Nationwide letter

Madjock

Has anyone else had this letter from Nationwide advising that you can no longer withdraw less than £30 at the counter, if you don't have a debit card for your account?

Having had a letter a while ago as well advising that the interest rate has been vastly reduced for Flex Accounts that don't have a debit card, this is pretty much the last straw for me.

I probably could get a debit card for my account now if I applied, but I'm not inclined do do so.

Any recommendations where I should apply for an account with a debit card but no overdraft? We've been discharged from bankruptcy for 5 years now, we have a couple of old council tax defaults, but have mortgage (3 yrs) and credit cards (Capital One, held for about 6 months now).

Thanks for any help.

olly300

Yes it's a standard letter.

I don't see why if you are organised now that you can't have a debit card or use an ATM to take money out. If you only take your card with you when you need to withdraw money then you shouldn't have any problems.

Madjock

We don't have debit cards, cash cards only. It means that should we have less than a tenner in our account, we can't take it out.

Considering the way Nationwide advertises in the media, this is somewhat of a contradiction.

They have only done this to account holders who do not have a debit card or overdraft, so are penalising the more basic account holders. I opened this account when we went bankrupt as there was no credit facility and have kept the account since. We pay in (salary) about £2.5k a month and don't go overdrawn or bounce dds. I'm not inclined to ask a bank that treats customers so cynically to give me a debit card.

CLAPTON

Madjock wrote: »

We don't have debit cards, cash cards only. It means that should we have less than a tenner in our account, we can't take it out.

Considering the way Nationwide advertises in the media, this is somewhat of a contradiction.

They have only done this to account holders who do not have a debit card or overdraft, so are penalising the more basic account holders. I opened this account when we went bankrupt as there was no credit facility and have kept the account since. We pay in (salary) about £2.5k a month and don't go overdrawn or bounce dds. I'm not inclined to ask a bank that treats customers so cynically to give me a debit card.

Its a cost cutting expercise of course to reduce queues at the counter, however with an income of 2.5k a month how often do you want to withdraw less than 30?
or is the principle of the thing

olly300

Madjock wrote: »

We don't have debit cards, cash cards only. It means that should we have less than a tenner in our account, we can't take it out.

Considering the way Nationwide advertises in the media, this is somewhat of a contradiction.

They have only done this to account holders who do not have a debit card or overdraft, so are penalising the more basic account holders. I opened this account when we went bankrupt as there was no credit facility and have kept the account since. We pay in (salary) about £2.5k a month and don't go overdrawn or bounce dds. I'm not inclined to ask a bank that treats customers so cynically to give me a debit card.

I haven't checked with my other bank accounts but I expect all banks to be doing similar things to save money. I know HSBC are changing their accounts.

Oh the only way I've moved money that's less than a tenner is by online banking simply because lots of banks don't have a counter service on Saturday.

FluffyFiFi

You could up-grade your account to a full flex but state you do not want to have an overdraft. Also, it doesn't apply to people who have passbooks so you could also open up a savings book such as the cashbuilder and use that.

Hazzanet

Although I'm a full debit card customer to who this change won't apply, the principle of the whole thing irks me. They reckon that the reason they're doing this is because of customer feedback:

Problem: People are P'd off with having to wait in queues at the counter.
Sensible Solution: Give the customers the service they deserve by having more cashiers serving at busy times and/or having more counter positions installed.

Nationwide Solution: Tell their 'members' that they're no longer welcome at the counter and they can queue for their money at the machine outside

Nationwide - proud to be different.

LittleVoice

Not only are they limiting withdrawals at the counter, they are apparently also planning (but with no date set) to restrict payments of coins into an account. You would be able to pay in full bags of coin but not pay in notes plus a single one pound coin (which wouldn't create a full bag) - the notes would be accepted but not the one coin!

Hazzanet

LittleVoice wrote: »

Not only are they limiting withdrawals at the counter, they are apparently also planning (but with no date set) to restrict payments of coins into an account. You would be able to pay in full bags of coin but not pay in notes plus a single one pound coin (which wouldn't create a full bag) - the notes would be accepted but not the one coin!

May I ask where this has been heard? If it's accurate, I may be looking for a new current account provider.

LittleVoice

In a branch when I paid in notes plus £1 and the same branch this week when I paid in notes and 52p. In fact the second time the cashier said that she would accept the coins this time but that was a one off.

She said it was in the T&C and pointed to a notice about paying in full bags. I asked to see it in the T&C (I'm sure it's not there) but said I didn't want her to go and find a copy - as there was a long queue of people wanting to see a cashier!

After the first time, I emailed Nationwide to check what she had said. I have a response which says they are going to introduce it but that they haven't set a date.

In fact, I think (hope) both the branch cashier and the person who answered my email are misundersstanding the note about paying in full bags of coins. It would be a nonsense to accept a bag of coins which they would have to weigh or count and not a single coin.

Squirreler

One of my family works for them and told me about these changes.

It's people paying in one coin that have caused these measures!

I don't use the branch as I work full time, so the changes won't affect me, but I'm leaving them as their call centre customer service is horrendous.

You don't have to have an overdraft with them I don't think - on my internet banking you can request whatever overdraft you like, e.g £0