Journalists wrong to criticise Nationwide
It's unfair to see the recent criticism of the Nationwide Building Society's changes to its mortgage rates.Yes, it's unfortunate that the Nationwide will no longer be putting new borrowers on it's existing Base Mortgage Rate (BMR), currently at 2.5% - but let's face it, the Nationwide has been pushing harder than any other mortgage lender to continue to provide mortgages to the market.
And no other mortgage lender was even coming close to beating Nationwide's BMR.
Despite the fact that the Royal Bank of Scotland, Halifax, Bank of Scotlant, and Loyds TSB, all have direct government support through part-privatisation.
This is not least receiving government money with the aim of improving lending to to mortgage and loans market.
And yet RBS, HBOS, and Lloyds are still charging very uncompetitive rates, as if they are making a particular effort not to lend, and instead just hoard the government's funding.
So it's left to a mutual like the Nationwide Building Society to offer the cheapest rates on loans, mortgages, and even the lowest fees on credit card use.
And then when the Nationwide finally decides it needs to move new customers onto a new higher mortgage rate - one more comparative to rates offered by Barclays and HSBC, and still cheaper than RBS, HBOS or Lloyds, some journalists think this worthy of strong criticism?
Perhaps I'm biased - I have my mortgage with Nationwide, I have a Flexaccount current account with them, and also a credit card (though mostly for going on holiday with).
I used to be a financial advisor for a living so I like to think I can recognise a quality deal, and so far that is exactly what Nationwide have been delivering on - far more than any government-supported bank.
Nationwide have been leading the market in trying to allow responsible people to borrow responsibly.
If a small increase in rates on just one of their products for just new borrowers is deserving of such criticism, then I can only wonder why these journalists haven't been more condemning of the lousy rates being offered by traditional high street banks.credit cardI have a Flexaccount current account with them
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