Newbury are the only company that would offer us a mortgage when we were applying for shared ownership. We had a large deposit and demonstrated sensible money saving behaviour over many years but had moderate incomes (one of which was a PhD allowance that most companies would not look twice at) and so Newbury were able to make a judgement that we would be good customers. All other places we applied to used only automated systems that are not able to look at a case and see that, despite income not meeting requirements, the customer could still clearly easily afford the payments required. We have had good customer service from Newbury over the past couple of years since we've been with them, and we are generally left alone unless we contact them, or for our yearly statement. No marketing is ever sent from them.
Negatives. First, we do have a very high interest rate, all things considered, so we will probably be switching to a cheaper option as soon as possible. Second, the company do not seem to be concerned about environmentally friendly practices. There is no option to opt out of paper correspondence and even when I send an email, I still receive a response by post. This needs to be addressed, as well as creating an online account option so that customers can keep up to date with their balance, get information on overpayments, and so on.
Reviewed on: 5th October 2018
