Is it time to ditch Nationwide in droves?

MiserlyMartin

Seeing as Nationwide are paying only 1% now on their Cash ISA's ands not much more for the Members ISA Bond is it time for everyone to make a mass protest and pull money out of the society.? They are treating savers very poorly. They don't seem very keen on hoarding cash at those rates.

They have even stopped paying any interest at all on Flexaccounts.
I have moved all my money out of Nationwide years ago when they started paying such poor rates, its just got worse now!

Its a scandal! Even the banks are paying better rates now.

Masomnia

It's a sad state of affairs, they know they can pay a pittance because people won't leave because they think they're somehow safer with them.

Inactive

Of course .. nobody in their right mind keeps any serious funds in their FlexAccount, they just move it at an instant in/out of their e-savings account as required.

MiserlyMartin

That used to be a good idea when e-savings was paying 5%. Do that now and you'll get a massive 1.45% / 1.16 net. Thats less than the flexaccount used to pay!

Inactive

MiserlyMartin wrote: »

That used to be a good idea when e-savings was paying 5%. Do that now and you'll get a massive 1.45% / 1.16 net. Thats less than the flexaccount used to pay!

Indeed, but that is about the going rate for current accounts these days, more than my HSBC Current Account pays, which is zilch.

That, together with the card benefits abroad make Nationwide still my best option.

rb10

MiserlyMartin wrote: »

That used to be a good idea when e-savings was paying 5%. Do that now and you'll get a massive 1.45% / 1.16 net. Thats less than the flexaccount used to pay!

That won't stay for long though ... come 1st March it'll probably be 0.95%. That really is a psychological barrier to have broken through, to be under 1%!

Inactive wrote: »

Indeed, but that is about the going rate for current accounts these days, more than my HSBC Current Account pays, which is zilch.

But if you want interest on a current account, you can easily get it. If you would rather stay at 0%, then Nationwide and HSBC are fine.

HumanEnergy

I'm with Nationwide but I'm in the process of switching to Halifax for their new fiver a month reward account. I'm still going to keep the NW account open though to use when abroad, but I'll keep a zero balance on it at other times.

Nick_C

Their credit card is the best for using abroad. Hadn't though about getting a Flex Account until reading this thread, but I've just this second applied for one with the sole purpose of using it to draw cash abroad. Will keep my Halifax Reward current account for proper use.

Already got the CC and a fixed rate cash ISA paying 6.15% for another 15 months, so the on line application for the Flex account was quick and easy.

irishwench69

HumanEnergy wrote: »

I'm with Nationwide but I'm in the process of switching. I'm still going to keep the NW account open though to use when abroad, but I'll keep a zero balance on it at other times.

That's what I've done, but I switched to Citibank (only place that would give me a debit card, rather than a cash card).

The flexaccount is worth having if you do a lot of travel, even with just an ATM card - this has paid its way and then some with the amount of travel I do - no currency exchange or travellers cheques for me!

IW x

Inactive

rb10 wrote: »

But if you want interest on a current account, you can easily get it. If you would rather stay at 0%, then Nationwide and HSBC are fine.

The Nationwide Card use abroad benefit far outweigh's any interest that I may get elsewhere, and as I have said, I get instant transfer in/out of the linked e-savings account, so it still the best for my needs.

rb10

Inactive wrote: »

The Nationwide Card use abroad benefit far outweigh's any interest that I may get elsewhere, and as I have said, I get instant transfer in/out of the linked e-savings account, so it still the best for my needs.

Plenty of people keep the Nationwide one purely for use abroad, and then have a better current account for day-to-day use in the UK. E.g. have a Halifax Reward account (£5/month interest), and you can have a Bank of Scotland instant access account with instant transfers to/from Halifax, that has a rate just marginally higher than Nationwide's e-Savings. So you would be better off by just over £60 per year this way.