Nationwide Surprises Its Borrowers with Great Deals

Good news recently came from one of the largest UK building societies – Nationwide. Not only did it reduce interest rates on mortgages for existing borrowers, but it also introduced new affordable deals for first-time buyers. The move comes in contrast with recent Britannia’s incentive.
Nationwide announced a 0.84% cut on some mortgage loans for existing customers. As such, the cost of a 4-year fix at Nationwide, which comes with a £995 fee and offers up to 70% LTV, fell from 5.78% to 4.94%. Another attractive deal is a 2-year fix coming with a £495 fee and up to 95% LTV is available for Nationwide customers at 3.79%. In fact, a large proportion of building society’s deals are available for up to 95% loan-to-value ratio. In addition, Nationwide also offers one of the cheapest standard variable rate mortgage deals, which come at 2.5%. An average of 700,000 UK borrowers chose Nationwide SVRs.
All of those who took out a mortgage loan at Nationwide before April 2009 will automatically revert to the building society’s SVR at the end of their deal. All customers who took out a deal at Nationwide after April, will see their mortgage reverted to a SMR (standard mortgage rate) of 3.99%.
As for UK first-time buyers, they might be attracted by Nationwide’s promise of reduced reservation fees and free legals, which are available on some of the loans. Moreover, a new 3-year fix at 4.44% is being introduced by the building society for borrowers with 40% deposits.
In the opinion of Nationwide’s mortgage director, Mr. Andy McQueen, the new initiatives of the building society, which include significant rate cuts and fee bonuses, will definitely help struggling British first-time buyers secure an attractive mortgage deal. He is determined that the lender’s move totally removed the barrier, which prevented a large number of potential homebuyers to become actual homeowners.