Porting is when an existing Nationwide borrower moves home and transfers their existing mortgage product for the remainder of its term to the new property. Most of the mortgage products available through Nationwide are portable. Please refer to your client’s mortgage offer for more details.
Porting
Early repayment charges (ERCs)
Your client won’t have to pay ERCs when porting if they port the remaining balance of their existing mortgage and terms of their product to the new property for the remainder of the product deal period.
From 22 May 2023, when calculating ERCs, we'll treat a partial port the same way as an overpayment. If the amount that isn’t ported is higher than the unused overpayment allowance for the year, we'll only charge an ERC on the difference.
Where the ERC isn't payable, the solicitor will still need to account for the ERC and redemption expenses from the sale. They'll need to remove these before sending the redemption payment through to us.
If an ERC is paid, it will either be:
- refunded to the solicitor who dealt with the closure of the old account. This is if the borrowers on the new application don't match the borrowers on the old account. OR
- the bank details the direct debit came from on the old account. So long as the borrowers on the new account matches the borrowers on the old account.
Criteria
If your client is looking to port their product, you should both be aware that:
- Client personal details (e.g. the applicant’s surname) on their existing account need to be up to date prior to the start of the porting application
- Products can only be ported on home mover or second property home mover applications
- Any additional borrowing required above the ported balance can only have a product from our current product range
- Their account can be no more than one month in arrears.
Tip:
At application stage, your client can change the term of their mortgage when porting, subject to criteria. Your client can also port from a joint mortgage to a single mortgage and vice versa.
The amount that is selected to be ported at application is the amount that will be advanced to the new loan, regardless of any payments made against the loan part between application and completion.
Porting with an interest only or part & part mortgage
- Existing Nationwide borrowers who have an interest only/part & part mortgage and are moving home, can keep the amount they have on their interest only mortgage where the existing product is ported. They must also ensure they have an acceptable mortgage repayment strategy in place
- When porting, any new additional borrowing must be on a capital and interest repayment basis. If they wish to take any new lending on an interest only basis, they'll need to redeem the existing product and pay any applicable ERCs
- If they currently have an existing Interest Only product and are looking to increase their borrowing on interest only, and wish to port with a top up on interest only, please speak to your BDM.
If your client's purchase is delayed
We usually expect the sale and purchase transactions to complete simultaneously. However, we understand there could be delays in the completion of the purchase, or your client may not have found a property they want to move to yet. If your client has to redeem their existing mortgage prior to completion of their new mortgage, any applicable ERCs will be paid on redemption and we'll:
- continue to process your client’s application as a split port if a mortgage offer has already been produced. The new property purchase must then complete within the offer validity period, with no material changes to the offer
- if a mortgage offer hasn’t yet been produced or material changes are required, and redemption of the existing mortgage has already taken place, your client can port non-simultaneously and will have up to 180 days from the redemption date to reach completion to retain the ported product. A paper application will be required in these cases.
OR
For both split and non-simultaneous porting cases, the product term will be paused at redemption and will restart upon completion. This means that the original product end date will extend by the number of months between redemption and completion.
Following the completion of the new mortgage, any ERCs which are due to be returned will be refunded to the solicitor(s) who redeemed the original mortgage within 5 working days.
It will either be:
- refunded to the solicitor who dealt with the closure of the old account. This is if the borrowers on the new application don't match the borrowers on the old account. OR
- the bank details the direct debit came from on the old account. So long as the borrowers on the new account matches the borrowers on the old account.
If neither of the above is achieved, the porting facility will be lost and a new application must be submitted based on our current product range (this doesn’t guarantee acceptance of any future application). It also means that any paid ERCs will not be refunded.
Product information
Existing borrowers can port the Base Mortgage Rate (BMR) and Standard Mortgage Rate (SMR) but any additional borrowing will need to be on a product from our current product range. Visit our Existing Nationwide Borrowers page to find out more.
Please note, following completion of the new mortgage, you will not be able to apply to switch your client’s account to a new deal until after their first mortgage payment has been made.
Porting process
You can produce Mortgage Illustrations for ported cases and submit applications via NFI Online. You can download our step by step keying guide to help with porting applications.
If you need to rekey a porting application, please ensure you have cancelled the original application. You won't be able to locate the current mortgage through the system to start a new application if there is an open case in the background.
There are a small number of porting exceptions which can't be submitted via NFI Online and need to be submitted by completing a Mortgage application form, these are:
- Non-simultaneous porting
- Porting a 25 year fixed rate
- Porting if the mortgage term takes the applicant past 75 years old (like for like applications only)
- Porting of 5 or more accounts with no additional borrowing
- Porting of 4 or more accounts with further borrowing
- Porting of 3 or more applicants (like for like applications only).
To obtain an illustration for these applications, please complete the Manual Mortgage Illustration Request form.
To submit a paper application, you'll need to contact our technical support team to obtain a ticket reference number.
You'll then need to email the full application to mso.rekeys@nationwide.co.uk or post it to the address below:
Nationwide Building Society (IPA)
Northampton Service Centre
Kings Park Road
Moulton Park
Northampton
NN3 6NW
Fees
There are no product or booking fees when porting, but fees will apply to any new products taken as part of the new house purchase.
Porting a mortgage to a new property whilst letting the existing property
If your client wishes to port their mortgage to a new property and remortgage their home as a Let to Buy, we'll require both mortgages to be affordable without rental income, unless the Buy to Let is placed with The Mortgage Works.
Full details of how to key these mortgages can be found in our Let to Buy processing guide.