Nationwide's mortgage challenge

That’s the challenge to homeowners facing massive increases in their monthly mortgage repayments as almost 200,000 fixed rate deals come to an end this summer.

Nationwide is so confident it can save money for borrowers facing “rate shock”, it has pledged £100 if customers with Abbey, C&G, Halifax, HSBC, Natwest and Woolwich – representing more than 50% of the mortgage market - can find a better deal with their existing lender.

Nationwide director Stuart Bernau says: “Don’t bank on getting a good deal from your existing lender. Some lenders still save their best deals for brand new borrowers only, whereas Nationwide offers the most competitive range of mortgage deals for both new and existing borrowers. Take the Nationwide Mortgage Challenge and you’ll benefit from lower monthly repayments or we’ll give you £100 cash. You really can’t lose!”

Switching lender is simple. Homeowners can choose to increase borrowing or pay off their mortgage early, as well as saving money. For example, some borrowers who have enjoyed the security of a two year fixed rate deal face rate hikes of more than 3% when switching to their lender’s standard variable rate – that’s an increase of nearly £2,000 a year per £100,000 mortgage. And even if other lenders are prepared to offer a remortgage deal to existing borrowers, there will still be an increase of more than 1%.

Day in, day out, Nationwide’s commitment to fairness and value means existing and new customers can be sure they have chosen the only mortgage lender they will ever need. For example_, Nationwide’s extremely competitive fixed rate deals offer the security of knowing what your repayments will be and the two year deal fixed rate deal at just 4.49% is one of the lowest currently available. Borrowers who believe interest rates may still fall, but are still looking for a good deal, can opt for a two year tracker starting at just 4.74% (base rate minus 0.01%).

All new mortgage deals are available to new and existing borrowers. But it’s not just those coming to the end of a deal that can benefit from switching to a Nationwide mortgage:

- UK borrowers could save £650million_ by switching to Nationwide’s base mortgage rate from other lenders’ standard variable rate. For example, borrowers on Halifax’s 6.75% standard variable rate could save around £550 each year on a £100,000 mortgage by switching to Nationwide’s 5.99% base mortgage rate

- There are no valuation fees nor legal fees for borrowers who are remortgaging, just a £95 remortgage administration fee that can be added to the mortgage

- Nationwide doesn’t impose a higher lending charge or fees for high percentage borrowing, unlike many other major lenders

- A range of flexible features - to underpay, overpay or take a payment holiday

- Interest is calculated on a daily basis on all products

- BMR is guaranteed to be no more than 2% above the Bank of England base rate

- And there’s no compulsory insurance.