Nationwide Building Society Letting Fee

[Paulhar]

Hi All,

I have a £250000 BTL mortgage with the Nationwide and yesterday I received a letter from them saying that on September 1st they are adding a 1.5% 'letting fee' to my mortgage. This will mean an increase in my repayments of £312 per month.

Before I get on the phone and give them a piece of my mind I'd like to know for sure if they are allowed to do this. I guess they have lawyers who have advised them it is legal but I have been through every piece of paper they have ever sent me (including the original mortgage offer) and nowhere does it say that they can introduce a charge like this.

I accept that I will have to pay more if interest rates rise, as a BTL investor that is a chance I take but interest rates would only rise by around 0.25% per month - not 1.5% in one go. Also, this has nothing to do with interest rates - it is clearly a case of them looking at my repayments, deciding I can afford to pay more and then forcing me to pay it.

If anyone has any thoughts on my best course of action I would really appreciate some advice.

Cheers

Paul

[Melboy]

I read the story about this yesterday........Appalling isn't it? but there again this is the new face of the Nationwide.....probably the worse BS in the Country now on all fronts and I for one drew all my money and investments from them last year in protest. Their counter service is even worse!!

From what I read you can do nothing much about it but protest anyway and see what happens.

Mel.

[Mortitia]

That's disgraceful - really moving the goalposts after you've signed up and paid up. I am a N/Wide customer but have never borrowed from them though I did enquire once - for BTL don't they use another commercial company affiliated to them?

I'd start by complaining to the Financial Ombudsman or re-finance elsewhere - surely the costs would be worth it?

I think thier counter service has got worse since they went in with the Portman BS - another abysmal customer service company.

Mortitia

[isabelm@isabelm.plus.com]

BTL mortgages are available from The Mortgage Works which was taken over by Nationwide. Maybe Nationwide wants to get rid of BTL morgages business and direct it to The Mortgage Works arm instead......

[Mortitia]

That was not the name of the outfit they wanted me to use. It had a proper commercial name.

Mortitia

[isabelm@isabelm.plus.com]

Mortitia - a google search yielded this.

"3 Oct 2008 ... Earlier this week the buy-to-let lenders UCB Homeloans and The Mortgage Works (both owned by Nationwide Building Society), ...."

[Mortitia]

I confirm that UCB was the one offered to me. What's in a name? - well I would not enter into any financial arrangement with a company sporting a name like The Mortgage Works.

Is it a play on words or just trying to be cool and trendy?

Call me old fashioned but I bet they drop that name quicker than Exxon did. (Think oil IsobellM.)

Mortitia

[cumbriana]

I rang them up about this and was told that as long as the agreement was in place then no fees applied for the period of the agreement (up to 3 years).