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Martin K

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Review of the Marsden Building Society, Mortgages:

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Friendly staff, but very disappointing mortgage prac...

Friendly staff, but very disappointing mortgage practices. I want to make clear that the staff I have dealt with at Marsden Building Society have generally been friendly, polite and willing to help. Some have been very knowledgeable, although my experience is that the level of knowledge can vary between members of staff. Unfortunately, my concerns are much more about the overall mortgage pricing and business practices. Marsden continues to offer relatively high mortgage rates, and from October it appears that a £998 arrangement fee will apply to mortgage renewals. A flat fee like this can have a very disproportionate impact on customers with smaller mortgage balances. For example, if someone only has £10,000 left on their mortgage, a £998 arrangement fee is effectively almost 10% of the outstanding balance. That is a huge additional cost simply for arranging a new mortgage product. What makes this particularly frustrating is the way these products are presented to existing customers as a benefit of being a “valued customer”. In reality, customers need to look very carefully at the numbers. A small reduction in the interest rate can easily be wiped out by a £998 arrangement fee. For example, if someone is renewing after previously taking a mortgage when rates were extremely high, seeing their rate fall by only a small amount may sound positive. But once a £998 fee is added, the actual saving can be minimal — or potentially disappear altogether depending on the mortgage balance. I would therefore strongly recommend that existing Marsden customers shop around before automatically accepting a renewal offer. Don't assume that staying with your existing building society is necessarily the cheapest option. I also question how a flat £998 fee can fairly reflect the actual administrative cost of an online mortgage product transfer, particularly when the process can be completed digitally. How much does it genuinely cost to process these renewals? And perhaps the bigger question for Marsden is: how much will it cost you in lost customers? Advertising customers as “valued customers” while introducing substantial fixed fees doesn't exactly make customers feel valued. My experience with the staff has been positive — but unfortunately, I cannot say the same about the mortgage pricing and fee structure. My advice: don't simply renew with Marsden because it's convenient. Do the maths and compare the total cost with other lenders. Marsden Building Society — if someone from the society is reading this, I would genuinely like to hear an explanation of how a £998 flat arrangement fee is justified for a straightforward mortgage renewal, particularly for customers with relatively small outstanding balances. At the moment, my personal view is that customers should shop around and think very carefully before renewing with Marsden. Reviewed on: 12th September 2026

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