Nationwide E-Savings

al_yrpal

According to the Sunday Times, Nationwide is disappearing under a welter of savings transferred from other accounts that have reduced their rates (ING Direct perhaps?), and has been caught with all this money it is scrabbling to lend. Hence big ad in the paper for loans at 6.4%!

Also Flex account is going to pay 4.25% if you pay in £1,000 per month from April - news to me!

Hey ho

ReportInvestor

Jeff Prestridge in Financial Mail says that "cuddly" Nationwide is a razor sharp PR operator

"When it comes to management of the personal finance media, there is no better manipulator than that big old cuddly mutual, Nationwide building society.

Last week, it was at its most manipulative. On Tuesday, it obtained acres of coverage for its 'good news' decision to boost the interest it pays to FlexAccount customers. It will now pay an attractive 4.25% to those who deposit at least £1,000 a month in their current account.

Though the rate will be paid only on balances up to £3,000, it makes Flex-Account a far better current account than that offered by any of the other big banks, most of which are paying a paltry 0.1 per cent interest.

Twenty-four hours later, the society then sneaked out its 'bad news' by announcing rate cuts on its savings accounts, ranging from 0.05 of a percentage point to 0.2 of a percentage point. Bizarrely, it blamed the cuts on the fact that it was taking too much savings business and needed to protect its business margins........"

As Shark says, "Proud to be different"??????

P.S. Welcome to the site, shark. A very knowledgeable first post. You're not Jeff Prestridge, are you ?

pinkfluffybabe

This is a poor show from Nationwide, I use this account to save for my car insurance and so on. Problem is, as many bank are at it, is there much point in shifting?

I will only ever be in the first bracket because of the way I use the account.

nilocmac

This is very disappointing for people who want to stay Mutual. I am very pro Nationwide but now have the bulk of my savings with ICICI...

PiratePete

I was under the impression that the £1000 a month deal, was already up and running, I had a letter from them a long time ago to say about it.
At the time I had a standing order putting £750 in to this account to pay the mortgage etc, on their advice I upped this to £1000 just to get the extra interest, and there was no minimum amount, just as long as a £1000 went in each month, mine nearly always empties, once the bills are paid.
Mrs Pirate Pete

caveat_emptor

nilocmac wrote:

This is very disappointing for people who want to stay Mutual. I am very pro Nationwide but now have the bulk of my savings with ICICI...

I posted on here a while ago not to believe the waffle about mutuality as I benefits to members are minimal at best. The recent increases in Flexaccount interest rates followed by decreases in savings rates, when BofE rates are stable, are up there with the most cynical plc.
I use the Nationwide's excellent online banking service but would not save with them.

Kazza242

Milarky wrote:

They are, I believe, but only within 30 days of the change - not in advance of it. This gives the edge to the banks (etc) to make these rates change a fait accompli

According to the Banking Code, a bank or building society should tell you, within 30 days, if your rate has fallen significantly compared with Bank of England base rate. The infuriating thing is 'Fallen significantly' means a cut of 0.5% or more over 12 months! Some banks and building societies use the tactic of reducing their rates by less than 0.5%, so they can get away with not informing their customers.

It looks like the Halifax is the latest bank to chop their rates. On logging into Halifax online today, and clicking on my Websaver, the current rate displayed at the top is 4.5%!

thor

pinkfluffybabe wrote:

This is a poor show from Nationwide, I use this account to save for my car insurance and so on. Problem is, as many bank are at it, is there much point in shifting?

CARTEL!!!! and us savers are being screwed royally because of it :mad:

MyUserNamesTaken

Glad I shifted my e-savings over the my new Woolwich Openplan account (with offset mortgage) on the 16th!

angelica

The only account still paying 4.75% gross p.a. is Sainsbury's online saver as far as I know. But for how long?