Nationwide Building Society · DRN-6129252

The complaint Miss B complains that Nationwide Building Society wrote to her after her mortgage was redeemed suggesting there was a balance still to pay. Miss B is unhappy about the poor service and that Nationwide didn’t check the mortgage balance before sending the letter. She asks that Nationwide pays compensation for her distress and inconvenience. What happened Miss B had a mortgage with Nationwide on an interest only basis. The term was due to expire in October 2025. Miss B arranged for the balance to be repaid in mid-September 2025. Nationwide confirmed it had received the funds and redeemed the mortgage. Miss B received a letter from Nationwide in early October 2025 saying there was a balance to repay of about £5,500. Nationwide says this was an automated letter sent to holders of interest only mortgages. Although Miss B had repaid her mortgage, its systems hadn’t updated before the letter was sent. Our investigator said Mr B was upset to receive the letter, which referred to an unpaid balance and her needing to get in contact. He said Miss B was worried for a short time and inconvenienced by having to call Nationwide. He said Nationwide should pay £50. Nationwide didn’t agree. It said (in summary) it was an automated letter. And it explained what had happened when Miss B called. What I’ve decided – and why I’ve considered all the available evidence and arguments to decide what’s fair and reasonable in the circumstances of this complaint. Miss B repaid her mortgage balance on 16 September 2025. Nationwide wrote to her on 20 September 2025 to confirm the mortgage was repaid and it would arrange to release its charge. Miss B received a further letter from Nationwide in early October 2025. The letter was dated 30 September 2025 and said her mortgage would end soon. It said the balance to pay was about £5,500. It asked Miss B to get in contact about repaying the balance. Nationwide says letters reminding customers about the need to repay their interest only mortgages are sent at required intervals. It said its systems can take a while to update and it can’t stop mailings which are already in the process of being sent out. It said accounts that are repaid are removed from the mailings on a monthly basis (Miss B’s was removed in October 2025). It said there was no way to prevent the letter being sent to Miss B. In terms of the impact on Miss B, Nationwide said it had already confirmed the mortgage was repaid. It said the letter explained the unpaid balance was correct at the end of August 2025. And when Miss B called it immediately clarified the situation and said she should

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disregard the letter. I understand the points made by Nationwide. I wouldn’t expect it to check the balance of each interest only mortgage before sending out reminder letters. And I appreciate that letters can be sent before there’s been time for the systems to update. But I don’t think it’s necessarily the case that it’s fair to send a letter simply because it’s sent by an automated system that takes a while to update. I think that depends on the circumstances. If (as seems likely) Miss B called Nationwide as soon as she received the letter, this was nearly three weeks after she’d repaid the mortgage. I think Nationwide ought reasonably to anticipate that some customers might find it upsetting to receive a letter in these circumstances. Nationwide says it updates its mailing list for holders of interest only mortgages on a monthly basis – but Miss B didn’t know this. Miss B didn’t know how or when Nationwide’s systems generate letters, or how long it might take for its systems to update so that she no longer received reminders about repaying the balance. Miss B had repaid her mortgage on 16 September 2025 and received a letter to confirm this. I don’t think she would reasonably expect to receive a letter in early October 2025 suggesting she still had a balance to pay. And I don’t think it’s fair to say that it was unreasonable for her to be concerned just because the letter said the balance was correct at the end of August 2025. Some customers might not have been concerned. But Miss B was upset and worried. She had to call Nationwide to find out what had happened. I think, for the worry and inconvenience caused, it’s fair and reasonable to order Nationwide to pay £50 to Miss B. My final decision My decision is that I uphold this complaint and order Nationwide Building Society to pay £50 to Miss B. Under the rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service, I’m required to ask Miss B to accept or reject my decision before 23 April 2026. Ruth Stevenson Ombudsman

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