Mortgage charges plus Nationwide

darren62

I don't know if anyone else has experience of this but I am not only shocked by what has happened to me but also angry.

I also think that someone somewhere should be changing laws to stop it happening but don't know what to do.

Basically I knew that I was getting to my overdraft limit so paid in a £1K cheque to lower it to a level where my direct debits would be paid.

This account is with the Nationwide Building society. The next thing I know is that my direct debit for my mortgage had bounced because I was just under £50 over my overdraft limit.

I was charged £30 for this unpaid direct debit and also £25 by my mortgage company UCB home loand, an offshoot of Nationwide.

My next step was to contact Nationwide only to be told that the reason they didn't pay my direct debit was because payments out are sent out before payments in are credited so although the cheque was showing on my account the same day they wouldn't pay it.

To their credit they did cancel the £30 fee but this left me with another £25 fee from UCB home loans so I contacted them. At first their answer was simply to say that the HSBC, their handling bank charged them £25 so they passed this on to the customer.

I told them that this wasn't acceptable and that as a responsible lender they had to justify the £25 as reasonable not just say it was what they were charged. I also asked them to prove that they had been charged the £25 but now I have received a letter from them saying that they are not obliged to give details of how their directors have deemed £25 to be the appropriate fee for unpaid items such as cheques and direct debits.

So do I just have to accept this and move on or is there anything I can do to try and get a few things changed as I am pretty angry with a number of things that this issue has highlighted to me.

My first issue is that Nationwide are debiting before crediting which I am annoyed about and cannot see why they are allowed to do this. I think this is just a way of being able to put charges on customers accounts when in reality the funds are there to pay the debits they just choose to apply debits before credits.

My second issue is that UCB home loans say that they charge because that is what they are charged but they won't put this in writing and now won't justify their charges and seem to think they don't have to. Do they or not? I don't know.

My last issue and one I have no idea how to address is the fact that I have had my UCB home loans mortgage since 2003, never missed a payment, in fact I am in credit due to me paying my endowment refund off the mortgage, I have a loan to value ratio of under 50% yet I am still classed as high risk and pay 5.49% which I find nothing more than legal loan sharking.

They say they are a specialist lender but I think it is high time someone somewhere took a look at this practice and made these companies look again after a few years of their customers being with them. I have been with them for 7 years, never missed a payment, have a loan to value ratio of less than 50% and they can still class me as high risk.

dunstonh

So do I just have to accept this and move on or is there anything I can do to try and get a few things changed as I am pretty angry with a number of things that this issue has highlighted to me.

The best thing is to run your account within the terms and conditions. If you do that, then you wont get charged.

My first issue is that Nationwide are debiting before crediting which I am annoyed about and cannot see why they are allowed to do this.

Many banks and building societies do this and they have it in their T&C that you should not rely on paying in on the same day to cover debits going out.

I think this is just a way of being able to put charges on customers accounts when in reality the funds are there to pay the debits they just choose to apply debits before credits.

The method used by banks is the standard accountancy method. What other method would you like them to use?

My second issue is that UCB home loans say that they charge because that is what they are charged but they won't put this in writing and now won't justify their charges and seem to think they don't have to. Do they or not? I don't know.

They dont have to justify their charge to you.

My last issue and one I have no idea how to address is the fact that I have had my UCB home loans mortgage since 2003, never missed a payment, in fact I am in credit due to me paying my endowment refund off the mortgage, I have a loan to value ratio of under 50% yet I am still classed as high risk and pay 5.49% which I find nothing more than legal loan sharking.

You are a high risk borrower because of your position at the point of taking the mortgage out. If you feel you are not high risk any more then remortgage to a prime lender and get better terms.

5.49% is not that high for a high risk lender.

I think it is high time someone somewhere took a look at this practice and made these companies look again after a few years of their customers being with them.

If you dont like it then excercise your right to move to another lender. If you cant move to another lender then it verifies that they are correct in classing you as high risk.

have been with them for 7 years, never missed a payment, have a loan to value ratio of less than 50% and they can still class me as high risk.

Its because that is what they do. They dont have prime mortgages. Just sub prime (or near prime). They cant offer you something they dont have.

[Deleted User]

darren62 wrote: »

....I have a loan to value ratio of under 50% yet I am still classed as high risk and pay 5.49% which I find nothing more than legal loan sharking.

What kind of sorry-a$$ loan shark would charge 5.49%??! They'd be laughed out of the loan-sharking union!

Joe_Bloggs

The Nationwide flex account accepts and grants 'faster payments'.
This may help you to move your money where it is needed before it is too late.

Living on the edge of your overdraft is fraught with danger as this facility can be withdrawn with little warning and net the financial institution a small fortune in fees while you try and dig your way out.
J_B.

_Andy_

You think 5.49% is 'loan sharking'? Oh please.

ginvzt

Excuse, but I can't see it written in your post:

when did you pay in the cheque and when was the DD taken out? Was it the same day? A week later? I guess most people know that paid in cheque 'money' are not available straight away, so it is important here to know the time scales, don't you think?

Rover35

Hi !

Nationwide do their processing of DD in the small hours and have also recently changed the rules so money has to be in the day before. This is worth checking for anyone as many customers have their money paid in before and they may need to move the payment a day as this may now cause a missed payment and create a charge.

UCB was predominantly a self cert lender and so the potential risk as these clients incomes were never verified will probably be relected in the current rate.

It sounds brutal but the excess charges have been what banks have used to fund free banking. If you look at Nationwides recent banking changes you will see free use abroad is gone but missed payments fees are reducing. Some one always pays...:(