According to industry evaluaters eBenchmarkers, 60% of all mortgages completed online are with Nationwide.
With online applications for new customers taking as little as 40 minutes, and for existing customers just 10 minutes or less, the Society has seen the numbers of online completions grow by 330% over the last 12 months.
It offers a web chat service to support the borrower during the process and customers can also opt to talk to a mortgage consultant while online.
It’s not just younger borrowers who are choosing the convenience of applying for their mortgage online as Nationwide sees a broad mix of customer types using the internet to either remortgage, move house or step onto the housing ladder for the first time.
Nationwide has been offering online mortgage applications since 2006. It started by offering an online decision in principle and in 2007 the full application was added.
A year later, Nationwide became the first to enable its borrowers to switch their deals entirely online. Currently 40% of its customers choose the online option. Earlier this year Nationwide was voted best online mortgage provider by Mortgage Finance Gazette.
Martyn Dyson, head of mortgages at Nationwide said:
“We’ve been the pioneers of online mortgages and have a huge amount of expertise in this area. I’m pleased to see that borrowers like what we’ve done.
"We understand that people want to sort their mortgage quickly and conveniently so they get back to the more fun things in life. We’ve worked hard to make the online experience easy and hassle free. It’s another good example of how we are ‘On your side’.
“Clearly there will be people who need more help or advice and we’re happy to share our expertise in branch or via intermediaries if that’s what borrowers prefer.
"However, 29% of our online applicants use our popular web chat service which does offer support throughout the process.”
