Northern Rock Virgin Money

Northern Rock started life as a Newcastle based building society. They became a bank and in 2008 almost became bankrupt. One of the infamous things about Northern Rock is that it suffered the most serious bank run of modern times. The severe consequences of such a large UK mortgage lender closing were such that the government took them over by obtaining the share capital in return for bailing the bank out of its problems by taking responsibility for its debts.
In its heyday Northern Rock had a reputation for offering extremely attractive interest rates for new borrowers. As a result, their mortgage book grew quickly as did their branch network. There were a number of downsides to this, the most important being that the bank was highly exposed to mortgage defaults when the UK economy rapidly declined. Northern Rock was notorious among independent mortgage advisors as being extremely difficult, if not impossible to deal with. Existing customers complained bitterly about the bank’s high charges, high handed manner, inflexibility and downright rudeness when dealing with queries. Any potential customer will easily find thousands of complaints about Northern Rock on the internet in very quick time.
The good news is that all of this is about to change. Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Money took over Northern Rock and has commenced to re-brand the bank. Sir Richard said thqat the re-branding was necessary to give the bank a “Clean start.” He is famous for the customer service that his businesses provide, so the mortgage industry is now hopeful that this major mortgage lender will now shed its previous bad habits and become a welcome member of the community.
At the moment the bank offers a basic range of mortgages with attractive rates for new customers. There are fixed rates for up to five years available but fees of up to £999 apply to some of them. Others carry no fees. There is also a range of loans where the interest rate tracks the Bank of England base rate and some discounted variable rates for new borrowers. The bank offers first time buyer loans, mover’s loans and buy to let financing. At the moment it does not allow customers to switch between arrangements but this is almost inevitable as the bank changes its policies to become competitive once again. The bank has three types of repayment plan being repayment, interest only and “Part and part.”
Northern Rock has been through some torrid times over recent years, much of this being of its own making. Sir Richard Branson has acquired the bank and is remodelling and re-branding it. Potential borrowers should now view the bank in this light and take advantage of some very attractive rates where they are available.