Britain’s best and worst mortgage lenders, according to their clients

Britain’s best and worst mortgage lenders were revealed in a survey voted by their clients.

General public site Which one? released the results of its annual survey of lenders, in which it asks mortgage holders to rate them on their customer service and value for money.

It also takes into account the suppliers who offer the cheapest deals.

First Direct took first place this year with a score of 81 percent.

Who? said his customers gave him five stars in all rating categories and that he “consistently offers some of the cheapest deals on the market.”

Nationwide Building Society came in second with an overall customer score of 77 percent, earning five-star ratings for value for money and for the clarity of its mortgage statements.

Both were named “Who?” The Recommended Providers – the only two lenders to achieve this – with Nationwide obtaining the Seal of Approval for the eighth year in a row.

Coventry Building Society clients gave it a maximum approval rating of 81 percent, along with First Direct – but it lost its Which? crown of recommendation, which was awarded to it in 2020, because it did not offer enough mortgage offers among the best in the market.

Skipton Building Society also received a high rating of 79 percent, but as a smaller lender, that rating was based on just 41 clients.

Nationwide was the second highest ranked lender in the Which? mortgage survey, and one of only two to receive “recommended” status from the consumer website

The Royal Bank of Scotland received the lowest score in this year’s survey, with an overall customer score of 64%.

RBS received three stars for its general customer service, payment flexibility and online access, among other criteria.

RBS is part of the Lloyds Banking Group, which is the UK’s largest lender, providing almost 20 percent of all UK mortgages under the Lloyds, RBS and Halifax brands.

Asked about his response to the news, an RBS spokesperson told This is Money, “We can do more to improve the customer experience in some aspects of our service.

“We invest in dedicated teams who are focused on delivering targeted improvements for customers to address areas where our service falls short of expectations. “

Halifax was also among the worst performers, scoring 70 percent, making it the fourth lowest-rated country.

The last three were completed by Virgin Money and Accord Mortgages, which is part of the Yorkshire Building Society.

In the middle of the table were NatWest and Leeds BS, which received the overall average rating of all lenders at 73%.

Barclays came in second with 72%, followed by HSBC, Lloyds, Santander, TSB and the Co-operative who all got 71%.

Some lenders are missing from the table because the survey did not collect enough customers for the numbers to be meaningful.

For example, Family BS, Atom Bank, Kensington and Chelsea BS all had approval ratings below 60 percent last year, but were not included in this year’s results.

Principality BS was at the top of last year’s customer service rankings, but was not Which? advised.

Lenders were rated on a variety of factors including customer information, clarity of mortgage statements, transparency of fees or penalties, handling of queries and complaints, flexibility of payments, online access and optimization of resources.

With interest rate hikes on the cards for the end of the year, monthly payments are expected to increase for most borrowers as their fixed maturities fall due and they remortgage or move to their standard variable rate. lender.

So it’s more important than ever that borrowers choose the right mortgage and the right lender.

While nearly nine in ten say they are satisfied with their mortgage lender, a quarter say they have had a problem.

The most common issues were poor customer service, lack of flexibility on payments, and low interest rates.

When asked why they chose a lender, around one in five said the amount of monthly repayments was important, while the same number said the overall cost of the transaction was critical.

You can compare mortgage offers using the This is Money mortgage service, and determine what your monthly, annual and global costs would be using our mortgage calculator.

A quarter of mortgage customers said they had a problem with their lender’s customer service

One in six respondents said that an existing relationship with the lender (for example, having a bank account with the provider) was a key factor.

Seven in ten survey respondents had a mortgage repayment plan. However, a fifth had interest-only mortgages.

While the majority of those surveyed with interest-only mortgages had an end-of-term repayment plan, 9% said they were unsure how they would repay their loan, meaning that they might be forced to sell their house in the end. of the term to repay the balance.

Who? surveyed more than 3,500 people with a mortgage in July 2021 and analyzed the cost of various mortgage loans between July and August 2021, to establish the ranking.