Nationwide International IoM - Sneaky and pathetic

neoman62

I have a base rate tracker premium account with Nationwide International - "Immediate access with a guaranteed link to the Bank of England base rate, plus an additional premium during your first year."

What they fail to tell you in their literature and execute without notification is that they will revert your account to the lowest possible rate of interest unless you direct them otherwise. Even their manager, a Mr. Craine, admits that their literature is "unclear". Beware!

When I questioned their staff, firstly they tried to blag their way through then stated that it is clear in the terms. When pressed for the third time, directed me to an obscure sub-paragraph in the small print. Finally, I had the admission of "unclear".

Nationwide Customer Service 0 out of 10 for transparency; 10 out of 10 for awkwardness.

RayWolfe

You should always understand the terms of a savings account before you apply. What happens at maturity of a fixed term deal is the first thing to look for after the rate.

alanq

Not as bad as locking you into another fixed term deal unless notified otherwise as some financial institutions do.

neoman62

That's right Ray, but as stated in my original posting, even their manager admitted their literature in "unclear" on this point, so what chance do members of the public have?... Big on headline grabbing, short on clarity.

RayWolfe

neoman62 wrote: »

directed me to an obscure sub-paragraph in the small print

But ain't it always like that for all accounts. What I will agree about is the tendency for T&Cs to become ever longer! My best one - from last year - was an identical account from Halifax and Principality B/S. For Principality one short page was all they required, Halifax on the other hand had 19 double column pages!
I guess, it's our fault for suing everyone and if not suing, then trying it on, left, right and centre. This probably causes them to employ more and more lawyers who add more and more legalise.

eeja

The most serious complaint one can have against this bank in the IOM is their intentional lack of transparency.
The balance page of their online banking site does NOT give the rate of interest being applied to the account in question.
Even Anglo Irish online banking informs the customer of the interest rate he/she is receiving !
Whan raised as a complaint, their reply was that the rate of interest on the account could not be given on the balance page 'for technical reasons '
Shere codswallop !
NB Yes indeed, one could telephone them to ask, but still no excuse not to give the figure on the customer's web page alongsside his/her balance as other institutions do instead of intentionally witholding this important information, especially during a period of falling interest rates and bonus loss on the account after the first 12 months.

withnell

eeja wrote: »

The most serious complaint one can have against this bank in the IOM is their intentional lack of transparency.
The balance page of their online banking site does NOT give the rate of interest being applied to the account in question.

I don't think most of the UK mainland banks tell you the interest rates on the online banking pages!

arjar

"I don't think most of the UK mainland banks tell you the interest rates on the online banking pages!"

You're absolutely right. And not only that, but many do not tell you what interest rate has been applied to your account in the annual statement either. This makes it very difficult indeed to be sure that the rate you expected is the rate you got. And they don't always get it right.....

I think that there's scope here for a relatively simple amendment to FSA regulations to require rate disclosure as 'best practice'. if anyone out there knows how to run this as a campaign - let's do it.

neoman62

I am with you arjar. I have no idea how to run a campaign, although I have heard that the PM's website allows for petitions? Presumably with yet another nationalised bank we are all shareholders and have a voice on how they are run? (Maybe not)

Alternatively, maybe the administrators of this forum have a few suggestions?

And yes eeja, the excuse that they couldn't give the rate is utter rubbish. It is a one-line change to a piece of code.

eeja

withnell wrote: »

I don't think most of the UK mainland banks tell you the interest rates on the online banking pages!

Then three cheers for Anglo Irish ! This is at least one thing they got right and should be congratulated for