Are Abbey Taking the Mickey Out of Me ???

sarkin

In a word yes

I used to work for abbey they have a sliding scale on rates depending on how big the mortgage is. If the ballance is under £70,000 forget it they have had the profit so they dont care if you leave. They rely on the fact that a lot of people cant be bothered to switch.

firesidemaid

in theory the customer retention dept is the way to go - although when i rang the dept at my bank rbos the first time, i was told 'if i was you i would just go to a+l then'!

this was after being with the bank for 13 years! i gave them another chance and got a good deal. if you are serious about moving your mortgage they should try and keep your custom.

be prepared and have the details/rates of the providers you are likely to move to. let them know you will move your current account as well.

good rates are hovering above 5% depending on your circumstances.

take into account any redemption fees, arrangement fees and free valuation/legal fees packages.

go for it!:T

Monkeybutt

Have we discovered the amount that the mortgage is for, as mentioned above if it's small then their is less room to manoeuvre, I'm guessing it is also dependent on LTV.

Mine was for quite a big mortgage and they couldn't do enough for me.

Hurdler

I had exactly the same with Abbey!
They were my first mortgage, and I had a fixed cap for 2 years which became a variable rate for another 2 I think. When the time came to renew options - their whole attitude was appalling.
The offers they gave me were absolutely dreadful ... at the time I was being courted by my bank to join their Premier Client scheme and one of the offers they made me was a new loan (had a consolidation loan as well, slap-wrist) and also to put them in touch with their mortgage advisors...
Since then, they have often actively phoned when they've released a new tracker rate flex mortgage and on 2 occasions now have moved me to a similar product with a better rate to save me money!

mattbroker

go to a broker or IFA, get yourself a new fixed rate deal.abbey have no loyalty with existing customers.if you have a decent credit score,can declare your income etc,you should get a rate around 5.29% with no valuation and other incentives like free legals etc

plane_boy2000

sazzacat wrote:

in theory the customer retention dept is the way to go - although when i rang the dept at my bank rbos the first time, i was told 'if i was you i would just go to a+l then'!

this was after being with the bank for 13 years! i gave them another chance and got a good deal. if you are serious about moving your mortgage they should try and keep your custom.

be prepared and have the details/rates of the providers you are likely to move to. let them know you will move your current account as well.

good rates are hovering above 5% depending on your circumstances.

take into account any redemption fees, arrangement fees and free valuation/legal fees packages.

go for it!:T

I am with RBOS and they were pretty unhelpful for me, but I would rather stay than leave just because it would be easier, and it can be difficult for us to prove my partners income. What rate did you get from RBOS and over what amount etc (if you dont mind me asking?)

I have 180K mortgage on a £375K property

Addiscomber

prudryden wrote:

Since the take over of Abbey, they don't seem to be as user friendly as they once were.

I agree. Our local branch is decidedly less than helpful over anything, from handing out cash bags to bag small change in (they DO call themselves a BANK, after all) to making capital repayments :mad: I was offered those rates when I enquired before the base rate went up, as our fixed rate ends on 31 January. Being a good paying customer counts for nothing - we had been with them for at least 10 years. We have now been accepted elsewhere for a 4.98% deal, and frankly the icing on the cake is that we can say goodbye to Abbey for everything :rotfl:

Hurrah for the internet making searching for better deals easier :j :j :T

firesidemaid

plane_boy2000 wrote:

I am with RBOS and they were pretty unhelpful for me, but I would rather stay than leave just because it would be easier, and it can be difficult for us to prove my partners income. What rate did you get from RBOS and over what amount etc (if you dont mind me asking?)

I have 180K mortgage on a £375K property

i'm happy to help! i have done this twice over the years now.

we have a £110k mgage on a £225k property, and are just coming to the end of our current deal. it seemed like lending less than that wasn't worth it for them, so you should be ok.

i rang the mortgage retention centre no - freephone no available on 'exisiting customer mortgage pages' on https://www.rbos.co.uk

again, be prepared with good rates from other lenders that you may be prepared to move to. they seemed to be prepared to help if you are potentially genuine about moving from them and not just bluffing - and i was prepared to go to a+l. (calculate the effect of redemption fees, arrangement fees etc).

there will be no legal or valuation fees, but i could not negotiate away the arrangement fees at all.

they can't match other offers, but they offered me their lowest rates available - not the best, i got 5.39% fixed - this has just gone up, but i think they still have the 5.19% discounted rate.

hope this is helpful - good luck