written by arpswetman on 14/11/2022
My mortgage came up for renewal and I looked at the options available to me. I went on line and the options in the letter had been replaced by higher options. I was going to get a five year fixed but opted for two because of this. I had been away so didn’t receive my letter until a couple of weeks before my current mortgage had run out. I later thought that I would have an option of a 14 day cooling off period, only to be told I couldn’t and I was never informed of this. I’ve been with them for 14 years always paid and never missed. I will be looking to change after this two years whatever happens as I feel let down and not valued at all. Congratulations Chelsea another lost customer in 2 years time and I’m not the only one to leave by the looks of their service
written by Riley391 on 20/07/2021
Let's just say they are not really interested in providing mortgages. I've had my interest only since 2005, over the years I asked to change it to repayment, refused, get better deals etc etc I was refused a cheaper deal because the affordability calculator said I couldn't afford it! Over the last two years I got a good interest rate so took it to coincide the end date with another loan I had to take because Chelsea wouldn't help, I wanted to release some equity this time, well you would have thought I'd asked to go to Mars! Needless to say I got hold of a recommended friends broker and within the week a decision in principal for an extra 35% borrowing and an interest rate just not available to casual customers. So I shall say goodbye Chelsea and not a minute too soon
written by DeeganJordan on 17/01/2018
My husband recently was diagnosed with cancer and told he couldn’t work for the first 6 weeks of chemo don’t ever ask them for help phone calls every other week asking when he was likely to be going back to work when can we pay arrears back absolute rubbish.
written by Bowmandv173 on 29/03/2016
Chelsea have recently cancelled my home insurance policy without any communication telling me they were intending to do this. As home insurance is a requirement of my mortgage they have put me into a breach of my mortgage contract without communication and have left my home at risk for a month. On contacting them it seems not their problem but their insurance underwriters, yet its chelsea home insurance policy and they take my monthly fees. this company are a disgrace and highly unprofessional. I had assumed as a big name they would value their customers but clearly not AVOID AVOID Avoid
written by Concerned5000 on 08/11/2015
Tried to apply for a mortgage with Chelsea in Oct 2015 and have been ripped off by tactics I'd expect from the worst kind of tinpot company/loan shark lender. I really expected better from such a large company. I've been a home owner for many years, remortgage all the time and have never encountered this type of treatment before. Will be avoiding this company for the foreseeable future. Company offered an attractive rate that they had absolutely no intention of offering us. I paid the 'non nonrefundable' £150 booking fee and then the £85 standard valuation fee. After which I was told that the house was worth less than I paid for it two years ago. Given that I live in an area that has seen prices rocket and I'd bought our house at a greatly discounted rate this did not add up. I then received an email offering us a much higher mortgage rate from the one I'd wanted or the option to pay another £300 to have a detailed valuation carried out by someone who would actually visit the house! Have taken my custom elsewhere. Shoddy service from a company who should know better.
written by rob1961 on 03/03/2015
As i'm unable to phone them i contacted them online about a mortgage. Four times they've ignored me without any acknowledement. After i was told these were good as well. I'm absolutely disgusted
written by alfieglx on 19/02/2015
I made a application was all approved.received my pack through signed returned forms paid fees. kept ringing to find out what has happened my case advisor was the worst one, her attitude stinks. they cant be bothered have no care. then today am told it has been declined and it should of never got this far. they are a joke please never use this firm. Chelsea thanks for wasting my time. I have now gone with my bank and all sorted with Halifax. I have nothing good to say about them when ever you ring your on hold for ages. you never get a phone call back when your meant to. also please make sure you never deal with a lady called Aarti Chouhan she has no people skills. STAY AWAY!!!
written by zsBuchanan72 on 16/10/2014
The complete mortgage application process was so easy and well managed, that i couldn't believe that i got an offer in 4 weeks. I am a first time buyer with a 10% deposit,property value over 500K, product applied - 3.44% over 2 years(repayment). The initial mortgage application was discussed over the phone to check affordability, it was a bit difficult to get a face to face appointment it took me 2 weeks, but got it finally. i submitted my documents (3 month pay slips and 3 month bank stmt) at the branch,discussed a few insurance products with them, signed the mortgage application form. After 2 weeks a got a call from the processing team re my pension contributions(Most banks treat pension contributions as a liability, but they don't) and after 2 weeks i had a letter in my post confirming my application was accepted. it was like a walk in the park !!
written by Stuart1959 on 10/09/2014
I have been employed 2 years full time, successfully purchased a studio earlier on in the year. Wanted to move to a bigger home as I discovered it wasn't big enough for two people. Spent 5 hours with 2 sales advisors, spoke with 4 different people in their team to follow up on why it was declined. I was told they thought it was "strange" that I wanted to upgrade to a larger flat within the same year. No other reason for declining my application - I had a squeaky clean record with 20% cash deposit. Don't even bother with these timewasters - terrible customer service, not at all surprised by the low review score!
written by BrachMooShep on 03/08/2014
Existing customer so decided to make Chelsea my first point of call for my new house purchase. Spoke with H/O who insisted that as it was a new mortgage I was looking for I would have to go through a branch. As it happens my local Branch did not have a Mortgage advisor so I had to speak with a branch over 130 miles away!! After a few conversations with the advisor he told me I could borrow up to certain amount so my partner and I went about looking for our new home. 3 weeks later we found it and had our bid accepted. Tried to speak again with the advisor but he was off sick so got pushed around 3 other branches before speaking with someone who helped me complete the application and advised that the mortgage was agreed at that stage. Around 30 minutes after putting the phone down and advising everyone of the good news (EA/Partner etc.) I had a call back to say that due to miscalculation on my childcare costs that the amount they could borrow was 30k less which left me about 20k short for the purchase. Spent 2 hours later that day onto H/O trying to resolve but no good Really disappointed and now hoping that a Broker can help us. Otherwise we have lost our house due to mistakes made by this company.
written by Peally on 01/07/2014
After a process spanning more than two months, with me having to regularly chase them up and source / provide them with incremental further evidence as requested by them on a serial basis, it seems they have finally rejected my mortgage application on the basis that they don't "accept" the evidence that they themselves requested in the form of SA302 forms from HMRC as proof of my earnings. This was for a mortgage at less than 2x earnings and only about 40% ltv of the property. It never even crossed my mind that it could / would be refused. If you are self employed then do not touch Chelsea BS or Yorkshire BS with a bargepole, is you will only end up delayed, frustrated and poorer as a result. Utterly disgusted.
written by Nwad on 13/02/2014
We have been with the Chelsea for years. My husband was made redundant and we fell less than 1 month in arrears. The continual phone calls - daily! In the end I wrote to them telling them that no matter how many times they call it won't magic more money into our bank account. I then advised them that I was blocking all their calls - which I have done! This month my husband has swapped jobs and I am dreading the hassle if we can not make a full payment!
written by on 26/01/2014
My plan was to sell my home make some profit and borrow an extra 90k to purchase new home , rang branch made all arrangements forms / paperwork all completed and sent (some lost and re-sent ) all sorted and got the go ahead to sell my house , sold it within months got back to chelsea only to be informed some of there policy's had changed and now I could only have 52k reason being I have a 22 year old son living at home ! ! ! and is seen as a debt ! i was told by the manager i i can go any where for a new mortgage as ive had my existing mortgage with them long enough to leave without paying any penaltys , some way to treat a customer ,Im very sorry to say this as staff seemed very polite and friendly but I just don't know what on earth they are thinking of to mess people around regarding such important matters, please don't take any notice of what your told on the phone or ask any sort of advice they seem to make it up or change it as they go .
written by on 06/12/2013
I have a mortgage with Chelsea - and when my husband was made redundant we fell behind with the mortgage - we went to court and there was a n arrangement put in place for us to pay the arrears - we thought that this would be a help and were very relieved - it wasn't until about a year later when interest rates had been at the lowest that my mother asked me why I was paying so much and the mortgage hadn't reduced like everyone else. I called the Chelsea and asked the question and was told that the rate would not reduce from 5.3% until the arrears were paid off in full and further more I am being charged 30P per day in interest for the arrears - this means we will never be out of debt to the Chelsea - and our home is already in negative equity. If I had been advised of this we should have walked away - we now have a mortgage £13,000 more than we paid - and that is for a one bed flat with me, my husband and three year old daughter staying in it. Please can anyone help with any advice - I am desperate
written by on 18/10/2013
They offer the cheapest 5 year deal at the moment. however the service is really poor. They managed to misplace my doc; will never bother to call back despite daily chasing for nearly 2 weeks. So you are kept in the dark (and in hope for 2 weeks) and suddenly inform you casually that by the way, at the moment what can be sanctioned is 60K less than what you had asked for. The call agents and case workers seem to be loaded with work and isn't equipped to handle the volume of business they are receiving. Also they would only give 2 to 2.25 times the total income; I am sure it varies from people to people,but I am well on the north side of 40% income tax bracket with no other debt and well above 100K deposit. Either there is no money in the system and the banks are not lending as we hear or Chelsea in particular will only lend very little. Do note that it could be a problem if you decide to sell the house you had mortgaged via Chelsea and want to move to an expensive home few years down the line as you probably would have maxed your credit on the current mortgage.
written by on 20/08/2013
1) Every single query takes days (if not weeks) for a response. Alleged 48 hour turnaround becomes a week, then they request more information with another 48 hour turnaround, which becomes another week. 2) Team seems to have absolutely no sense of urgency with anything, and seems completely unable to prioritise work. 3) Complete lack of consideration for specifics of a situation 4) Worrying lack of expertise from the call centre teams, struggle to see the relevance or importance of different pieces of information Overall, by far my most experience ever with a financial institution. I would pay more interest to avoid having to deal with these complete idiots.
written by on 19/08/2013
The interest rate is the best in the tables, but the good stops there. They are incredibly slow to respond to any correspondence. (2-3 weeks to review a 1 paragraph letter). You will be months into this process before actually buying your property. Friendly service, though.
written by on 05/01/2011
Approached Chelsea for a mortgage and it was the most dreadful experience, the branch staff sell you all the good bit but the underwriting department is in head office and they got no clue what they are talking about, had to send my statements twice because they were too busy processing other applications and my statement had expired. The underwriters are a joke,they went through every single transaction on my statement and even asked me why i withdrew £20 every weekend for pub? hahaha and if i was gonna continue doing that ?
written by on 13/08/2010
As a hard working first time buyer with £50,000 deposit I approached Chelsea building society who made me an offer of £130,000 after eight weeks and committing financially to a sale I was informed that they were unable to allocate this money and another offer was given of £120,000. I found it hard to find this additional £10,000 but managed it, two weeks later I was again turned down. Awful service, awful customer services, awful communication.. DO NOT TRUST OR WASTE YOUR TIME
written by andrea1104 on 14/02/2008
Well worth a visit to Chelsea Building Society, as rates are very competitive and all staff are very friendly. Vast range of products on offer, with good discounts.
Person at the end of the phone rather than automated.
Loyalty discounts
Discounts for combined home and contents insurance
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As rated by our community of reviewers
Rob1961's Response to alfieglx's Review
Written on: 03/03/2015
I totally agree with you.