Nationwide haunt me!

Ali-OK

For many years I had a mortgage with Nationwide (before switching lenders was heard of!) and they were awful..

1) Treated like a school child when I wanted to increase my mortgage to move house (was borrowing less than 2x salary with no other borrowing anywhere)

2) They tried to charge a tie-in penalty fee when one didn't exist (I had all the paperwork to prove it) but it took 5 months for them to back down.

3) When I finally dumped them in 2002, I had to drive to their Northampton HQ to collect the deeds...as it would take them 30 days to post them!

I thought I was rid of them in 2002 as I changed lender and breathed a huge sigh of relief, but guess what, now I've gone to cash in an endowment..and there's a note on file that they still have an interest in it! Grrr...phoned them and a disclaimer letter is on its way (fingers crossed or I'll be in Northampton again soon! )

Now, I often hear good things about NW and their rates..so question is, when switching time comes round again, should I reconsider them? Has their service improved?

AndrewSmith

I have been using nationwide for over a decade as a broker and, with the rare exception, have had no problems to speak of.

tanith

Sorry you have had bad experience with Nationwide.. I must say that I have been with them for Mortgage and CC for nearly 10yrs and don't have a bad word to say.. always find them most helpful and prompt with any service I require of them.....

herbiesjp

Normally straight forward enough - not had any complaints with them so far.

HTH

Money_Maker_Shaker

I've banked with Nationwide for many years and have never had any problems, in fact when I've needed them they've been really helpful.

However the 2 mortgages I've had with them have been another story. Both times they've made mistakes, given me the wrong information and lost paperwork. This was through 2 different branches as well. Biggest problem I found was when things started to go wrong the branch staff, including the manager, didn't have the authority to make the decisions necessary to sort the problem out. By referring it up to the regional level it took forever and felt very distant and frustrating as they were difficult to get hold of through the call centre and didn't keep me informed on what was going on.

That said I'm still with them now as I liked the actual deal they were offering, and I still couldn't fault the actual current account service!

Best wishes

MMS

Ian_W

Just out of interest, who was the endowment with that you were cashing in? Wouldn't be Standard Life by any chance?

MortgageMamma

Nationwide have been haunting me lately too, they keep sending me text message updates at 2am saying "mr and mrs whatstheirnames solcitors have requested the funds" I'm going to sue nationwide for sleep deprivation. You know you are a saddo when its only nationwide sending me texts in the middle of night

Ali-OK

Ian_W wrote:

Just out of interest, who was the endowment with that you were cashing in? Wouldn't be Standard Life by any chance?

No..it's a L&G one.

Ali-OK

MortgageMamma wrote:

Nationwide have been haunting me lately too, they keep sending me text message updates at 2am saying "mr and mrs whatstheirnames solcitors have requested the funds" I'm going to sue nationwide for sleep deprivation. You know you are a saddo when its only nationwide sending me texts in the middle of night

Oh, that's taking the mickey :eek: and I thought I had problems!

Put that phone onto silent immediately!

Ali-OK

Money_Maker_Shaker wrote:

However the 2 mortgages I've had with them have been another story. Both times they've made mistakes, given me the wrong information and lost paperwork. This was through 2 different branches as well. Biggest problem I found was when things started to go wrong the branch staff, including the manager, didn't have the authority to make the decisions necessary to sort the problem out. By referring it up to the regional level it took forever and felt very distant and frustrating as they were difficult to get hold of through the call centre and didn't keep me informed on what was going on.

That said I'm still with them now as I liked the actual deal they were offering, and I still couldn't fault the actual current account service!

Best wishes

MMS

Yes, you've hit the nail on head for me..deals good, branch staff not empowered. Only ended up with them when they took over Anglia Building Society (who the original mortgage was with). Who remembers them?!

Baileys_Babe

I've banked with them for 18 years and had a mortgage with them for 6 years, never had a problem.