Nationwide Mortgages

mgs72

Hi

Does anyone have experience of Nationwide Mortgages.

From lodgement of a mortgage application by a broker, how long does it normally take for a survey to be booked and a mortgage offer received afterwards

Thanks

startingtosave

Hello,

I know there's been a bit of Nationwide bashing going on recently - especially with the new charges on flex accounts and their increased costs for letting out your home. However, I have to say that I've been a flex account and mortgage customer for a while now and have always found them to be helpful.

I think it took a couple of weeks between applying for my mortgage and receiving my offer - however that was back in 98 when things were busier so maybe you'll find it a little quicker!

I find that they notify you of any changes to all of their products in writing and in good time for you to consider your options before the changes take effect. E.g I want to let my home out this year and when I learnt of the charges that were coming into effect last September I wrote to them and they gave me consent to let for three years from 2011 at no extra cost even though the dates that I was applying for were in the future. Had I not taken any notice of the letter that came through my door I would not have known about the new charges and would not have applied in time to avoid these.

The only bone I have is with the new charges on European cash withdrawals - being in Northern Ireland I frequently cross the border and used to not have to think about withdrawing cash however over New Year they charged me almost £4 just for withdrawing cash in Ireland. I've just received my shiny new Halifax Clarity Card though and this will put an end to that problem!

All in all I'm a happy camper - I hope your experience is similar!

BadgerFace_2

Having just been through an application (paper) with a broker, I have the following comments-

-Mine was a paper application and whilst the fee was taken quickly, the application took over a week to even be looked at, they gave reasons as very high amount of applications (I think it means they made most of their staff redundant and now don't have enough for the fewer amount of applications).
-I'd already had a survey done through my broker, but Nationwide were and utter nightmare with getting it loaded onto the correct system.
-The total application took 5 weeks, after having a senior manager chase it and missing my exchange date (more the brokers fault than Nationwide).
-The offer had the wrong address (easy enough to correct).

Though, I actually found it ok, as I was using a broker and they spent a long time chasing it for me. If I was doing it myself, I think I'd have been annoyed.

If the broker has applied using the online system, it may be quicker.

Meatballs

Asked broker to proceed with mortgage 26/11/2010.

Had a bit of faff whereNationwide wanted payslips and P60s we didn't have any P60s and all my payslips were electronic so had to request them etc. Going through broker slowed this down a bit.

3/12/2010 - Valuation booked
8/12/2010 - Valuation done
14/12/2010 - Nationwide had payslips and received employment refs for us.
22/12/2010 - Looked at valuation.
23/12/2010 - Informed special insurance risk on property (still don't know what) delaying things.
24/12/2010 - Christmas Present - Mortgage been offered.

So about a month all in all, a bit less if you can get payslips sent out promptly.

They did say they had a bit of a backlog with the poor weather, but I commuted past their office everyday without issue so I think they were just being lazy bankers

Sending paperwork through broker seems like a pointless step, unless they collect it (or copies) before the application...

I don't think I got the best deal going through brokers, as although I do have a flex account I didn't get the discounts for it that I would have had applying direct. They did help me select a suitable mortgage though.

krockroc

Don't know if I'm a one off but I handed in my application on Thursday 30th Dec 2010 (local branch). Got a text to say they received it on Tuesday 4th Jan 2011. Survey was also done on Tuesday 4th Jan. Phoned today to see how valuation went. They said it came in at the correct value and I can expect my offer mid next week. It's with underwriters at the moment so I'll wait and see. So far the service has been excellent.

krockroc

Sorry, meant to say for me it will hopefully take about two weeks

somethingcorporate

Did the underwriters ask to see proof of deposit?

krockroc

I had to supply bank statements with my application. Most of the money is coming from the sale of our 300k flat (which I have a very small mortgage on).

Meatballs

For me they didn't want any proof of deposit, no bank statements required.

Jo_Mc_2

Our experience is that we sent our application on Tues 4th Jan '11 and received a text and email saying it had been received and was being processed mid-morning on Wed 5th. We had paid for the valuation over the phone on the 29th Dec and the valuer was at the property on Wed 5th Jan.
On Fri 7th, the lady who had dealt with our application phone call the previous week called to say that the valuation had been received and our offer would be £xxxxxx. Unfortuately, because we're buying a new build, it had been valued much lower than the builder's asking price (despite it already having been reduced and the adjacent identical house selling for £40000 over Nationwide's valuation of 'our' house just 5 months ago) and they've offered us significantly less than we need in order to proceed with the purchase, despite having a 33% deposit (and a 28 day completion as part of the deal).