Flex Account overseas' charges: tackling Nationwide at AGM

p00hsticks

never-in-doubt wrote: »

Right.....

And have you for one moment forgot about the shareholders bonus payments?

It's a BUILDING SOCIETY - it doesn't HAVE shareholders!

never-in-doubt

p00hsticks wrote: »

It's a BUILDING SOCIETY - it doesn't HAVE shareholders!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/nationwides-key-staff-get-payouts-1091279.html

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/saving-and-banking/article.html?in_article_id=421492&in_page_id=7

My term of the word shareholders includes management - after all, they are shareholders in every sense but the shares! as i said, learn the banking system then argue with me/

JCB2020

Never - 1999/2007 !!

However they are not share holders in fact.
Management are employees unless they have share ownership!
A building society is not a bank and is governed by a different set of rules.
Otherwise they would be banks wouldnt they!!!!!!

firsttimestudent

I will lend my support too. I will happily sign anything in favour of cancelling the overseas charge if you PM me!

Hazzanet

I have credit, savings and a FlexAccount with Nationwide and they are at present my main "bankers". Whilst I appreciate the comments made by previous posters about the savings and loan rates, I think we must all remember that even FlexAccount holders are members of the society as are those who hold savings accounts and mortgages.

That said, there are some websites that have encouraged people to open FlexAccounts with the society to fund prior to going abroad and not use as the main current account. On the face of it, this makes 100% moneysaving sense, however these accounts that lie idle for probablt some 11 months of the year are going to cost the society money so I understand why they want to take this useful, loss-making perk away.

Perhaps they should be looking at this from another angle, for example imposing a minimum pay-in for this 'service' to be made available?

rb10

Hazzanet wrote: »

Perhaps they should be looking at this from another angle, for example imposing a minimum pay-in for this 'service' to be made available?

Although I have a Flexaccount that I don't use as my main current account, so would be worse off by such a change, I think that your suggestion would be a fair way of doing it. It would surely cause many people to close accounts on which Nationwide probably makes no profit, but would also encourage some people to switch their main bank account to Nationwide.

On the more general issue of them introducing the 1% charge, I can't really complain, as it's so much less than any other bank offers. Obviously times are tough for them, like all banks, so I think it's reasonable for them to pass on this charge.

However, the strongest conflicting argument in my opinion is: when you withdraw cash from an ATM, Nationwide have to pay a fee to the ATM owner for that. They don't pass that on to the customer, so why should the overseas fee be passed on to the customer?

olly300

Hazzanet wrote: »

I have credit, savings and a FlexAccount with Nationwide and they are at present my main "bankers". Whilst I appreciate the comments made by previous posters about the savings and loan rates, I think we must all remember that even FlexAccount holders are members of the society as are those who hold savings accounts and mortgages.

That said, there are some websites that have encouraged people to open FlexAccounts with the society to fund prior to going abroad and not use as the main current account. On the face of it, this makes 100% moneysaving sense, however these accounts that lie idle for probablt some 11 months of the year are going to cost the society money so I understand why they want to take this useful, loss-making perk away.

Perhaps they should be looking at this from another angle, for example imposing a minimum pay-in for this 'service' to be made available?

The most sensible suggestion yet.

EarthBoy

Hazzanet wrote: »

... so I understand why they want to take this useful, loss-making perk away....

They are not taking the perk away; just reducing it slightly. They are only passing on the charge levied by Visa and they will still not be charging the 2-3% commission that most of the banks charge. Using Nationwide cards will still be cheaper than nearly every other card out there.

Even the Visa charge doesn't apply to loads of countries, -including the whole of the EU, so it's likely that the majority of customers won't be affected. You can check different countries to see whether the charge applies or not on the Nationwide website:

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

Hazzanet

rb10 wrote: »

On the more general issue of them introducing the 1% charge, I can't really complain, as it's so much less than any other bank offers. Obviously times are tough for them, like all banks, so I think it's reasonable for them to pass on this charge.

I sort of agree that it's not unreasonable to pass on the charge, but when you look at what Nationwide have done to the FlexAccount product over the last 6 or so months, it begins to add up:

1) They amend the monthly pay in to get the top tier of interest.
2) They abolish credit interest.
3) They tell non-debit card holders that they can't withdraw less than £30 at the counter.
4) They raise the overdraft rate to 17.9%.
5) They introduce a previously waived fee on overseas spending/withdrawals (except 'Europe')
6) They'll increase the fee later in the year.

What's next?:

7) They introduce the fee for all overseas spending?
8) They charge the fee at 3%, min £3 at cashpoints abroad?
9) They charge a monthly fee for the account?
10) They become no different than any bank on the high street?

The FlexAccount was once a top pick account, and in recent times, the benefits of banking with a mutual have [STRIKE]slowly[/STRIKE] quickly eroded away.

I don't think it's just the overseas fees, I think this is the last straw after being battered with one thing after another.

This is the society that sold itself as being proud to be different, and worthwhile dealing with because it is a mutual. I just struggle now to see what the difference is between Nationwide and LloydsTSB, Barclays, Natwest et al. It's supposed to be run with its members in mind, and I feel that the pith is being taken now.

Sorry about the rant.

sofa_surfer

:eek:

rb10 wrote: »

... when you withdraw cash from an ATM, Nationwide have to pay a fee to the ATM owner for that. They don't pass that on to the customer, so why should the overseas fee be passed on to the customer?

keep it quiet pls - see what happened after this