UCB/Nationwide were good, now have high fees (Nationwide Building Society)

Member Name: DarkestGrey

Product:	Nationwide Building Society
Date:	21/08/08 (159 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Offer loyalty rates. Offer fully flexible mortgages. No need to prove income.

Disadvantages: Higher interest rates. Very high fees.

This review is slightly different to the other reviewers on here since this is a review for UCB Homeloans. UCB are specialist and are owned by Nationwide and they even use the same logo and style of letterhead on their letters.

UCB are the Nationwide specialist in getting mortgages to people who have more difficult circumstances, such as the self employed for example. This is often where Nationwide will point you if you can't prove a regular income.

Opening a mortgage was fairly straightforward, of course they charge for a million different things. Valuation wasn't free as it was for many other mortgage companies at the time.

I was required to put down a 15% deposit (as are many of UCB customers, since we are viewed as a higher risk and they want to see some money up front).

The mortgage itself is completely flexible. I can overpay by as much as I want and take payment breaks when you want, as long as you have overpaid by enough to allow you a break. So if your mortgage is £1000 per month and you have overpaid by £1000, you can phone them up and tell them you don't want to pay next month. If you overpay by £500 or more, they recalculate their interest from your next payment, so will see slightly less go out of your bank.

Their fee structure, like many mortgages, has changed dramatically. Last time I remortgaged, the fee was £275. This time they want £1995 or £2995 for me to go onto a fixed or discounted mortgage (fee depends on the interest rate you pick). This for someone who is thousands ahead due to overpayments. For a two year deal, £2995 works out to be £124 per month, which I personally think is ridiculous (or £50 a month for their longest deal of 5 years). Unless you have a really large mortgage, these fees are just too high - just like many other lenders are at the moment. These fees are loyalty rates, I am not sure what the rates would be for a new customer.

Contacting them is easy. As UCB are a specialist of Nationwide, they have their own office. They even give you a phone number to call and this (apparently) varies depending on the first few digits of your account number. I have phoned them on a number of occassions and they are generally helpful. The only critism I have is that they like to quote interest rates rather than repayment amounts. I would like to hear "that one is 6.5% variable and that would be £800 a month at the moment for your mortgage". I am more interested in £800 than a percentage that most people probably don't even understand what the percentage relates to.

Again, like many mortgage companies, they like to charge for any changes to your account. These changes are not cheap, however changing your direct debit to another account is free.

Overall I would recommend UCB (Nationwide) if you are struggling to get a mortgage elsewhere. You will need a large deposit, but you won't need to prove your income.

Summary: Good choice if you can't prove your income or are struggling to get a mortgage elsewhere.