I have got no problems with the abbey. (Abbey National in general)

Member Name: andycharger

Product:	Abbey National in general
Date:	10/12/02 (302 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great deal, Cheap rates

Disadvantages: Variable rates, Short lock in, Lack of hassle

Despite the annoying adverts featuring a floppy haired Alan Davis telling me life is compicated enough, many people complain about the Abbey National as a lender for Mortgages.
Well, I will stand in their corner and defend them to the hills.
Basically, because they helped me out with a great deal and are not full of extras.

When I first took my unsteady steps into the world of mortgages, I realised that it was a minefield that I was about to enter.

After experiencing 2.5 years of an "Interest Only" mortgage, I vowed I would not fall into the same trap with my new property. This time I would research it more in depth and find the right package.

So after speaking to many companies who all had the "best" deal for me, I opted for the Abbey National.

Why?

Well, look at my situation. I was Selling my flat in February. Buying a new house at the same time and getting married in the June. This meant 2 of the most stressful things in the world were happening at once, not to mention most expensive.

I therefore was going to have very little money available to me for the next couple of years.

What I needed was a low interest rate, so the mortgage would not increase instead of shrink,a short-ish deal so I could reconsider my options when Im ready and low repayments due to lack of money.

So how could I get a nice cheap deal?
Well, Abbey National offered me a great option. A stepped mortgage deal.

How does this work?
Well, the mortgage is the typical 25 year repayment mortgage. This means that you will have repayed your mortgage fully in 25 years. This can be guaranteed by taking out the "minimum Mortgage" Insurance policy. This ensures that even during high interest times, the mortgage can not grow to above a threshold.

The way the stepped part works is that your actual deal with the Abbey is over 3 years. If you leave before this time or repay y
our mortgage, you will incur a penalty and this costs money.

Due to having little money, the stepped mortgage works by having a very low repayment in the first year, increasing it slightly in the second year and increasing it again in the 3rd year. Hence the name of the "stepped"mortgage.

This has worked extremely well for me but because of one lucky factor. The Interest rate.

Yes. This mortgage has not fixed or capped interest rate. How these work is that you repay at a fixed interest rate for th entire mortgage with the company.
So if you got 5% and are paying £450 a month, you will be paying £450 a month at the end of the 3 years.

However, with a variable rate, you are taking a risk.
If you are paying £450 at 5% and the rate goes down to 4%, you may be paying £370 or something similar.
This is good if it does go down.
I have been lucky and it has. In fact, it has gone down so much, I am paying less in my 2nd year than I was originally meant to pay in the 1st!
It cuts the other way. If the rate suddenly rocketed, I would be paying over the odds for my mortgage.

So I have come out of this quite well.

As far as involvement is concerned from the Abbey, I find them very easy to talk to. However, being put on hold is no different here that anywhere else. Be prepared to wait.
Once a year, I recieve a mortgage statement telling me how much I have paid off. Im glad to say it goes down every year and is a nice sight.
I also recieve all of my documentation from their various other services telling me what they want me to have and do. It suprising how much money they are willing to throw at you when you have one of their mortgages.

Aplpying for the morgage was very simple. The forms were all sent to me from my financial adviser who was able to explain it all quickly. I had no problems and the entire agreement process was very efficient.

There were no more charges i
nvolved in the process and I was only required to place a deposit of £50 which I got back!

So to wrap up, its a great deal which suited me. Not that much contact from them but that is a good thing. It means the mortgage is running smoothly.

Summary: