Natwest (my bank of 16 years) approved my mortgage in principle etc without much fuss. It was only when they then rejected my application, after I had exchanged contracts on my sale; that things got.. interesting. My mortgage advisor had never seen anything like it and nobody at NatWest could tell me why. The chain of sales was in danger until I made a formal complaint and, out of the blue, the offer was finally given. Fast forward a few months, days from exchange and now Natwest aren’t comfortable with a Japanese Knotweed issue even though it’s managed, backed up by guarantees, and even though I am paying a c60% deposit.
So the chain of sales is now falling through, costing me and two other parties 15k in SDLT savings, and leaving me technically homeless for who knows how long.
Stay far away from them for mortgages. Their bank isn’t bad but of course I’ll be leaving that too now as they failed to show me a modicum of respect.
Reviewed on: 17th March 2021
