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Northern Rock Seem Desperate To Get Me To Remortgage

Written by The Landlord on 17 Dec 2008

Ever since Northern Rock butt-fucked their entire company, resulting in them being nationalised, they have been sending me letters every month advising me to remortgage. As already mentioned in numerous articles, they want to recover as much money as possible, hence the need to sell their debt.

I started getting the letters approximately 4 months before I was due to come out of my fixed rate period and onto the Standard Variable rate, which at the time was like 7%. They didn’t want me as a customer, so they weren’t going to offer me a better deal.

I assume that a lot of other Northern Rock borrowers have been getting the same letters. How many of you have actually buckled under the pressure and remortgaged? The funny thing is, if I had followed their advice at the time and remortgaged as they so-desperately wanted me to, I would have shot myself in the foot. At the time, there were no good deals about (although, they were better than the 7.5% SVR NR were offering). If I remortgaged, I would have had to opt for a heart-wrenching rate, in the 6.0 per cent region, with additional product fees in an excess of £500. I would have gone for a fixed rate as well, so I wouldn’t have benefited from the recent 2.5% UK base rate slash.

I was actually coming off my fixed rate period and onto the SVR at the perfect time- just after the bank of England slashed the base rate. If the base rate wasn’t cut, I would have indeed been thrown onto the 7% rate; thankfully I got thrown onto a much more prettier rate- 5.9%. I can’t complain because that’s the fixed rate I was on anyways.

Now that i’m actually out of my fixed rate period, NR are yet again trying to get me to remortgage. This is the most recent letter I received:

Northern Rock Letter

Seems as though they have formed an alliance with Lloyds TSB. Looks like they have abandoned their legal and product fees for extra incentive.

Anyone else received this letter? If so, have you called to find out what products they’re offering? I haven’t called the hotline yet, but I’d be interested to find out what products they’re offering. I’d also be interested to know if any former NR borrower did remortgage just before the interest rate cuts.

On a final note, I might just hang on a little longer before I make a move, because word on the street is that there’s a high chance of a further 1% being cut off the base rate, which may either a) be passed onto the Northern Rock SVR b) introduce even better products onto the market.

Update: 22 January 2009

I got the same letter sent to me again!

Making Mortgage Overpayments While Debt Is Cheap

My Savings On Mortgage Payments Since Interest Rates Have Fallen

Halifax Asked Me To Review My Northern Rock Mortgage- WHAT A WASTE OF TIME

Northern Rock Want Their Borrowers To Remortgage

Northern Rock Lowered Thier Standard Variable Rate (SVR), Which Saved Me A Small Fortune

Northern Rock Has Passed On A 0.25% Cut To Their Standard Variable Rate

1 Comment - join the conversation...

Clare McNeill2009-02-05 13:25:36 We got the same series of letters as we approached the end of our fixed rate deal last summer. We buckled and are now fixed into a 5 year 6% fixed rate with C & G which is obviously costing a fortune as interest rates have dropped again today. I have written to the financial ombudsman and my local MP about the fact that Northern Rock are still offering competetive deals to new customers but not existing. Funny as Lloyds, TSB also had to be bailed out by the taxpayer. 1