Suffolk Building Society Reviews 21

I just wanted to thank Stephen a mortgage advisor at the Suffolk Building Society for giving me so much time and endless patience and guiding me through the mortgage processes. Steve is a genuinely kind and understanding man, who truly cares about the customers he is looking after and that means a lot to me. He has always gone above and beyond helping me feel safe in your hands. I have had my mortgage with the Suffolk for over 2 years now and possibly venturing into the Buy to Let world. I have been given invaluable advice from Steve and he has allowed me time for quiet reflection on products so that I can make an informed decision. I rate the Suffolk highly also for the ability to be able to make overpayments of 50% on fixed rate and discounted mortgages which is rather unique. Keep doing what you are doing Suffolk and many thanks Adele

A Brilliant Building Society. I've been with Suffolk for a few months and I'm very pleased so far. The online experience is secure, simple and well laid out. It's very easy to navigate and pages are quick to load.
They have a good range of products and have some very competitive rates for savers, particularly regular savers.
Can highly recommend.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS SCAM!!! They will give you a mortgage in acceptance, you will pay £1000 fee then 2 weeks later they’ll say can’t proceed and return you £300. It’s in there best interest to proceed with application so you have to pay fee and let you down. Don’t do it to yourself!

I received an email detailing new mortgage offers to choose from, so I called the number and received excellent assistance from Maria. Very professional, helpful & friendly. Despite the fact the offer had slipped past a deadline she conferred with colleagues and was able to move things quickly as if the deadline had been met. This saved me around £250. Thank you

If they had a zero stars, I would happily award it to Suffolk Building Society

I have been a customer of Suffolk for a number of years and was recently fortunate to clear a large part of my mortgage. Due to a change in circumstances, I reapplied for additional borrowing against my mortgage, which was less then I had cleared only a few months before. Nothing else has changed in my circumstances, but they declined the additional borrowing. Whilst I understand this is their right, it is the excuse they have given, which baffles and frustrates me.

Apparently, you must say, or give the impression that you will have the mortgage and be a customer for at least 6 years (despite taking out a 2 year fixed rate deal), or they will automatically decline you. I was honest with my intent to clear the mortgage at the end of the two year fixed rate deal, and this was the reason they declined me. I’m still in shock!

This, coupled with the poor customer service means I will definitely be moving from Suffolk to another provider asap.

Can’t even give this company 1 star, absolutely shocking from the start of this mortgage application. Took over 20 days to declined us!! Because, my partner gets paid weekly but received monthly wage slips. This was the reason given to decline! Because the wage slips don’t add up. Of course weekly pay slips may differ if there is more days in a month. The employer wrote a letter explaining the situation and was happy to be contacted if there was any problems or questions regarding pay. However, they decided for the reason, the mortgage was declined. I think this is questionable in itself but to take over 20 days to decide, is outrageous and to still charge £474! To be declined just seems unethical and questionable! I will be taking this further!

Please don’t even waste your time with this company. Take your time and money elsewhere.

2 days later for us to be accepted for the same house, less interest and less fees!

Don’t even waste your time!!!

Avoid at all cost!!!!!

We have got a mortgage with the society. The process of obtaining a mortgage was straight forward. The staff were very knowledgeable and professional, and always did their best to help. The society were the only lender who offered me a mortgage at my age, and this enabled my daughter to get onto the property ladder. I have no hesitation in recommending the Suffolk building society.

Very odd mortgage lending criteria - won’t lend on any house in the UK that is part of a housing development?! All the houses in my town are estates.

Very disappointing. Carried out 3 hard searches on the same property and held onto the valuation fee without carrying out the valuation.
Please beware. They are not credible.

They didn’t refund my money after emailing them. They are scammers.

8/11/24 successfully opened a regular saver via online application. Subsequently invited to register for online access. Submitting correct and permissable details an "error" message stated I was to contact the Member Support Centre. Following the representative's instructions over the phone - I had to re-register - the same result ensued. Error! No explanation as to why this keeps happening, nor could a solution be proposed for progression to personal online account access. Therefore going to terminate my account!

Awful service, time wasters

I have always experienced excellent service but yesterday was even better. I phoned the local office and after ringing for a while received a message that staff were busy and to leave a message and someone would get back to me later. I didn't leave a message and thought I would try again later and this I did. Again no usual quick response so rang off. Only a few minutes later i received a call from a male member of staff who saw my phone number as "a missed call" so phoned me! As usual he was very helpful and polite in requesting security details and answered all my questions and arranged a withdrawal.

I am a past mortgage customer and was seeking a new mortgage. Whilst I didn't actually end up taking a mortgage with Suffolk Building Society in the end, what I can say is that their team were responsive, flexible and did respond quickly to queries that I raised.

Have been a savings member all of my life. A really trusted local savings and mortgage provider. Great face to face customer service too.

Absolutely terrible building society, applied for a self build mortgage on a barn we are converting, gave all the details and have spent 3 months going through an application to be told after having a valuation done that a barn is not suitable for the self build product, don’t return calls or emails but happy to take £459

Absolute Jobsworth Building Society for mortgages. They told me i had all the documents in order to actually apply and subsequently took my £200 fee. They then told me they needed another document or they would not offer the mortgage. I could not supply this, they won't refund the fee and I am taking legal action. Dont use them - plenty of others Look at their rating!!

In my personal and financial career spanning over 40 years, this is the WORST organisation (Ipswish/Suffolk Building Society) that I have ever had the misfortune to be involved with. They are inefficient, poor-quality staff, take time to make decisions (many weeks), constantly going back and forth mostly on nit-picking matters (why not ask all or any questions early on / up-front?). I am a credible person, no financial issues and approved mortgage in principle. But they and the surveyor constantly mess around. Also, if they have issues with expats, then they should get out of that part of the business. So much stress for me and my broker, waisted my money on costs, and my time. People do not deserve to be treated this way, and they don’t care! As a consequence of what I have been through with them, I have given up on a future retirement in UK and changed my plan and not go back home to where I was brought up in Cornwall. Keep away from them and go to another mortgage company.

Bad service. I was told I met the income requirements for a ex pat mortgage. Days later I got an email 'we just have some other questions' loosely translated to 'we believe we screwed up we better just ask more questions'

They then told me I wouldn't be eligible because I owned 3 BTLs already. I told them I made it clear I was looking at ex pat mortgages and had 3 existing buy to let properties before and they obviously don't know their criteria or would have told me that wouldn't pass eligibility from the off.

They claimed I didn't complete their form (designed for when you know exactly what you want) and not designed for a simple enquiry. So because I didn't do the form they suggested it wasn't their fault.

Obviously the fact I told them I had 3 BTLs in the initial email therefore anyone with an ounce of knowledge of their lending policy would know that was not suitable immediately. Poor knowledge, no ownership and just blaming the customer for their own reps poor knowledge. I also asked about their rates and they just didn't respond to the question.

Improve your interview process because you've hired incompetent people.

As it says on the title, avoid IBS! If I could leave no stars I would.
Having had a mortgage with IBS for close to 5 years, they have outrageously high early repayment charges( much higher than any other lender).
Poor customer service, no customer loyalty and are archaic and rigid in lending- no opportunity to speak with someone at any senior level, if you request a call back with senior management they will forward messages on, rather than directly speak to you. We chose a society expecting a more personable, approachable and trust worthy- IBS are the opposite.
Highly judgemental organisation that needs to move to the 21st century.
So pleased to have left them and have always advised family and friends to AVOID!

I have been with IBS for around 15 years as a long distance saver, and as such all my transactions are done over the phone or via email. In a period when most companies are using "Covid" as an excuse for poor or reduced customer service, IBS have continued to provide me with one which is personal and consistently excellent. I would not hesitate to recommend them.