Coronavirus (COVID-19) mortgages update
The current deadline for mortgage payment holiday applications, which allow homeowners to defer payments for up to six months, is 31 January 2021. You can find out more with the following articles:
- How to apply for a mortgage payment holiday
- What's happened to mortgages during COVID-19?
- How has the coronavirus affected house prices?
For the latest updates and advice, visit the Which? coronavirus information hub.
The Co-operative Bank and Platform mortgage customer ratings
Mortgages from The Co-operative Bank are only available to new customers through Platform, its intermediary-only mortgage brand.
The Co-operative Bank still offers mortgages to existing customers who are on a standard variable rate, or coming to the end of a mortgage deal.
For this review, we've combined customer feedback on both brands, but we've only looked at Platform's deals to work out whether it's currently a market-leading lender.
The table below shows how The Co-operative and Platform performed in our latest mortgage satisfaction survey.
The survey asked mortgage customers about everything from the application process to value for money.
| Customer rating for: | Star rating |
|---|---|
| Customer service | |
| Application process | - |
| Value for money | |
| Keeping you well informed | |
| Clarity of statements | |
| Transparency of charges | |
| Query and complaint handling | |
| Ability to overpay or underpay mortgage | |
| Online access | |
Star ratings based on a June/July 2020 Which? survey of 3625 members of the general public in which 108 people told us they had their mortgage with The Co-operative/Platform.
What kinds of mortgages does Platform offer?
Many mortgage lenders have significantly cut their offerings this year due to the coronavirus outbreak.
When we checked in September 2020, there were just five mortgages available from Platform. All of these deals were fixed-rate - meaning your interest rate will stay the same for a set initial period - and all came with an initial period of five years.
Does Platform offer the best mortgage deals?
Our experts analysed hundreds of mortgages over a four-week period in July 2020. They compiled a total of 208 ‘top-10 cheapest deal’ tables based on a variety of borrowing scenarios, and counted how many times each lender featured in a table.
The average number of times a lender made it into a table was 16, but Platform failed to feature at all, meaning it rarely offers the cheapest rates. (Data source: Moneyfacts.)
Interest rates on Platform mortgages
In September 2020, Platform offered too few deals to compare its rates with other lenders.
How much could I borrow from Platform?
Platform will lend to first-time buyers, home movers and remortgagers at 60%, 70%, 75% and 80% loan-to-value.
Platform will lend up to 4.85 times annual income for mortgages at 80% loan-to-value or below, or 4.49 times income at higher loan-to-value ratios.
How can I contact The Co-operative Bank?
Existing mortgage customers can contact 08000 288 288.
Its website is co-operativebank.co.uk.
How can I contact Platform?
If you're interested in taking out a Platform mortgage, you'll need to do so via a mortgage adviser.
Existing Platform mortgage customers can call 01752 236550.
Its website is platform.co.uk.
