Mortgage consultant, Chris Schutrups from the Mortgage Hut in Winchester said he has waited three weeks for a mortgage offer but despite RBS assurances in the media the problem has been fixed he was turned away again this morning.
“After several calls the centre still can’t look up cases, they can’t refer me on to an underwriter and have told me it would be fixed first by 11, then 12 today. They just thanked me for calling and told me to call back later.”
A spokesperson for NatWest Intermediary Solutions confirmed the mortgage processing problems today are linked to the systems problems the bank has had since last week.
“This issue has now been fixed. However, this has inevitably led to a backlog of applications that we are now addressing. Our priority is to ensure that those applications that have had a mortgage offer issued and require an urgent completion are dealt with first. We are committed to doing all that we can to resolve these issues as quickly as we possibly can and will keep our customers and staff updated regularly on progress,” he said.
NatWest urged brokers to wait for a mortgage reference number before submitting further case information to avoid further delays.
“We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused and thank intermediaries and their clients for their patience whilst we resolve this matter.”
The bank said it had sent emails to brokers, alerted the issue on its website and is using its BDMs and LiveTalk teams to help further.
In a Treasury Select Committee yesterday, Mervyn King called for the FSA to launch an investigation into the bank’s IT systems failure to find out what had gone wrong. He said this reinforced his view that retail and investment banking systems should be separated.
He said: “I hope this is a reminder to everyone of what might have happened had we not rescued RBS and why it’s so important to ensure we have a banking system where the people running it are completely focused on the essential service function of a well-functioning payment system.”
NatWest is reportedly considering suing its US software creator CA Technologies as the disruption continues for millions of customers.
