Nationwide 'most trustworthy lender'

04-Jan-2008

Britons believe that the Nationwide building society is the most trustworthy lender in the country, according to a new poll by moneysupermarket.com.

A study by the website has found that 19 per cent of respondents said that Nationwide was their most trusted bank or building society, followed by NatWest on 13 per cent and Halifax on 11 per cent.

Moneysupermarket also noted that customer service was claimed to be the main reason behind the choice, cited by 39 per cent of respondents, with good reputation a factor for 21 per cent and having competitive products a key reason for nine per cent of those questioned.

However, a lender's reputation is by no means a guide to how trustworthy they are seen as being, the study noted.

"The traditional big four banks have constantly trumpeted themselves as Britain's most trusted names so it was a surprise to see them topped by Nationwide," said Kevin Mountford of moneysupermarket.com.

"What was particularly interesting was the reputation of prominent stable-mates. NatWest scored more than triple the number of votes that Royal Bank of Scotland did while HSBC greatly outranked First Direct.

"The Northern Rock crisis has clearly focused people's minds with service, reputation and lack of problems being uppermost in people's minds - even ahead of product offerings," Mr Mountford noted.

A separate study published by Defacto this week found that first time buyers looking for the best first mortgage may have done well to turn to HSBC, who were adjudged to have offered the most competitive mortgage in 2007.

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