Nationwide Save to Buy scheme

DanielCleaver1

Me and my girlfriend are looking into saving for our first property and wanted to know which savings account would be best.

Nationwide's save to buy account looks the obvious choice?

Any help would be much appreciated

Daniel

bellaboo86

I opened a Nationwide save to buy over a year ago. In terms of interest what you will get is pitiful so if you are looking for the best rate this probably isn't the account for you. Having said that the reason I opened it was because they were more likely to consider you for a 95% mortgage (who knows if they will exist when we can afford to buy a home). However what I like about it is that you can't take the money out with out closing it so I can't 'borrow' from it (However if it is interest rate your after you could look into a regular saver where you have limited access). After setting up a SO for £50 (minimum amount) I don't even miss the money. I figured I had nothing to lose by opening one, even if Nationwide wouldn't offer me a mortgage I will still have savings for a deposit.

chanz4

take also into account they are fussy who they lend to

Rosy_Apple

We opened a save to buy account in December last year and have just applied for a 95% mortgage. For us, becuase it gave the option of applying for a 95% mortgage it was the right choice. Also we knew we wanted to turn everything around quite quickly so were less bothered about the low interest. I agree with the person above who says you may as well open one and direct debit £50 per month to give you access to their 95% mortgage and then maybe if your savings are going to be longer term open another savings account with a better interest rate in parallel.

Their lending criteria is apparently very strict when it comes to 95% mortgages (understandable really); so I am currently having a few sleepless nights whilst waiting to hear if we have a mortgage offer!

Hope that helps a bit- happy to share our experience more if you need anything else.

winnie1988

Hi, we also opened a save to buy account to get the £1000 cashback at the end of the term. We knew we would be able to save a 10% deposit. We made an appointment and although they gave us a DIP, they declined us because my other half is self employed and they didn't like the figures we were giving them. So just take into account they are quite fussy so if you are doing it for interest then look around, but in terms of 5% or the cashback then it may be worth going for it and hoping for the best when the time comes. We are going with Halifax now and they have been fab!

Rosy_Apple

winnie1988 wrote: »

Hi, we also opened a save to buy account to get the £1000 cashback at the end of the term. We knew we would be able to save a 10% deposit. We made an appointment and although they gave us a DIP, they declined us because my other half is self employed and they didn't like the figures we were giving them. So just take into account they are quite fussy so if you are doing it for interest then look around, but in terms of 5% or the cashback then it may be worth going for it and hoping for the best when the time comes. We are going with Halifax now and they have been fab!

Hi,

Sorry to hijack the thread but I wondered if I could ask you a question. At what point did you find out you had been declined (if you don't mind me asking)? Did they get to the point of doing a valuation of the property?

Thanks in advance
RA

winnie1988

Rosy_Apple wrote: »

Hi,

Sorry to hijack the thread but I wondered if I could ask you a question. At what point did you find out you had been declined (if you don't mind me asking)? Did they get to the point of doing a valuation of the property?

Thanks in advance
RA

Hey!
No, we didn't even get to that stage. We had an AIP, then we booked a meeting with a mortgage advisor and she was going through the application & they would lend us £20k short of what we wanted, they didn't even get to the credit check! :mad:

Rosy_Apple

winnie1988 wrote: »

Hey!
No, we didn't even get to that stage. We had an AIP, then we booked a meeting with a mortgage advisor and she was going through the application & they would lend us £20k short of what we wanted, they didn't even get to the credit check! :mad:

Thanks for replying. Sorry to hear that, how rubbish! Glad it is all going ok with Halifax now though :j

joeqprman

Hello

We opened a save to buy in Feb 2013, Got our DIP in June based on a 5% deposit and had an offer accepted on a house also in June... all good.. but we have had to wait until August to make the full mortgage application. (mortgage advisor thought it was 6 monthly payments into account but found out after DIP it had to be open for 6 full months)

It has helped waiting the extra 6 weeks between June and August in the fact that we now have a 10% deposit and the house price is lower than the DIP amout

At the stage now of waiting for the valuations/Homebuyers report to be done tomorrow... been such a long and nervous 6 weeks since we got the DIP.

Dont want to jinx things but so far would deffo recommened Nationwide Save to buy, they have been very helpful... just hope I am still saying that in a month or so from now

ccbrowning

I opened up a Save to Buy account in February but was declined at the DIP stage (when they ran the credit check), even on 85% LTV. They can't tell me WHY I was declined, either and there are no markers in my credit report.

Rosy_Apple

joeqprman wrote: »

Hello

We opened a save to buy in Feb 2013, Got our DIP in June based on a 5% deposit and had an offer accepted on a house also in June... all good.. but we have had to wait until August to make the full mortgage application. (mortgage advisor thought it was 6 monthly payments into account but found out after DIP it had to be open for 6 full months)

It has helped waiting the extra 6 weeks between June and August in the fact that we now have a 10% deposit and the house price is lower than the DIP amout

At the stage now of waiting for the valuations/Homebuyers report to be done tomorrow... been such a long and nervous 6 weeks since we got the DIP.

Dont want to jinx things but so far would deffo recommened Nationwide Save to buy, they have been very helpful... just hope I am still saying that in a month or so from now

Hope tomorrow goes well for you, ours is next Friday- such a nervous wait!