MSE News discussion. Nationwide kills cheap overseas spending

KTF

Nationwide Credit card is unchanged at the moment.

londonguy1

I'm disappointed with this too...As I travel outside Europe once a year, the 'free' travel insurance won't be of any help. More importantly, the difference between Nationwide and the other banks and building societies - once so marked - is gradually being eroded and I do wonder now why I'm with them. There were other ways of tackling this perceived 'misuse' of Flex accounts but Nationwide has gone for the easy option and penalised everyone. This is a step too far.

northernstar5

Please check out Facebook and join the group "Nationwide - we want to keep free use of Flexaccounts in Europe"

luci

And don't forget to lodge a formal complaint. It's easily done in the Messages area of their website.

I sent mine on Monday night and got a call to discuss it this morning. He tried to tell me that the FlexAccount may no longer suit me, but it is a very good product that will suit a lot of people. I told him it didn't suit any of the people on MSE and similar sites and told him about accounts elsewhere with far better rates, etc and that there was no longer anything to keep me with Nationwide.

skyshare

All this fuss about a few extra quid on your holiday - a round of drinks will cost as much!

Nationwide has some decent interest rates, the regular saver is quite good, as is the ISA.

Is it really worth all the hassle of changing current accounts? I Had lots of problems with Santander, they recently blocked my internet banking because I hadn't used it for a while and had to go through the opening process again. Also they insist on you having a mobile phone to get a code to confirm transactions - NW use a hand held device that is sent to you. Not everyone has a mobile!

Olipro

skyshare wrote: »

All this fuss about a few extra quid on your holiday - a round of drinks will cost as much!

Nationwide has some decent interest rates, the regular saver is quite good, as is the ISA.

Is it really worth all the hassle of changing current accounts? I Had lots of problems with Santander, they recently blocked my internet banking because I hadn't used it for a while and had to go through the opening process again. Also they insist on you having a mobile phone to get a code to confirm transactions - NW use a hand held device that is sent to you. Not everyone has a mobile!

A round of drinks? it very quickly adds up, and unlike when you purchase a round of drinks, you are getting absolutely nothing extra, it's an added cost with no benefit.

Biggles

luci wrote: »

And don't forget to lodge a formal complaint.

Best not to waste your time, there are no possible grounds for a formal complaint.

Campaign by all means, but they've obviously thought this out and won't be backing down.

The rules of the game change all the time, that's not new. We just have to be quick on our feet and try to stay ahead of the game.

avqs43

Just a couple of things to add to the discussion. Free overseas insurance is only good for those people who travel abroad. I suppose that many Nationwide customers never will go abroad and therefore Nationwide will be incurring no cost for this added "benefit" to the Flex account.

My wife has her State (old age) pension paid into our Flex account. It is £499 every four weeks. Therefore, some calendar months will attract two payments (i.e. in excess of the £750 required), but most months it won't.

We use the ESaverPlus account to receive money from the Flex and this builds up nicely until we go away, usually two or three times a year. We go to the Canaries and although they are not in the EU, they use Euros and still qualify for the free withdrawals (at present). I ensure that we transfer sufficient from the Esaver+ to the Flex to last over our holiday period and make sure that I don't make more than three withdrawals a year. I use a N/wide credit card to pay for the larger expenditure, such as hotel bills and so on.

We have an A & L Premier current account which I have held since 1972, when it was Girobank. (We made it joint a few years ago.)

Now that Santander has taken over A & L I presume I can make free withdrawals using my existing debit card at Santander branches in Spain, which I hope includes The Canaries.

The question still exists. After November what will be the best way of obtaining cash for foreign travel? Is it to purchase before you go, or is to withdraw when you get there? And from which organisation?

KTF

avqs43 wrote: »

I suppose that many Nationwide customers never will go abroad and therefore Nationwide will be incurring no cost for this added "benefit" to the Flex account.

Yes otherwise why would replace a £12 benefit with one that (allegedly) costs £80.

chexum

avqs43 wrote: »

Just a couple of things to add to the discussion. Free overseas insurance is only good for those people who travel abroad. I suppose that many Nationwide customers never will go abroad and therefore Nationwide will be incurring no cost for this added "benefit" to the Flex account.

Why do you think insurance "worth up to £80" is free for you? Even if it doesn't cost as much for NW, who do you think is paying for it?

And anyway, who do they want to actually please with it; the people who travel to Europe, who then will need to pay for cash withdrawals... I'd swap out this insurance for a month of free withdrawals any time.

Having an faster-payment enabled cheap cash option is something that won't exist without last year's FlexAccount.

Besides, I kept hearing that this charge was only for racking up profits, it didn't actually hurt them to provide this service. So even if the "!!!!!!!!!!s" all over in Europe seem to have benefited from this for free, they needed to have the funds in non-interest bearing accounts. It sounds a trade-off to me that was still good for them.