Nationwide Mortgage Redemption Fee

USmover

I am 6 months into my 2yr fixed rate and have to sell my house. I am being made redundant and will be moving to the US in the next few months. The redemption figure is 3% for the term of the fixed rate which means I will have to pay out more than £6K for the redemption fee. This is more than I have paid in mortgage payments in the last 6 months!

I rang the Nationwide yesterday to explain my extenuating circumstances and they are adamant that I will have to pay the fee on sale of my home. I could write to complain but suspect I will receive the same answer. I understand that I signed a contract but hoped that they would waive the fee given my circumstances.

Surely this fee is designed to stop borrowers switching from lender to lender to chase a better deal, not to penalise those in situations where the sale of their home is unavoidable.

Does anyone have any advice on how best to challenge this and ensure that the fee is waived or at least reduced? Any experience of anyone having their redemption fee waived with the Nationwide?

Any help is much appreciated

kingstreet

You don't get ERCs waived in such circumstances, I'm afraid

It isn't a fee charged by the lender to tell you off. It's the compensation payable to the market counterparty which supplied the money market rate swap to guarantee your rate for the two years you wanted.

Effectively, it's them penalising Nationwide for breaking the contract and Nationwide passing the charge on to you, as it has no alternative.