After retiring from her teaching career, Sheena was keen to carry out some work on her home: “I’d moved back from Ireland to my house in West Yorkshire, but it desperately needed things doing to it and I just didn’t have the cash. To be honest, I wouldn’t have had the work done if it wasn’t for Teachers Building Society,” she said.
As soon as she decided that a mortgage would be the best way to raise the funds for her home improvements, she made contact with the Society: “I chose Teachers because, quite simply, as a retired teacher, it seemed like the right thing to do.”
After contacting the Society, she was delighted to find out that we were able to help: “The first person I spoke to at Teachers was Jo, and she was brilliant, just brilliant. I’ve spoken to her since I joined the Society in 2011 and she’s handled my case ever since. I’ve always found it easy to get hold of her whenever I needed her help.”
Sheena was particularly impressed with the treatment she received: “You just felt like you were being treated properly, and everything was done in a very ethical way. It’s a feeling of safety and security. I felt it was a personal arrangement and the staff were all extremely helpful, and so pleasant. The older you get, you tend to have a little less trust, so to have that trust in the Society was fantastic.”
Fast forwarding to the present day, Sheena has been able to update her house and couldn’t be happier with how easy the mortgage process was: “It was very clear what I was going to have to pay, which was very important. I knew what was being charged for and nothing was hidden; everything was simple and upfront.”
As well as keeping herself active, Sheena now helps out with her son’s music and dance shows, and her enthusiasm for life is contagious – as is her recommendation of Teachers: “I honestly can’t think of anything Teachers Building Society could do to improve its service – I didn’t have any problems and everything was just so straightforward. It wasn’t just adequate, it was so much more.”