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Nationwide technical issues create mayhem for brokers wanting to give clients a decision in principle.

Journalist: Ken James, Newspage group news

ended 29. November 2023

Nationwide is currently experiencing a technical issue which they claim is impacting a small number of Decision In Principles (DIP) submitted since the 20th November.

They state that this issue is only affecting DIPs keyed without a property address and where a ‘Refer’ decision is returned.

These cases will not receive an updated ‘Subjective Accept’ decision as they should. If you have the correct property address you need to add this to the DIP using the ‘Change Data’ function within 7 days of the original DIP submission.  

 Alarmingly if property details are not added within 7 days, the case will be automatically canceled and you’ll need to rekey it. 

If more than 7 days have elapsed since the original DIP submission date, you’ll need to rekey the DIP, ensuring a property address is entered. Should you still receive a ‘Refer’ decision, the case will be processed as normal and a ‘Subjective Accept’ decision returned.

They are working hard to fix this fault, but in the meantime, this is creating issues for brokers who want to arrange a DIP, especially for the Helping Hand product which is geared to the First time buyer market, an area where the clients will be nervous about the process already.

Clients will struggle to get an appointment to view properties without a decision in principle in place so how do brokers intend to help clients where Nationwide may be the only lender able to lend the required level of lending?  

What can brokers do in these circumstances, and are there any workarounds for clients?

2 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Ken James
Director at Contractor Mortgage Services
This is a ridiculous situation, to get a decision in principle arranged we have to place a dummy address into the system, this will allow you to obtain a DIP but this address won’t be for the actual home they want to buy, most wont even have stepped inside a property to view it. Estate agents are keen to show clients with Decisions in Principle their properties but will discourage those who are not in this position. It's ludicrous for Nationwide to expect them to have a property address at this stage. A real catch-22 for the clients, how can they be expected to go house hunting with no real understanding of what Nationwide may lend, or even if they are credit-worthy in the eyes of Nationwide? This technical issue is leaving brokers scratching their heads, do we fake it to make it, at least this way clients have an idea of their budget but it means creating more soft footprints, or hold off and hope the estate agents will allow them to view properties with no evidence in place?
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Charles Breen
Founder at C B
It has been ongoing since the 20th and still not resolved which is an absolute clown show! people who are doing the prudent and correct thing by doing their research before house hunting, working out their affordability and getting a DIP beforehand and Nationwide with their helping hand products usually being the first port of call, to have this issue for so long and not resolve it is shocking!! maybe if they spent less money on their ads boasting about keeping branches open ( but trying to hide the fact they are making tranches of redundancies behind the scenes, thus reducing service further) or on their Chat GDP Natwest clone of a logo which cost them millions and instead on a proper reliable portal we would all be much more appreciative. Get your priorities right Nationwide!!