MSE News discussion. Nationwide kills cheap overseas spending

luci

Nationwide also now charge for stopping a cheque which they didn't do before. I don't know how or when they advised us of these changes as I normally read any leaflets that come with the monthly statement. I admit I only look at the summary of changes, but I can't recall seeing anything.

Likewise when they stopped paying interest on the FlexAccount. The first I knew was when I only got a couple of pounds interest at the end of the year. Checked online and saw that they no longer paid interest. Dug out old statements and finally found the notification. It was a tiny line at the very bottom of the statement for February. A place I doubt few people would bother reading.

northernstar5

RobertinHerts wrote: »

She was told at the time, but it was too late then. In this particular case she may well have been unaware of bank transfers. Does it really cost £10 to produce a cheque?

Robert

When I closed a savings account with NatWest very recently, they don't issue cheques.

They said it would cost £33 to transfer my money over to Nationwide (half the interest I'd made by having the account!) Only other way they offered was to take the money out in cash. Which I did - but found very unnerving to carry it on my person a few hundred yards in order to pay it in.

noh

luci wrote: »

Nationwide also now charge for stopping a cheque which they didn't do before. I don't know how or when they advised us of these changes as I normally read any leaflets that come with the monthly statement. I admit I only look at the summary of changes, but I can't recall seeing anything.

Likewise when they stopped paying interest on the FlexAccount. The first I knew was when I only got a couple of pounds interest at the end of the year. Checked online and saw that they no longer paid interest. Dug out old statements and finally found the notification. It was a tiny line at the very bottom of the statement for February. A place I doubt few people would bother reading.

Nationwide currently print a summary box, listing interest rates fees and charges for the FlexAccount, on the back of each statement page.

The first time the stopped cheque fee and the counter draft fee appeared was on my June 2010 statement.

glider3560

noh wrote: »

Nationwide print a summary box, listing the fees and charges for the FlexAccount, on the back of each statement page.

The first time the stopped cheque fee and the counter draft fee appeared was on my June 2010 statement.

But if you receive statements online, you don't get the back of the statement unless you click a separate link. There was no notification that this had changed, so nothing to prompt people to look at this link.

John_Pierpoint

RobertinHerts wrote: »

She was told at the time, but it was too late then. In this particular case she may well have been unaware of bank transfers. Does it really cost £10 to produce a cheque?

Robert

What comes up the on recipient's account.

I use the Nationwide to receive dividend payments electronically and it is a nightmare trying to work out who has sent what when doing my tax return.

All this electronic !!!! is for the benefit of the bank/building society not the customer; as is the killing of the cheque.

Olipro

all this electronic "!!!!!!" as you put it is for providing as much automation as possible in payment processing, if you can't figure out who is making your dividend payments you need to get them earmarked better by the sender, alternatively you could use the share accounts for reference and link the amounts to what is on the statement.

As for the £10 cheque, I suspect that is a bankers draft, those aren't free.

glider3560

Olipro wrote: »

As for the £10 cheque, I suspect that is a bankers draft, those aren't free.

It is definitely a cheque - what used to be called a "building society cheque", which Nationwide now term a "counter draft". They still don't offer banker's drafts.

I've now opened an InvestDirect account with cash card, for the sole purpose of getting a building society cheque to pay my letting agent for my first month rent and deposit. So much for Nationwide trying to save money ... I'm sure the new card and paperwork will cost more than processing a single cheque request. :mad:

noh

glider3560 wrote: »

It is definitely a cheque - what used to be called a "building society cheque", which Nationwide now term a "counter draft". They still don't offer banker's drafts.

I've now opened an InvestDirect account with cash card, for the sole purpose of getting a building society cheque to pay my letting agent for my first month rent and deposit. So much for Nationwide trying to save money ... I'm sure the new card and paperwork will cost more than processing a single cheque request. :mad:

The Invest Direct account is a postal/online account (no counter access) with a minimum withdrawal of £250 by cheque.
It appears to me that the £10 charge for a "counter draft" is designed to discourage people from visiting branches which is in line with other changes they have recently made.

Olipro

SallySunshine wrote: »

My flexaccount statement arrived today, no mention of change anywhere.

There were, however, lots of flyers enclosed for credit card, insurance and loans.

As if :eek:

the name isn't what's relevant. the key question is this:

is the cheque drawn on the account of the institution or the individual.

if it's drawn on the institution's account it's not free because they are essentially providing you with a service of guaranteed funds; this is typically used for large purchases where it's possible you might scarper with the goods.

jonesjw

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

I use the Nationwide to receive dividend payments electronically and it is a nightmare trying to work out who has sent what when doing my tax return.

I had a similar problem. I was expecting identical sized payments from 2 different people abroad, only one arrived & I could not tell which person the payment was from.

I don't get the same problem with the Nat West.

The only 2 reasons I moved to Nationwide were interest on the current account and free overseas cash withdrawals.

Nationwide have scr*wed the customer on both fronts now.