Nationwide reneging on Mortgage Charter

homesaver234

Anyone else found Nationwide reneging on the new Mortgage Charter? 

The Govt. lists Nationwide as one of the lenders signed-up to the charter including the option to switch to interest-only.

But Nationwide on phone told me the information from the Govt. was wrong, and Nationwide has not agreed to provide this option.

MWT

Please do not start a new thread on the same topic for each lender, especially as you are basing your accusations on a faulty premise...

homesaver234

What faulty premise??

"The Govt. lists Nationwide as one of the lenders signed-up to the charter including the option to switch to interest-only." is proven on their own web site article 
 

and confirmed by Which?



(this forum prevents me posting the links) .

MWT

These options for current borrowers are not yet live, so you can't actually use them until the lenders have completed the necessary changes to their systems and training...

Nationwide:

Barclays:

homesaver234

You still haven't IDed a faulty premise.

Govt. says Nationwide has agreed; Nationwide says Govt. is wrong. and says Nationwide has not agreed (notwithstanding that Nationwide contradicts this on its website).

Whether the options are live is a separate issue.

MWT

homesaver234 said:

You still haven't IDed a faulty premise.

Govt. says Nationwide has agreed; Nationwide says Govt. is wrong. and Nationwide has not agreed.

Whether the options are live is a separate issue.

One, as yet untrained phone centre employee, gave you faulty information, wait until the option is released and then see how it goes if you are a qualifying existing customer...  ... none of that equates to anyone reneging on the charter.

Brie

They've agreed as proved by the website.  But it's not available yet.  Where's the faulty premise?

Just because one person you talked to didn't know about an upcoming change doesn't make the premise faulty.  Just means that one person hasn't been told.  That happens for all sorts of reasons.  They were on holiday, off sick and so missed a training session.  Or more likely, as things haven't been sorted out by the bank (any bank) no training has taken place yet.  They may have been sent an email advising things will change in the future but I know myself that they might be getting 20 or 30 such emails (many of which are irrelevant) every single day with little updates and are likely unable to find the time to read them all or, if they have read them, been unable to remember every tiny detail.

ACG

I replied to a similar post the other day.

One of my best mates works for a bank and is involved in setting up the process for this - they have not finalised a process yet despite being on the list. 
I was out playing golf with a head of sales for a building society also on the list, they do have their process in place (in fairness they have had to change very little). 

The bank is looking like they will follow it to the letter as best they can - parts of it are open to interpretation so it is based on their interpretation of it (or how a group of 7-8 people interpreted it). 

The building society have said they are not just going to allow people to switch to interest only without any questions. And depending on the answers to those questions they may refuse the request. 

Ultimately the building society have basically said they have rules to follow with their governing body and those supersede this charter on the basis that their governing body could stop them trading, the government charter cant.  There are parts of the charter that go against their legal requirements and their insurance requirements. 


The building society have taken the view that they always have and will continue to do the first bullet point and that the second bullet point just means that they are allowed to offer interest only from a government perspective for 6 months without ending up getting grilled by MPs on the TV. It does not mean they HAVE to do it. 


I have said it before, but take what the government has said with a pinch of salt. They were under increasing pressure so they did a bit of smoke and mirrors and not much else. Who remembers Rishi' 5 promises which then became pledges and have now been watered down to priorities?... This is similar. Basically it sounded good, they cant deliver but it keeps the pressure off them as he can say he did something when in reality he did very little. 

• Lenders will offer tailored support for anyone struggling and deploy highly trained staff to help customers. This could mean extending their term to reduce their payments, offering a switch to interest only payments, but also a range of other options like a temporary payment deferral or part interest-part repayment. The right option will depend on the customer’s circumstances.

Signatories to this Charter have agreed:

• A new deal between lenders, the FCA and the government permitting customers who are up to date with their payments to:

  • Switch to interest-only payments for six months or
  • extend their mortgage term to reduce their monthly payments and give customers the option to revert to their original term within 6 months by contacting their lender

badmemory

I would have to wonder what the benefit of interest only would be if by then the interest rates for any fix would be even higher.

Brie

badmemory said:

I would have to wonder what the benefit of interest only would be if by then the interest rates for any fix would be even higher.

It's simply a case of buying some breathing space to try to sort things out.  To get a new job, find things to sell, reassess one's budget. 

If someone's been paying £300 a month on £100k with a 1.2% mortgage rate then going to 5% means monthly interest of over £400 (by quick calcs).  In 6 months' time they might find a way to have something to pay to the principle as well even if that ultimately means a longer time to pay it all back.   

MWT

Brie said:

badmemory said:

I would have to wonder what the benefit of interest only would be if by then the interest rates for any fix would be even higher.

It's simply a case of buying some breathing space to try to sort things out.  To get a new job, find things to sell, reassess one's budget. 

I'd still suggest looking at extending the term as a first option as that delivers a helpful reduction for as long as you need it, not just 6 months, and is something that you can fix in the future with overpayments for example, rather than taking the interest-only route which inevitably results in even higher repayments, unless you can repay the missing capital payment of course...