Accord Mortgage Review

Overall Rating

None.

Customer Service, and knowledge of advisers.

As a first time buyer, I put a lot of trust into the financial adviser who recommended my mortgage with Accord. Tracking against the American base rate, I was assured was the way to go, and so I began to pay £750 per month, which was within my £800 a month budget. Within 1 year the monthly payments had risen to over £1,000, putting me in jeopardy of losing my house, so I decided to move mortgages. To now cut a story which has lasted 4 months short, I was told by 2 separate advisers at Accord that it would cost me £9,500 to leave them. Now that's a huge charge by anyone's standard. So, having added this on to my new mortgage, my balance is now higher than it was 18 months ago, even though I have paid over £11,000. To add further insult, Accord have told me that there is an additional admin charge of £150 to pay before I leave them. Needless to say, I have logged a formal complaint!

Members' Comments onHarleyC's Review

• cassiei on 13th Jul 2006

  Hello Harley C, I too fell into the same trap as you. My repayments have gone up and up, and up. In only a year they went from £500 to £850, when I tried to get out they said it would cost £7,200. Even when I was willing to stay with them, but change to another product the offer to help with the redemption penalties was Zero. I am writing to the banking ombudsman. These penalties are designed to cover their losses when you pull out early, not as a profit making scam. Ian (very annoyed Accord customer).

• jamiller on 19th Sep 2007

  A lot of providers were offering mortgages linked to the US base rate a couple of years back. On the + side the mortgages were very cheap at the time but there was always a risk of significant increases in the base rate, which is what has happened. The US rate went from around 2% to around 6% relatively quickly and a lot of people caught a cold (the fall-out is well publicised). From experience I know that Accord does not generally offer advice. The adviser on the other hand had a responsibility to specifically point out the risks involved. It may well be worth the reviewer seeking advice from the Financial Services Authority, if they have not already done so. I must admit to considering a mortgage linked to the US base rate (not provided by Accord, but thought better of it (it all seemed too good too be true!).

• andy64 on 4th Aug 2009

  fail to see how this is any fault of the provider - you only have yourselves to blame for not getting third party advice although you were badly adised in the first place by your adviser - you would have had a smile from here to grimsby on your face (i live in wales by the way)if the interest rates had gone down but remember they do go up as well !!!
  I have been a customer with accord for two years now and unlike some people on here i was well advised - now with one year left on my fixed rate which was very good at the time i have received a letter off accord thanking me for not missing any payments and a promise to try and give me the best deal available if i stay with them when my deal is up next year.
  now thats what i call customer service :)