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Windfall - Nationwide????
pkjks
Posts: 4 Newbie
I've been haging on to a nationwide account for years, in the hope of a windfall. Is it worth hanging on in there? I have approx £180 in there.
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Comments
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No, IMHO. Although you could say, "never say never".
Nationwide as a business is thriving as a mutual. As a medium sized bank, they would probably lose their main selling point and purpose.
But they have a lifetime signaway, so once you close the account, you've lost your "windfall rights" forever.0 -
Standard Life used to advertise on the basis of being mutual. Even as little as 2 years ago. However, because of their debts, they had to demutualise. Nationwide are not in that position and I wouldnt expect them to
demutualise. They wouldnt last long as a single entity if they did.I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.0 -
Apparently (and it's only hearsay) at the last attempt to demutualise in 1998 there were enough 'no preference' votes available to be cast by the chairman at the AGM to reverse the original postal vote result - which was slightly in favour of a change to a bank. Normally a chairman in that capacity would support the majority expressed view - or not vote to change the result at all.
It may just be an urban myth, of course, but I'd love to know if the chair did swing the result to spare Nationwide's embarrassment? (They would have technically 'won' even at 49/51 because 75 percent must vote for change but it would have been a moral defeat.)
[Anyone know any 'facts' about this?].....under construction.... COVID is a [discontinued] scam0 -
You were allowed to vote by post or in person at a branch.
At the branch a member of the staff could "help" you to decide how to vote.
The final date for voting in a branch was extended by several days.
I have a theory about why this was done.
I was told that my theory was incorrect...0 -
If it was a proxy vote (was it?), it is quite normal for large numbers of people to leave it up to the chairman to decide.
I can't think that they would have been in much doubt as to the way he would use those votes.
I do remember the open ballot boxes, though :eek:.
Not that I'm suggesting that responsible staff would tamper with them, even though the Nationwide bosses had impressed on them jobs would be at risk if there was a "yes" vote.
Oddly enough, the guy i/c the Nationwide campaign, Mike Lazenby, is now the Chief Executive at Kent Reliance, the society that has just removed its windfall signaway clause as of 1st June.0 -
If you do decide to leave the £180 with Nationwide (always hope for a windfall!), make sure you transfer most of it to a NW Account that pays a lot more interest than the the basic account -- e.g. transfer it to InvestDirect a/c -- then you will not lose your rights to any possible windfall.0
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There were a lot of questionable practices reported at the 2000 Standard Life DM vote too, which was also opposed by the board .:( Times have now changed.Trying to keep it simple...
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The only selling point I can see with NW is that they don't charge a foreign transaction fee when using a cc. Apart from that they are no worse or better than the majority of the banks.ReportInvestor wrote:No, IMHO. Although you could say, "never say never".
Nationwide as a business is thriving as a mutual. As a medium sized bank, they would probably lose their main selling point and purpose.
But they have a lifetime signaway, so once you close the account, you've lost your "windfall rights" forever.0 -
pkjks wrote:I've been haging on to a nationwide account for years, in the hope of a windfall. Is it worth hanging on in there? I have approx £180 in there.
Keep the account, only if you openend the account before they introduced the life time sign away clause (think it was about 1997/8)
Make sure you have the £180 in top paying account, or drop the balance to £100 the minimum ammount required to be a member.
If you want a windfall you should be targeting opening accounts with building societies that are 15th to 30th largest societies as these are more likely to lead to windfalls.0 -
thor wrote:The only selling point I can see with NW is that they don't charge a foreign transaction fee when using a cc. Apart from that they are no worse or better than the majority of the banks.
I seem to recall that from a national newspaper article they had less complaints about Nationwide than almost all other high street banks. I recall Abbey had one of the highest complaints. Nationwide is great for me as I do use my cashpoint card abroad - but the staff in my local branch are very good. I also think Nationwide have one of the most consistently high internet saving account rates for those people who don't want to keep moving money about chasing the best rates. Nationwide website is also better than the A&L website for user friendliness.0
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