Nationwide
The Nationwide is the largest building society in the world. It has grown partly by its own efforts and partly by merging with over 100 other societies who were not big enough to withstand competition from the major banks.
The nationwide offers full service retail banking facilities. It is surprising to some people that the Nationwide is Britain’s third largest mortgage lender having more borrowers that Barclays Bank. It is also the second largest savings provider.
A fact that is of great interest to both savers and borrowers is that the Nationwide did not get into trouble during the recent financial crisis which saw so many financial institutions needing to be saved by the taxpayer and who are still making losses several years after the crisis first hit. In its annual report for the 2010-11 year the society said that it had assets of slightly in excess of £188 million. It had annual income of over £1.9 billion and made £276 million pre-tax profit.
The nationwide a full range of mortgages to suit most people. There are very often special deals available for new loans and re-mortgages. It is careful who it lends to so is not the best provider for those with credit problems. Whilst the society is very customer friendly and goes the extra mile to help, it is very strict about proving income and the source of deposits.
The range includes:
- Variable rate mortgages which may have a discount for the first few years
- Tracker mortgages which are linked to the Bank of England Base rate
- Fixed rate mortgages. These will have various rates and fixes for various periods
- Special first time buyer mortgages
- Shared ownership mortgages
- Re-mortgages
- Buy to let mortgages
- Commercial mortgages