Nationwide - Cheap spending abroad - Over

eslick

dzug1 wrote: »

A totally illogical argument - it assumes all trends will continue ad infinitum. Like house prices will rise forever hooray.




Maybe they want to lose that sort of customer.

And yes, I agree on using the most cost effective company. But by getting rid of your Nationwide debit card as well as the credit one, you are losing the opportunity of getting cash overseas at a maximum 1% cost - no other means of doing that exists, for joe public anyway.

sorry dont get your first arguement, look at whats been said at the moment about the bank fee cases could lead to the end of free banking not that I think it would but thats another discussion. Why would they not charge for European transactions in the future whats stopping them? Like everything if they think they can make money out of you they will.

On the second point I was talking about credit cards only not debit cards, like many on MSE when I travel I tend to take some cash and the NW credit card and never withdraw from ATMs as in the US the cash machine providers normally charge for this anyway so it saves us to take a little cash and use the NW credit card. Therefore next time it will be cash and the post office credit card

turbos

eslick wrote: »

Not really, for me as I dont travel to Europe only with work our holidays are normally outside of Europe and wouldnt use my NW card on business trips as we have company credit cards for that.

Point is if they charge for no European countries then it wont be long before they start charging for European ones and as with all of these things if they think they can get away with it then they will start charging for all countries.

NW have a lot of customers who only have their credit card because of the no fee, so bet they will loose customers because of this change as those that have use NW for the savings will move to another non charging one just for the savings.

Sorry but I have no loyalty to any company just because I have used them for a while, I will always look for the most cost effective companys and those that provide the best customer service and therefore I will look else where.

I fully agree with the above statement and personally think that NW are just looking for excuses to erode the benefits we used to have with the visa card. It wasn't that long ago when cash advances on the visa were just 0.5% and there was no interest charge if the balance was paid off in full by the statement date. I have now applied for the Abbey visa

dzug1

eslick wrote: »

sorry dont get your first arguement, look at whats been said at the moment about the bank fee cases could lead to the end of free banking not that I think it would but thats another discussion. Why would they not charge for European transactions in the future whats stopping them? Like everything if they think they can make money out of you they will.

OK what's to stop them charging 5% for overseas transactions? 10%? 20%?

What's stopping them is their market position and perceived competition. If they change their market position and/or change their perception of the competition, then that's different, but all they are doing is passing on a charge that Visa already make and which up to now they have absorbed. They are not introducing a new charge as such.

turbos

dzug1 wrote: »

OK what's to stop them charging 5% for overseas transactions? 10%? 20%?

What's stopping them is their market position and perceived competition. If they change their market position and/or change their perception of the competition, then that's different, but all they are doing is passing on a charge that Visa already make and which up to now they have absorbed. They are not introducing a new charge as such.

I thought that the retailer had to pay the credit card company a fee typically 2-3 % which they use to pay visa etc, so how have they been absorbing the costs?

eslick

dzug1 wrote: »

OK what's to stop them charging 5% for overseas transactions? 10%? 20%?

What's stopping them is their market position and perceived competition. If they change their market position and/or change their perception of the competition, then that's different, but all they are doing is passing on a charge that Visa already make and which up to now they have absorbed. They are not introducing a new charge as such.

yes completely agree they can then charge what they like and they might just do that but whilst there are companys out there that dont charge there is a saving and a chance that if you leave and others do the same they will ensure that they charge less that the competition or even stop the fee.

why are most big brands in supermarkets so cheap now a days its because of the competiton of own brand labels and its the same with nationwide they have had a successful credit card because they are different from the other companies they have a product that is on all of the best buy tables because they have this offer. load of MSE'er have them just for this reason, its not because they have better customer service or give you more interest its because they are the cheapest and as with everything customers will move with their feet if they are not happy and NW will take a hit for it. Thats just a fact of life for them.

omelette451

dzug1 wrote: »

Interesting that places like Martinique and St Pierre/Miquelon are 'in Europe'

Well I suppose they do use the €

It's not just that they use the euro: Martinique, Guadeloupe (and also la Reunion in the Indian Ocean) are actually part of France, and therefore the EU. It's a political thing, not a geographic one. (If you want the technical details, they're 'departements' - similar in stature to UK 'counties' - of France. They're given the title 'Departements d'outre-mer' (DOM) and have MPs in the French parliament and the same federal laws as mainland France.)

omelette451

eslick wrote: »

Point is if they charge for no European countries then it wont be long before they start charging for European ones and as with all of these things if they think they can get away with it then they will start charging for all countries.

That's not the point at all. The card merchant (i.e. Visa) makes a distinction between European transactions and non-European ones: the former are processed free and the latter attract a small fee. Currently Nationwide makes no such distinction, but plans to introduce one. Crucially, NW has specified that it plans to pass on the fee (not add one), and as Visa has no intention to introduce a fee in Europe, it stands to reason that NW also has no intention to start charging in Europe. NW plans only to stop losing money, not to start making extra profits, and any move towards the latter would be such a big change in policy that it would require much greater openness and discussion with stakeholders than the current change has had. This is precisely why I believe it is not simply a matter of time before NW attracts the same foreign loadings as other banks.

leo2moss

I've heard that Nationwide will be charging for the use of their credit and debit cards after May? :eek:

Does anyone know if this is true and, if so, is there another credit card company I could move to that doesn't charge?

Lynsey

leo2moss wrote: »

I've heard that Nationwide will be charging for the use of their credit and debit cards after May? :eek:

Does anyone know if this is true and, if so, is there another credit card company I could move to that doesn't charge?

Just for non-EU countries I believe.

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/creditcard/goldcard/foreigntransactions.htm

Lynsey

fifeken

Martin's article on the subject recommends Abbey Zero and Post Office Credit Cards. Keep Nstionwide debit card however as it'll still be the cheapest.