Any alternatives to Nationwide VISA debit?

albinicat

My partner is going away to Canada on a University international exchange for a year in September. However, she's struggling to find a cheap way of keeping access to her money. She currently has a Bank of Scotland account and her student loan payments will be going into that over the course of the next year. However, they make ridiculous charges for her to transfer that money abroad or withdraw it there.

She read about the Nationwide visa debit card on this site and so went into Nationwide today to open account. However, after having spent an uncomfortable hour with a David Brent-esque bank employee was informed, 'oh sorry, the computer won't let you open an account with us'. She was given no firm reason why (I suspect because she has very little credit history).

Thus, she's now worried about what to do, so I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on what the next cheapest and simple method of obtaining her money in Canada will be, especially given she's going to be there for a year. Any help would be very gratefully received(!)

PBA

Nationwide don't offer a student account, and I guess she's been turned down for that reason.

Is it just cash machines that she needs access to, or does she want to be able to make purchases abroad as well? Nationwide don't seem to have a tariff of charges online for their savings accounts, but they do have one with a card which it implies offers free withdrawals overseas. The rate is poor (around 2%), but your partner could keep the bulk of her money somewhere else, and just do an online transfer to the Nationwide account when it needs topping up.

For purchases, if Nationwide aren't interested she could apply for an Abbey Zero card, though I think her being a student would also cause her a problem there.

Remember that, even through charges of maybe 3% seems a lot, it's based on a much better exchange rate than if she buys dollars from a change bureau before she leaves. Even if she uses her existing card she'll be better off than if she takes lots of dollars with her.

CherwellRiver

I suppose your partner can get a cashcard account from them instead even with no/little credit history.

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/current_account/managing_your_account/cash_card_account.htm

You can get money using the cashcard fee-free at any Cirrus ATM overseas.

albinicat

Thanks for the advice. She really wants a card she can use for purchases as well; apparently Cirrus machines are a bit patchy in the area she is going to, so really she wants Visa or similar.

She has a Bank of Scotland Visa debit, but they charge about £3 per transaction and then a further 3% from the exchange so it will work out pretty expensive over the year.

Thus, we really need to find a bank that would be prepared to give her a Visa debit account even though she has very little credit history, and has a decent foreign transaction rate. It's so frustrating because she is actually very good with her money and if a bank did give her such an account she'd almost certainally stick with them once she graduates(!)

McAzrael

Is it worth spending another ten minutes applying on line for the Nationwide account? The computer may well say no, but at least there will be no David Brentesque bank employee saying it. It seems a little odd that someone with little credit history can't open a current account, unless what little there is isn't very impressive or she is asking for an overdraft or something else special. They would, quite reasonably, expect her to be moving from BoS, and not keeping two accounts.

emweaver

We was refused a nationwide current account in feb, we applied for one as we were going on holiday. Weve both got a good credit history, no missed payments or ccjs etc. But we retried a month later and were accepted. Seems daft but also with the credit crunch its a lot harder to even open bank accounts

malid

Hi there

I would definitley try for Nationwide again - Flexaccount and e.savings (second for better rate and topping up Flexaccount).

My 16 yr old (in school) has a flexaccount with cashcard for ATM and cheque book and a 19 yr old (1st year HE) with a flexaccount with cash/visa debit card and cheque book and e.savings. Their income is limited to pocket money and student loan.

Don't give up! :rolleyes:

savingsuperstar

I've heard that Nationwide are limiting their current accounts because of their great deal on drawing and paying with visa debit abroad. My friend applied and was told that she would be one of the last to be approved before the clampdown came in.

emweaver

Nationwide certainly are clamping down wed never been refused a current account before

Skint_Catt

When I went to Oz for 7 months I opened a current account with a local bank (Commonwealth). She can always transfer money in from her British account online.

McAzrael

Incidentally, Citibank also offer a fee-free Visa debit card with their current account. I'm not sure that this will help OP because they have minimum income requirements to open an account (or at least they used to), but it might help someone else browsing on here or doing a search.

If Nationwide or Citibank can't help, perhaps OP could try one of the international banks (HSBC or RBS or someone) to open a Canadian dollar account.

Edit: Any of these lot look familiar? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banks_in_Canada#Foreign_banks_with_operations_in_Canada Five from the bottom, starts with an H.