[Closed] Santander mortgages - have they improved their CS?

I recently required a bridging/short term mortgage and Santander (Abbey) came up as the best option. I've had issues with them (as cahoot) in the past and was a bit nervous but the broker assured us it would all be fine.

It wasn't. Delays, delays, delays - and after a few weeks we had to get a re-valuation' as the original had expired - all due to Santander. Thankfully it's all paid off now and I don't have to deal with them again.

Hmmm, we're just about to remortgage and Abbey are one of the options, I think we'll stay clear.

Hmm, just as expected.

I like to feel confident enough to go with them but I'm not getting the vibe right now. Ar5e.

Ring their call centre populated by people who seem to have no intrest, cant find your details loose information, and have absolutely no idea that we as customers pay their wages, and the compensation they frequently have to pay out for poor service.

oh and one department refuses to talk to another or pass info over.

Anyone have any experience of Nationwide? They seem to be the only other main player offering anything remotely decent.

Ta

Being in the industry I'd just say that all lenders have their bad cases as well as their good. I've always found Santander to be excellent, and then one simple case last year took 4 months and still no valuation instructed. Placed with Virgin and we completed within 4 weeks!

Nationwide tend to be pretty good - note though, if one of you earns more then £50k don't try and use any child benfit etc in your income...they'll ask for all the information and then tell you they don't accept it anyway as you earn over this threshold!!

There are some really good deals at 75% so some hunting around should reveal some good alternatives.

I've always found Santander to be excellent

Is that from a broker's perspective or the client's?

Placed with Virgin and we completed within 4 weeks!

Just spoke to another broker who recommended Virgin. Good package overall and she reckons 17 days average appl to offer. Reviews aren't so good though. But similar to your comment, the bad ones could be getting vocalised whereas the good ones are being kept quiet about.

Hmm.

I've always found Santander to be excellent

Is that from a broker's perspective or the client's?

Both...if it's easy for me then it's easy for the client and the client's happy. I have heard of horror stories of clients going direct and trying to deal with them though.

Virgin are keen to lend; trust your broker, they'll know your situation and the lenders criteria and should ensure a plain(ish) path through the process...good luck 😀

Both...if it's easy for me then it's easy for the client and the client's happy.

Cheers mcobie, but I'm talking about dealing with them after the deal has been done, i.e calling them up to sort out a payment they've ballsed up, making an overpayment, or asking for a payment break due to change in circumstance etc.

Std mortgage here, from A&L, no problems but I've just been paying each month.

Both...if it's easy for me then it's easy for the client and the client's happy.

Cheers mcobie, but I'm talking about dealing with them after the deal has been done, i.e calling them up to sort out a payment they've ballsed up, making an overpayment, or asking for a payment break due to change in circumstance etc.

Ah, my apologies, I didn't understand the query.

Having placed quite a few clients with them, a number of whome have gone on to over-pay etc. none have come back with any negative feedback. I don't know what they are like if you wanted to take a payment holiday though. To be honest, IMO if things where to go wrong, this is probably where it would be.

Unfortunately, once the deal is completed many lenders will not communicate with the broker so we don't tend to get involved with overpayments, payment holidays, payment issues etc..

Using them at the moment, original mortgage 4 years ago, no problems. Re-mortgage in August last year, no problems. I am a regular payer though so easy business for them, maybe I've just been lucky. Also, seemed to offer good rates compared to others when looking around to re-mortgage.

I have no connection to them, and I don't work in banking by the way 🙂

I'm another happy Santander customer, but again I don't over pay and haven't needed a payment holiday or anything.

Cheers chaps

Re overpayments, I've heard they have a really odd system which sometimes means any overpayment you make in say Mar is then deducted from your Apr payment. You also have to call them each time you do this. And then you find yourself calling them again a month later to ask why they reduced your payment and not your balance. Infuriating if true.

BTW, do any of you have online access to your mortgage balance etc? I've heard Santander [u]only[/u] offer this when you come off a deal onto SVR. Odd.