Cheltenham & Gloucester Mortgages

Dreadful company kept us on a very high rate throughout down turn, no compassion nearly lost our business due to them - paid off in full now not even a letter of acknolegement.. Go to Santander instead top company with excellent rates

I paid my mortgage off on 2nd may 2016 I have been in touch twice being told I would get my papers to say it's cancelled all I have got on the 16th May was a letter saying my payments will be taken out of my bank in June this was from a director when I got in touch about this I was told it was an error and that the papers will come in 5 days as this is what I was told on the 2nd of May by staff I am still waiting for the letters to come to say my mortgage is paid off I was told that I do not need to get in touch with the land registry as that is sorted I wonder when I will get my papers as proof in writing for me to say I have paid my mortgage off in full

Display a total lack of integrity. A disgrace to UK banking, a company with zero customer service, rudeness rules and letters are lost, mislaid and not replied to as a matter of company culture.

C&G should be thoroughly investigated in respect of every aspect of its business operation, its culture and practices.

It goes out of its way to make life impossible for customers generally and the disadvantaged in particular.

It states proudly that it is only required to give 4 days notice of changes in mortgage rates –totally unacceptable! Why? Because the effect of this policy is to end a fix rate and place customers immediately on standard variable rates which can add £75 or more per month to costs. The fair and just approach here is to put the customer on another fixed rate product until and unless they indicate that is not what they want.

Unfair, prejudiced and discriminatory C&G should have been closed down by Lloyds some years back – but hey it’s the notorious Lloyds Bank we are talking about here – they just love to rip off the customer without a second thought so any idea of putting its C&G house in order is unlikely this side of the next ice age.

C&G staff go out of their way to be as unhelpful as possible – they cannot or will not answer customers concerns and make customer’s lives hell with anxiety and frustration.

Time to start a national campaign against this so called building society that simply could not care less about customers.

The CAMPAIGN BEGINS HERE …………………………………….

We have had the indignity twice in the last 18 months of C&G managing to lose our mortgage payment.

It is paid into Lloyds Bank by cheque where we obtain a receipt. The reason we pay by cheque is so that we have a paper trail of the payment.

The harassing phone calls then start and they will not listen to anything, they are always (they think) in the right. You then have to go through the rigmarole of getting copies of the cheque,receipt (remember it is paid into one of their own banks)and bank statement to prove that you have paid.

Their communications during this process are always rude and condescending, almost calling you a liar without actually saying the words.

They have no email address so communication is either by phone (hard to prove what has been said) or by post which takes forever.

Beware anyone who overpays, you will not know if they have lost a payment until your annual statement arrives and only then if you scrutinize it carefully.

Having mortgage with C&G 9 years now ,never had problems to pay monthly DD ,only after I chanched my job and I did not get paid for one month overlay which made me trouble to have no money to pay my mortgage in time ,I rang customer service that I was unable to pay ,they understood and were very helpful to not panic and I can pay different day ,with only charge £35 for fee,then I did not realise when I paid by bank transfer ,week after they charged me again ,after ringing back making sure I did paid and the second payment will be reversed back ,they did apologized and they offer me for bank fee and cost call money back ,I was so impress and of course happy with service I was given ,because in other places I think I would be one who has to pay for everything despite wasn't my fault...haven't had such an great experience with customer service past 10 years here ,very very satisfied with attitude and kindness from this company ,well done all staff in C&G ,if all places would be so helpful would be great .

We had our mortgage with C and G for 6 years paid regularly and never had reason to contact them but when we tried to get extra borrowing it was a nightmare it took months! Customer service appalling no one calls you back, you write in and still get nowhere.. We wanted to borrow 10k and we couldn't get it processed and the reason ... Our mortgage was lost on their systems after the Lloyds/TSB takeover even though they continued to take our payment every month?!!! Work that one out?? We had such disgusting service we involved the ombudsman in the end after months of calls, letters and conflicting information from customer service... We received £350 compensation but wasnt worth the months of stress and hassle trying to resolve the problem........ after fixed rate term expired we changed to Halifax what a difference! Fantastic service, new mortgage arranged and completed in 6 weeks! I would NEVER recommend cheltenham and glos it is the worse customer service I have ever had to deal with. No one seems to take control you are fobbed off constantly..never called back.. Sit in their telephone queuing system for ages...notes get lost ....even our Nearest branch got involved and were useless!!! Don't do it!!!

Firstly, there's 1 star - only because this wont allow less. From my experiences C&G do not deserve even 1 star for their recent performances.

The back ground is that I have been a C&G customer for the last 15 years or so, no problems evident all the while payments are ticking along. However, recently I have been in a position to make some extra payments. Great news I think until i realise that the loose payment, don't apply payments when they do have them, quote out of date balance figures (by £2k) and then to explain the wrong balance figures suggest that its the interest !! I don't know what is going on there and what's worse I don't think they do either. If you want to spend AT LEAST 45 minutes on hold while they access a letter that they sent you 21 days ago, give them a call !!

My only option has been to make an official complaint (again!). Planning now to see the Lloyd's Bank Mortgage advisor (as I got the mortgage through Lloyd's) and if she can shed any sensible light I will move the mortgage.

C&G if you read this, just give a moments thought to the damage to peoples health your ineptitude is doing.

Rather than going through in depth, in summary I needed to let my property and switch to interest only as i was moving for work and could not afford to pay for two places. I have tried to sell but not all areas of the country have property boom and 6 months and one viewing later on an underpriced property it isn't going to happen!

Bullet points

1 In branch told it isn't possible - now know not true

2 told I needed permission to let before mortgage review

3 told by permission to let department that I need mortgage review

4 spoken to Scotland, n. Ireland, the Philippines, Manchester and all

points west

5 Have to date made 14 calls, the average waiting time is 1hr and 30

minutes per call.

I would not recommend the Cheltenham & Gloucester to anyone. Having been a loyal customer of Lloyds bank for 30 years my wife and I decided to choose Cheltenham & Gloucester for our mortgage. When we had to move abroad and decided to rent out our house, they forced us to change our mortgage to a Buy-to-Let at a much higher rate (almost 5% higher) even though we had always overpaid and never missed a payment, therefore presented very little risk. More recently, we overpaid online and instead of reducing the term as they had always done before when we sent checks, this time they chose to keep the mortgage term the same. We are now trying to get them to rectify the error. We feel that they've taken advantage of us even though we've been very loyal and good customers of theirs. As soon as we can, we intend to change bank and mortage provider and never go back to them. Unfortunately, there were very few mortgage providers catering for people moving abroad for work purposes.

Having a problem with them since November 2013 (Now is June 2014). They "lost" one whole payment of £2.725. Now I am waiting for ombudsman to deal with them as I have no nerves left. I never had a chance to speak with the same person twice, letters are always with the same explanation just different date... And after approximately 20 hours on the phone I had to ask for legal help. Hopefully with my statement and all the paperwork that i`ve sent them they will be able to help me... My husband is 47 and he never ever had this situation in his life (having mortgages since he was 23). They cannot add up 2+2 unfortunately. I have never been under so much stress in my entire life. It is so frustrating when you feel helpless and cannot explain something so obvious to somebody who should be more cleaver then you. Statement shows 12 months and 12 payments, on statement from C&G one payment is missing???

Please avoid them if you possibly can!!! I do not even know shell I start to count charges on my account? £35 for every letter and interest for late payment on something that I`ve already paid... Speechless!