processing has a history of being very poor

leicsmark

On the Standard Life website there is a FAQ which says that the Terms and Conditions won't change, but that any change to the variable rate in the future will be made according to those terms.

http://www.standardlife.co.uk/content/help/bank.html#three

So I think that the SVR rate will change in January. Barclay's (Woolwich) have a SVR of 4.99% which is what old mortgages revert to. The 2.49% is a different tracker rate which tracks Woolwich's "Base Rate" plus a certain amount that changes depending on the product you take, and this is what the recent mortgages go to. The base rate is currently the same as Bank of England, 0.5%. So I imagine the product you looked at was Base rate + 1.49%.

http://www.personal.barclays.co.uk/BRC1/jsp/brccontrol?site=pfs&task=popup1wealth&value=15630

I would imagine we will go onto the old Woolwich SVR rate (4.99%), though I hope not, and that something better will happen. I think this is a good thing regardless as I felt like Standard Life had given up recently and were extremely uncompetitive.

Fishcakes_and_chips

We took out a Standard Life mortgage in April 2007. Our fixed rate deal (at 5.5%) ends in December this year and as we're unable to remortgage (the drop in house prices means we would need to find a mortgage at 100%+ LTV :mad:), I'll be glad to see a change from Standard Life's preferential treatment of their savers at the expense of their mortgage customers.

I shan't hold my breath though.

CPS

leicsmark wrote: »

On the Standard Life website there is a FAQ which says that the Terms and Conditions won't change, but that any change to the variable rate in the future will be made according to those terms.

http://www.standardlife.co.uk/content/help/bank.html#three

So I think that the SVR rate will change in January. Barclay's (Woolwich) have a SVR of 4.99% which is what old mortgages revert to. The 2.49% is a different tracker rate which tracks Woolwich's "Base Rate" plus a certain amount that changes depending on the product you take, and this is what the recent mortgages go to. The base rate is currently the same as Bank of England, 0.5%. So I imagine the product you looked at was Base rate + 1.49%.

http://www.personal.barclays.co.uk/BRC1/jsp/brccontrol?site=pfs&task=popup1wealth&value=15630

I would imagine we will go onto the old Woolwich SVR rate (4.99%), though I hope not, and that something better will happen. I think this is a good thing regardless as I felt like Standard Life had given up recently and were extremely uncompetitive.

I would be delighted to go onto the Woolwich SVR of 4.99%. IM currently on SL SVR +0.20% cause of my high LTV when I first took out the mortgage so Id save about £60 a month. It also might be easier to get a better deal with Barclays/Woolwich if I want to get a fixed rate, as SL fixed rates were awful. Will see what happens and wil give thema ring in Jnauary when the buy out goes through

leicsmark

The media seem to be complaining that the loss of Standard Life Bank means less competition and choice. I have to say though that those of us who currently hold mortgages feel rather let down by their lack of competitiveness and high rates over the last year.

So being with Barclay's will hopefully mean the chance of a new deal.

I asked Standard Life a few months ago about whether I could have a new fixed rate with my high LTV. They said they were offering NO new mortgages to ANY customer, but that to them the current LTV rate was irrelevant as they don't revalue the house and I should check back "soon" as more products would surely come out soon. "Soon" never happened and now its clear to see why.

I wonder how Barclay's will deal with Standard Life's customers. Hopefully it will work to our advantage even if only slightly.

CPS

Sound slike we are in the same boat. I have seen threads over the months with people complaining that SL did not lower their SVR as much as other lenders so Im sure this will affect a lot of others.

My fixed rate ended yesterday as it goes and yes I rang back in September and was bluntly told no retention deals. Was happy to go onto SVR as best Fixed Rate was 6.5% which didnt even apply to me as Iv no equity.
Anyway, both websites suggest we will still be dealing with SL call centre & website etc so I fear nought is going to change but we will see come January.

leicsmark

I gave them a call today regarding overpayment arrangements and asked a few cheeky questions. The women I spoke to wasn't able to tell me anything really. She just read the information from the website to me. I asked her all the questions I could think of and she was very apologetic and told me she didn't know. I also asked about who we would be dealing with (i.e. the same call centre in Edinburgh) and she wasn't sure if the Standard Life team would stay dealing with the ex Standard Life mortgages and accounts or whether we could go to the Barclay's branches.

We need to wait and see but i'm still hoping it's a positive step. I told her that Barclay's SVR was 4.99% (she didn't know) and she said they haven't been told if they would align. I did ask her who would be in charge of setting Standard Life's 5.34% SVR if they didn't exist and she couldn't answer that either.

We need to wait and see...


Edit: I thought I should add that i've always found SL customer service to be excellent and very efficient, it's just that their SVR is high.

CPS

Cheers, that saves me phoning them. Hopefulyl in the new year, they will have decided what they are doing. And yes I agree, a combination of Barclays SVR and SL Customer Service would work well (until I have enough equiy to get another fixed rate and leave altogether).

Any further news, keep me posted.

opinions4u

I would hazard a wild guess that you will end up with Barclays service and Standard Life's SVR.

Kavanne

I 've got a feeling Barclays might try and tempt me off my BR + 0.75%!!

I just called Standard Life and they said their staff were being moved to Barclays, no news yet of any closure for them but who knows I said that would be a shame as SL's service has always been good (In my experience!) and Barclays bad!!