Nationwide Mortgage - new fees and charges

stamper

We had a letter from the Ombudsman this morning. Nationwide have agreed not to apply the new charges for the whole of the fixed period.

I'm happy that quite a stressful episode has ended and more importantly that Nationwide are not being allowed to use semantics to override their own contracts.

PiggyBank01

I received a phone from the Ombudsman on Friday, saying they deemed it unfair that those on a fixed rate product were trapped with N/W increasing the rate because we would either have to pay the early repayment charge to move or swallow the 1.5% penalty.

Therefore the Ombudsman have got Nationwide to agree to not start charging the CTL penalty until the end of my fixed rate period - after which I`ll be long gone from N/W...

So great work by the Ombudsman in forcing Nationwide that they can`t just hide behind pages of T&Cs when in practice it what they are proposing is grossly unfair. At least N/W have shown their true colours.

Vincenzo

PiggyBank01 wrote: »

Therefore the Ombudsman have got Nationwide to agree to not start charging the CTL penalty until the end of my fixed rate period - after which I`ll be long gone from N/W...

So great work by the Ombudsman in forcing Nationwide that they can`t just hide behind pages of T&Cs when in practice it what they are proposing is grossly unfair. At least N/W have shown their true colours.

I am amazed N/W even tried to get away with this. Thankfully common sense and fairness have prevailed.

My only note of caution would be not to move your mortgage too quickly at the end of your fixed rate as you may find, even with the 1.5% extra interest, it could be a cheaper option than a BTL mortgage, many of which have very high initial fees.

Equaliser123

The one point which is a shame is that the Ombudsman has not actually ruled whether the introduction of the charge was unfair in the first place.

PiggyBank01

Vincenzo wrote: »

I am amazed N/W even tried to get away with this. Thankfully common sense and fairness have prevailed.

My only note of caution would be not to move your mortgage too quickly at the end of your fixed rate as you may find, even with the 1.5% extra interest, it could be a cheaper option than a BTL mortgage, many of which have very high initial fees.

Thanks for the word of caution - we don`t expect to be landlords for very much longer but this decision helps take the time pressure off us.

Also I must say many thanks to your and others advice/experiences during this message thread without which I would`ve just let N/W walk straight over me after they rejected my initial complaint.

PiggyBank01

Equaliser123 wrote: »

The one point which is a shame is that the Ombudsman has not actually ruled whether the introduction of the charge was unfair in the first place.

I`m sure the FOS guy who rang me up to tell me about N/W reversing the decision (in my case) said he 'deemed it to be unfair' but I doubt they actually forced N/W to change their stance.

I`m still waiting on the letter confirming this so it`ll be interesting to see the wording... I`ll update this thread when it comes through.

Equaliser123

PiggyBank01 wrote: »

I`m sure the FOS guy who rang me up to tell me about N/W reversing the decision (in my case) said he 'deemed it to be unfair' but I doubt they actually forced N/W to change their stance.

I`m still waiting on the letter confirming this so it`ll be interesting to see the wording... I`ll update this thread when it comes through.

Be interested to know whether the opportunity to complain to the FOS resumes when the period of time 'granted' by NW is over.

Harry_J

Got the same letter too confirming no extra charges until the end of the ERC.

Can't believe so many people on here thought N/wide were being fair. Well done, the FOS.

Equaliser123

Harry_J wrote: »

Got the same letter too confirming no extra charges until the end of the ERC.

Can't believe so many people on here thought N/wide were being fair. Well done, the FOS.

Yes, but not actually sure the FOS have actually done anything. I think N/W backed down on the basis of the amount of complaints and the fact that an adverse ruling against them was very possible.

I wish the FOS had actually made a ruling.

Thrugelmir

Equaliser123 wrote: »

I wish the FOS had actually made a ruling.

The FOS have upheld the basis of your complaint. In that the imposition of increased charges during the fixed term period of a mortgage product is unfair. As you, the borrower will incur a financial penalty if you choose to transfer your business elsewhere. So what else would you expect them to rule on?

The additional charge is only levied when property has been let for a period in excess of 3 years. Which seems fair and reasonable.