Northern Rock Problems

nttwill

Morning all,

Id just like to share my experiences of Northern Rock with you, mainly to vent my frustration but also if any one has any advice/suggestions.

Our fixed rate Together 2 year deal came to end on June 1st this year, so in March they wrote to us detailing a list of there wonderfull products, i looked into it and it would make financial sense for us to sign up to a new deal with them (we have a together mortgage with loan and mortgage tied in)

So around the middle of March i contacted them and spoke to a really helpfull mortgage review assistant, after going through the deals my wife and i decided on a 3year stepper mortgage, (ie the rate goes up year on year for 3 years) this worked out the best for us financially. The mortgage review assistant said that we didnt have to pay any exit fees and if we hurried the paperwork the mortgage could start from May or even April, subject to status etc. He claimed you can do this as an existing customer. The assistant said the papers should be with us in 2 days, they didnt arrive, 1 week later i phoned aware of the urgency to return the papers, I was told the offer should have been sent out, and another one will be sent. A further week later i phoned again, the assistant apologised and went through the mortgage deals once more, of course due to the rate rise the rates on the 3 year fixed stepper had gone up , i explained that we were offered the lower rate before the rate rise, the assistant said this would not be a problem and she would send out an offer.

In the middle of April an offer arrived, hurray!, all was present and correct we signed up and sent the papers back, on the paperwork the mortgage would run from March to March over 3 years?! I contacted NR and explained that we had been chasing them to send out the paperwork and if it starts from march we would lose at least 2 months of the lower rate due to the new mortgage not starting from May, they explained that they would change the mortgage to run from may to may!

So (nealy finished!) the start of may came we had had no confimation or corrospandance from nr, and the direct debit was the same from the previous mortgage (ie they had not applied the new mortgage) i phoned up nr once more and was advised that what i had been told when i first applied was untrue and we had to wait until our previous mortgage deal ended, this would then run from June, nr claimed they had it all on screen our new mortgage would start from june fixed for three years. Nr said they would send out the corrospandance detailing the payments etc.

We heard nothing all May, the start of June arrives and the dd payment has gone up by some £200 ! i phoned up nr very angry and asked them to explain this to me, nr claimed that the dd had not been changed and that this would be the normal sum had i kept my original mortgage and the nr variable rate had been applied, they appologised and said the new mortgage was running and they would send me a refund of the £200 within 4 days, i asked for a breakdown of the charges and payment terms etc as we had had nothing from them. On the same day as all this my post arrived with a breakdown of charges in it, detailing that the new mortgage went through on 28 May and the first payment would leave on the 1st July! :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

(BTW if your still reading this thanks very much!)
My anger stems from the fact that - i had to phone 4 times just for an offer to be sent,
Each time i speak to nr i am told differant things, almost as if they lie to you to given you the answers you want, ( i may ask them to pay the mortgage for me to see what they say)
Whats happended to my June payment, ive paid over £200 extra on top of my normal dd, but according to the letter i recieved above , June is not mentioned
How can a huge company like nr who make billions per year take 3 months to sort out a mortgage and still get it wrong?

Thanks for reading, have a super day

N

SkintBint

Quite worrying since I am considering a NR mortgage!

Mind you this seems to be common factor with all these huge call centre based firms - none of the employees seem to care about the customer at all, maybe they are getting paid to little?

jonesMUFCforever

Do you have any exit fees with your existing mortgage?
If not vote with your feet - there are many lenders out there who will do 'fee free' re mortgages or 'free legals'.
The market seems to be slowing with mortage applications falling last month according to the official statistics - so a lot of companies chasing fewer business.

nttwill

Thanks for your replys, with us having the together product at present its just easier staying with NR, and now its too late to move product as everthings gone through, in three years though we will be in a much better position to move provider.

homer_j_3

Yes - the together product will keep you tied with them or limited to a very few number of lenders due the unsecured loan bit increasing to Bank Base Rate +8% should you seperate the mortgage and unsecured loan bit.

I find that NR are no better or worse than many companies of that size, I have had issues with them in the past where I have put applications through and been refused at a very late point in the day after money had been taken for fees etc. I have also had cases accepted where I many other lenders would not go near so as I say - I have seen the good and bad of NR.

Providing NR put you back in a position where you are not really financially worse off than had the process gone throught first time then I can see why you have been annoyed and frustrated but if its come right in the end - life goes on.

Pink.

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