Bath Building Society Reviews 17

This Building Society is a joke..opened an ISA account and my bank tells me this site is not safe when trying to invest!!!
Nobody answers the phone and obviously there is no one there anyway despite hanging on and then getting cut off. They obviously have serious problems given their ratings...no idea why Martin Lewis recommends them!!!!
I won't be investing!!!!
Be warned!!!

Bath Building Society led me down a path whilst getting a mortgage approved for over 2 months - approved the mortgage, signed all documents, then they were rudely abrupt in declining the mortgage without any good reason, and very randomly. The mortgage was approved. Absolute farce of a company - rude staff, terrible organisation, delays after delays. There's a reason they're small and not known - stay far clear for anything mortgage related with this Bank, absolutely terrible experience.

Wanted to support a local business but wouldn't bother again. Unhelpful, petty, inconsistent staff. 'Security' their top priority in areas that stop you getting your money - lax when you give them your money. Happy to take your money but don't want to let it go when they slash the interest rate.
Wish I had read these poor reviews before investing.

I applied for their new rent a room mortgage after going through a separation. I took on 2 lodgers to help pay the bills , the criteria of the mortgage was you are allowed 2 lodgers but only one is assessed in the affordability. I passed the affordability, but still denied the mortgage as my house has 5 bedrooms. 2 rooms for the lodgers, 1 is mine and 2 for my daughters when they stay as they live away? This will potentially force me to sell my family home. Poor attitude to my circumstances and poor service.

Way behind the times, slow in fixing errors and system failures, shocking response to complaints & not learning by mistakes made.

Very quick service. From application to mortgage offer just under 4 weeks, this at a time when all institutions were inundated with applications to beat the labour stamp duty increases.
I had been advised that there would be a delay because of the SD increases so was pleasantly surprised to receive my offer in such a timely manner.
Well done BIBS, impressed with you.

Never answer the phone and don't call back when you leave a voicemail

Dreadful online service…. Avoid at all costs becuse it probably will cost you

Still one or less. Sent me an email which clearly indicated they have not read mine or understood their own website.

I went to their branch with 4 BIBS accounts to put capital interest into two bank accounts only to be told they only do one bank account transaction at a time. The bank closes at 3pm. This is another change of many BIBS managers petty little protocols but their senior counter staff are charming. They pushed us out before we left transferring ALL 4 monies into the very bank account they had refused the day before. Absurd.
Previously, they allowed the DWP to 'hack' into all 4 BIBS accounts without a police order in writing, even though they are in different names, to find details the DWP "assume" is overpayment-fraud. Then BIBS lied they hadn't done it when other BS said they had. DWP?BIBS jumped the gun. At the time the Tories were thinking about extending DWP bank snooping into BS hacking but the Bill was lost with the general elction. To avoid another petty fraud by BIBS their managers need better retraining and to stay in post for more than a few months. Then, they might have happy customers.

It has taken a month since we submitted our application for a BTL mortgage to get a response from underwriting - we received AIP on the 19/9/24 and have only today finally heard back from them. Even then they have not come back with a decision, instead they have come back requesting more information. Without going into details - they have asked for several items which don't exist, several items which not be be required until completion and also copy of our annual mortgage statement and the majority of details they will have already obtained from my credit bureau (e.g. value / remaining terms / monthly payment / payment history)

We were very clear that we were looking to settle early October. However it has basically taken a month to figure out the need more information. And we are now in danger of losing this transaction.

I would not recommend Bath Building Society to anyone who is looking for a decision in a reasonable timeframe or a reasoned joined up approach to underwriting.

However if you have all the time in the world and are quite happy responding to underwriting requests on a piecemeal basis then Bath BS are for you

We applied for a mortgage with Bath and they requested the same information several times, kept changing what information they required at different stages, incurred costs and after several MONTHS rejected our application. The mortgage broker handling the application is very experienced and we’ve used him in the past several times and he was really frustrated at the length of time taken and the method to make a decision.

My issue is with BIB'S new Online and App service which they have recently launched over the last few months. Everytime I go online or onto the app this site is invariably down or having maintenance done on it. This means that I then have to try to contact Bibs by phone along with 'hundreds' of other customers I suppose who are all having the same issue. This results in Bibs not being able to answer the phone as all lines are busy, 'Leave a message' on the answer phone is as far as I could get. This is just not good enough for a modern building society if you are going to go with an app/online system at least make sure it works 'most' of the time. Not really impressed with this 'tech' side of the company just go back to working from a shoe-box that seems to work. The staff on the other hand are absolutely great and go out of their way to resolving the issues once you get through to them. I have no complaint with staff or the products Bibs offers just their 'new' foray into the online/app world. If they can get this right and allow people to access their accounts regularly on the system it would be the best result.

a mix up over Isa transfer to another provider, sorted eventually after months. other provider paid gesture of goodwill without prompting.
Bath building society will not send me closing statement showing final balance and interest paid. they confirmed, after my many emails to them, they would award me a gesture of goodwill and send statement, but neither has appeared. i have reported them to resolver several times which has escalated my complaints to the financial ombudsman. each time I have informed bath I have done so, and they never respond, which indicates their lack of concern.

Mortgage declined due to inconsistencies which our advisor couldn't understand. We weren't told the reason for declining and also told we weren't allowed to appeal.

Do not let these people loose you your dream home which is happening to me right now because of them. More so in this time of such high demand for homes where the seller has their choice of buyers and you are lucky if your offer is the one accepted. You need a mortgage provider that will give you a decision either way as soon as possible not one that will delay you for weeks and then decline you for a reason they knew about in the first place which has just happened to me with Bath leaving me having to start again with another lender and a impatient seller wanting answers. It's a nightmare. We as mortgage seekers are advised not to have multiple applications going at once so it is imperative that the provider we choose respects our situation and the trust we have put in them. One of these unfortunately is not Bath. They've got the slogans but do not live up to them and have been a complete frustration and hinderence to me with every question they asked being answered immediately and them taking days to get back each time and if the seller doesn't wait for me Bath will be the sole reason why I have lost my much needed purchase. No matter how they respond to this with - they needed more info - or whatever, it is all rubbish because all further questions were answered perfectly satisfactory and they have fundamentaly given the reason of decline as something they knew of from the start and there is simply no excuse for time wasting like this when customers are on the clock already with some of the biggest decisions and stress in their lifes. Don't let them ruin things for you.
Good luck