Nationwide Fixed deal ending and arrears

brianzebra

Dear friends,

I have a mortgage with Nationwide which 5 years ago we fixed at 5.98% (seemed like a good idea at the time when interest rates were increasing). At the time I had a good job and all was well.

Move on to a couple of years ago, I was made redundant, I started my own company but things did not work out so I was unemployed or working on minimum wage for a long time (taking what work I could).

I have been paying almost £1000 for the mortgage and we did struggle and, to their credit, Nationwide allowed us to pay a token amount for a while which of course has created arrears.

I am currently paying about £900 (interest only and an amount to pay some of the arrears). I have now had a letter stating that our fixed rate is ending and our new mortgage payment is, wait for it, £500.

My question is, do you think, when I discussed affordability with Nationwide and was clearly struggling, they should have/could have suggested that I move to their standard product which would have prevented me creating a £5k arrears and the stress of almost losing our house.

I am now working, rebuilding my confidence and feel I should ask Nationwide about this, in particular why this was never offered as a possible solution to make things easier and if, I could have any possibility of them reducing the arrears as I have (in effect) paid over £7k more over the last two years compared to the standard rate.

Thanks for reading, it has been a stressful couple of years so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Zebra

ACG

You were tied into a deal, its not their job to put you on a better rate.
Just be thankful your rate has dropped and you can catch up in no time now.

hillcats

Keep your payments as high as possible to start clearing the arrears owed, as the sooner you clear the arrears the better it will be for you ...

Tjrw1985

Yes they "could" have offered to move you to the Variable rate, but I would bet money on them also saying that you would have had to pay the Early Repayment charge for ending your fixed rate early.

You agreed to fix the product, yes you lost your job unfortunately but these are risks that people take.

I wouldn't waste your breath asking the question