Website: http://www.staffsbs.co.uk/MortgagePages/index.htm
Phone: 0800 21 61 21
The fee structure on the Staffordshire mortgage range is too high, and there are no truly exceptional products- surprising for an independent Society. Fees are fairly low, and the selection of cashback and discounted offers might tempt first time buyers.
The Staffordshire mortgage range contains around 20 products at any one time. These mainly cover fixed, discounted, cashback and tracker mortgages, and in a world where most companies are moving to flexible products, discounted and cashback products are increasingly rare, so if that's what you want, start here. Most products can also be used for remortgaging, paying for e.g. redecoration.
On the downside, the Staffordshire mortgage selection is pretty old-fashioned, and intolerant. All the mortgages here have a maximum 95% LTV (so they're not interested in risky borrowers), and the list of fees reads like it was written in 1980; with arrangement fees, legal fees, valuation, tracking fee, completion and additional high LTV protection all making an appearance. Of course, some products waive fees; but the point is, this much complication is rather cheeky these days- the market is moving towards a simpler expression of costs.
Arrangement fees aren't too high, though (£200 rather than £400!), and cute touches include a property and local school finder as well as the obligatory borrowing and repayments calculators.
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