Helpful banking hero Lisa saves mortgage deal for NatWest customers

April 12, 2013 - PRLog -- The day before NatWest customers Joanne and Jimmy Kensmil were due to move home, they discovered there was a problem with their mortgage.

The Kensmils, who live near Stockport in north west England, were already NatWest mortgages borrowers and had wanted to carry their existing homeloan over to their new home, a process known as “porting”. But a clerical error led to a new mortgage account being opened in their name instead, resulting in an extra charge for £5,000.

Joanne says: “On the Thursday NatWest sent a completion statement through saying here was £5,000 outstanding. We didn’t have the money, and the deal had to complete on the next day otherwise we would lose our new house. I went home that night and just burst into tears.”.

This kind of problem would normally take a few days to resolve, but the Kensmils couldn’t wait. Not only were they part of a chain, they were also buying a house that was a repossession property which had to be bought on that very day or the deal would collapse.

Though the mistake was someone else’s, the problem was swiftly picked up by Lisa Maddox, a Cheshire-based business development manager with NatWest Intermediary Solutions. From 9am on the Friday she hit the phones to make sure the correct mortgage was keyed in for the Kensmils. She sent them hourly progress updates, and finally at 3.45pm the vendor’s solicitor confirmed the money had arrived successfully.

Maddox says: “I spoke to all the contacts I know, stressing the problem had to be sorted immediately. I had to call in so many favours, but luckily they all came through for us.”

The mortgage broker involved in the transaction said: “I cannot stress enough how valuable Lisa is to us. She is an absolute superstar…and without doubt ensured that , in the minds of the consultants in our region, NatWest Intermediary Solutions is the best lender to go to.”

But the most grateful person by far is Joanne. She says: “Lisa is absolutely amazing. She put me at ease, kept me informed, I couldn’t have asked for anything more. She’s an absolute life saver.”

The Kensmils have now lived in their new home for 12 weeks: they have decorated inside and have redone the kitchen and are now starting on the front garden.

As a result of her unstinting efforts, not just for the Kensmils but for all those she works with, putting her customers’ interests at the heart of everything she does, Maddox is one of 12 retail and business service staff to be named a 2012 Helpful Banking Hero.

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