Nationwide, NatWest or RBS?

Ramouth

We are looking for a mortgage (120k on 441k purchase, 2 x combined salary) and would prefer not to use a broker as we want to be in control.  

We think we will be in the property long term so we’re initially thinking of a long fix but decided a two year deal would be best incase we don’t like living in the new house after all.  We could decrease the term considerably (currently looking at 20 years) but decided to set it at 20 years and then overpay 10% each month instead so that our committed payment is low should one of us loose our job.

Comparing total yearly cost, the best deals are from Nationwide (£6052), and NatWest / Royal Bank of Scotland (£6091).

These are very close so can anybody tell me if any of them are particularly easy or difficult to deal with?

K_S

@ramouth If cost and product specs were set aside, as a broker or a borrower, I'd have a slight preference for Nationwide over NatWest.

Plus if you want to maximise fee-free overpayments, Nationwide beats NatWest as their 10% annual overpayment allowance is based on the original loan amount and not the reducing balance.

Ramouth

Thank you that is very helpful 

[Deleted User]

Nationwide for me just due to the better deals they offer for existing customers to take renew the mortgage. Natwest charge existing customers more than new customers so when you come up to the end of the fixed period then you are more likely to be forced to move lenders

Ramouth

Thank you, that is something we hadn’t considered.  

Unfortunately the Nationwide product we were looking at has gone - the same interest rate is available but now with big fee.  

Now deciding whether to go with what is available now or wait a bit to see if something better comes up (sellers have not found something yet so we have plenty of time).

Rincewindcl

We've just gone through Barclays and had a positive experience and they have good rates. Have you had a look? In your circumstance of LTV% looks like there's a 1.22% 2 Year fixed rate available, not sure how that compares with Nationwide and the rest?

Ramouth

Thank you - good to hear real people’s experiences.  

1.22 is similar to others - I think a lot of the differences come down to fees and cash back.  I think we will look at a few more comparison sites and just pick something!