Nationwide changes mortgage range

Nationwide Building Society will, from Thursday 1 May, launch a new offer to help first time buyers who deal with Nationwide directly. The offer includes a £300 discount on the reservation fee and a £100 discount on legal fees for first time buyers choosing the Society's three year fixed rate (available from 5.75%) or three year tracker (available from 5.74%) mortgage. Both mortgage products are available up to 95% loan to value and have no higher lending charges.

Matthew Carter, Nationwide's divisional director for mortgages, said: "As a building society it is important to us to support first time buyers who may be struggling to get onto the housing ladder. The £300 discount will bring the reservation fee down to just £299, easing access for first time buyers to fair and transparent mortgages. For example, unlike some other high street lenders, Nationwide does not impose a higher lending charge for higher percentage borrowing, saving first time buyers around £2,000."

In addition to supporting first time buyers, Nationwide recently cut its tracker rates and Base Mortgage Rate by 0.25% in line with the Bank of England base rate reduction. The Society is also rewarding loyalty by offering a reservation fee free five year fixed rate deal, available from 6.15%, to existing Nationwide borrowers switching deals, including those whose current deal is coming to an end.

As part of its ongoing approach of managing business in a prudent and sustainable way, the Society is also introducing some changes to mortgage products available to new Nationwide borrowers. These include:

a maximum loan size of £500,000 for new customers;
a maximum loan to value of 90% on fixed rate and tracker mortgages for new loans (excluding borrowers taking the three year fixed rate or tracker products, which are available up to 95% LTV);
new mortgages on the Society's base mortgage rate will only be available to customers dealing directly with Nationwide and only up to a maximum loan to value of 75% .
Existing Nationwide borrowers will not be affected by these changes and will continue to have access to all products up to 95% loan to value.

Matthew Carter, continued: "These changes will allow us to maintain control of the volume of business the Society is attracting, while enabling us to continue offering our full range of mortgages to our existing members in a controlled and prudent way."

The changes outlined above will take effect from 1 May 2008.