Nationwide trading platform hits problems

Tom Marinan, proprietor of Easy Pay Mortgages, who uses Internet Explorer 7 said he had faced difficulties accessing Nationwide’s system. Marinan contacted Nationwide, who told him of the incompatibility between the systems.

Marinan said: “I have been able to get onto the system briefly and thought the trouble was to do with a lot of traffic on the site. It seems inconceivable there wouldn’t be people in the pilot of the system that used Internet Explorer 7. It’s the latest version and I can’t believe they didn’t make it compatible.”

Tamsin Hemsley, spokeswoman for Nationwide, said the issue was being addressed, though there was no time scale as to when the issue would be resolved: “We realise Internet Explorer 7 is very popular and a lot of brokers use it, so are looking to change the situation. A lot of research was done into the platform and out of that a number of browsers were decided upon. Though we are unaware of any other brokers having problems registering, we welcome all feedback from intermediaries and will take it on board.”

Nick Gardner, communications manager at Chase de Vere, commented: “This is a huge problem. Microsoft says that if we are to address issues of security than users have to have their automatic updates turned on to allow the software to update. If you do and have updated to Internet Explorer 7 then you can’t access their system, which is just crazy. It’s not to say Nationwide is trying to undermine security, but it’s very embarrassing for them.”