Nationwide Card-overseas Use

lisyloo

Not really.
The guy who says he continually draws out 5 euros to save 17p and sends his wife out alone at 4a.m. is just having a laugh.

I'm suprised so many of you have taken something that's obviously toungue-in-cheek so literally.

pin

edandersen wrote:

It sounds like loads of people would effectively be ruined if Nationwide ever withdrew their very generous rates overseas.

Not quite ruined, but would end up losing a very useful benefit / service that Nationwide offer. In all fairness NW have been scaling back on their foreign benefits over the years as it is.

MarkyMarkD

For most people it is just a marketing benefit of the Nationwide card which isn't any better than any of the competitors in most other regards.

For a few customers (who spend a lot of time abroad) it's a great benefit.

GlennTheBaker

MarkyMarkD wrote:

For most people it is just a marketing benefit of the Nationwide card which isn't any better than any of the competitors in most other regards.

For a few customers (who spend a lot of time abroad) it's a great benefit.

I would say that for anyone who spends any time abroad its a great benefit. Better to have money in my pocket than lining those of the big banks.

lisyloo

I agree.
I would rather have £20 in my pocket than give it to a credit card company.
However I won't be ruined if I lose that £20 benefit.
I don't think it will actually ruin anybody.

Rafter

I suppose if you are paid in £ and all your costs are in a foreign country, if Nationwide withdrew the benefit it would effectively mean taking a paycut of about 2.5% - not the end of the world, but nasty all the same.

The problem for Nationwide is that if you are using the product just for this benefit and not saving or borrowing from them too, they are losing money every time you use their product, because they still have costs from Visa for the foreign exchange charges.

Nationwide doesn't have any shareholders, so they are not in the business of making big profits, but they still have an obligation to their members not to make losses on some accounts at the expense of other customers.

R.

dbhavnani99

I mainly use Nationwide Visa debit card for internet purchases. Also, when I go abroad I first use my Nationwide Debit card and by chance if I exhaust all money kept in my current account would then use my Nationwide Credit card.

I had opened a Nationwide Current account some years back. I Keep minimum balance in it. This has two advantages. No.1 when buying items on the net, pay through Nationwide Visa Flexaccount Debit card(Let's say credit card has a limit of 2000 quid so there is a chance that someone from whom you purchased item on the net could later misuse your cc to the extent of 2000 GBP).

But since you have minimum balance(let's say 50-100 quid in Nationwide current account), everytime you pay on net with Nationwide Debit visa card, even if the trader later misuses your card, you just have 50-100 quid in your bank account so the trader cannot misuse your card for more then 50-100 quid(the maximum balance you have in your current account).

Donnie

realaledrinker wrote:

Just for info, a credit on my Capital one account today was translated at $1.82, for what that's worth!

The problem I see with Nationwide cards is that they are more prone to the Dynamic Currency Conversion rip off than other cards. Will find out next month when we go to the states with the wife's new NW card.

Wrong!
DCC affects all UK cards equally.

Donnie

MarkyMarkD wrote:

For most people it is just a marketing benefit of the Nationwide card which isn't any better than any of the competitors in most other regards.

For a few customers (who spend a lot of time abroad) it's a great benefit.

Nationwide were offering this service long before it became popular. It was just another bullet point in their literature.
To write that it is just a 'marketing benefit' is just nonsense.

Donnie

nomoneytoday wrote:

The cable (USD / GBP) rate is currently 1.8650
High street banks offer between 1.72 and 1.80
Nationwide would give around 1.82, most other cards around 1.76

Unless you are spending £1000s I doubt you would get a better retail rate..

I think your figures for the Nationwide are inaccurate. I find their figures much closer to the mid-market rate.