MSE News discussion. Nationwide kills cheap overseas spending

simax

Olipro wrote: »

they're not a bank, they do have a level of accountability to members, and therefore, this goes beyond "they said they're doing X with proper notice so that makes it acceptable"

The point of this whole thread is that Nationwide have made changes that conflict with what they are supposed to represent and also with what members want - which defeats the objective of being a Building Society.

Agree 110% with this statement above. Well said.

simax

Gamegal wrote: »

You're saying my comments were wrong? Or that I was wrong thinking you were referring to me in your previous posting? If the first why are my comments 'just plain wrong' ?

Read post 406 again. He said "As you were" as in someone saluting you, and you say to them "As you were...". You took it totally the wrong way.

Chill.

simax

nickoi wrote: »

I don't understand why there are so many problems on this forum. How about we look at the facts.

Firstly you will get charged now to use your card abroad, just like nearly every other current account out there. They've given plenty of notice (doesn't start till 1st November) and if you actually look around, it is still going to be one of the cheapest cards to use abroad. Martin does say about using a credit card instead, and the deal he says about is better, but for a current account nationwide is still one of the best to be using (Shop around and see what NatWest, HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds are doing for yourself).

Secondly, if you use the flex account as your main account you will gain free Europe wide travel insurance. This starts now and while it only works for UK residents, that is (to be fair) the vast majority who would use a UK current account as their main account. It also is good travel insurance. I'm a Type I controlled diabetic and it will cover me. If your unsure if your covered. Give them a call.

Thirdly, with the risk of repeating myself, Nationwide still has some of the best rates on the high street. However as anyone who visits this site probably already does, shop around. If you have the Flex Account as your main account you can get great mortgage and savings deals, and at the moment they have some good home insurance deals too.

Not everyone will benefit, namely those that have the card simply to use it abroad (which actually costs Nationwide a decent bit of money), which a number of the people moaning on these forums has admitted to doing! And for those that say being a building society or bank which says that its trying to save money is a bad thing why not take a reality check. Being a mutual gives Nationwide the power to give great deals on borrowing and saving, but it still has to survive as a business, cover costs and have enough money in the bank (so to speak) to cover itself.. have we not just seen a reccession caused by credit and banks not being stable and having to be saved by the tax payer?? Honestly!!

And here speaketh thy Nationwide employee troll...

Best rates on the high street? Are you on crack? :rotfl:

davidgmmafan

simax wrote: »

Read post 406 again. He said "As you were" as in someone saluting you, and you say to them "As you were...". You took it totally the wrong way.

Chill.

To be fair I added the descriptive bit afterwards. Was trying to avoid another post, which in typing this I've failed to do. Oh well at least I can chuckle at the ambuity of language. It never occurred to me that it could be read that way but each makes sense lol.

To people who work for Nationwide, particularly the newly recurited, you will soon realise there is an inherent contradiction in almost everything they say. Either you'll escape, your head will explode of you'll just try not to think about it and get on with the job.

Don't ask long servined staff what it was like before, it wouldn't be right to lift thier spirits after they've gotten used to them being crushed for so long.

mime20

nickoi wrote: »

I don't understand why there are so many problems on this forum. How about we look at the facts.

Firstly you will get charged now to use your card abroad, just like nearly every other current account out there. They've given plenty of notice (doesn't start till 1st November)

In the past Nationwide told us that charging commission when using card abroad was like a "tip" and implied it was an unfair charge. They are a mutual and have just had the AGM, but none of us were given the opportunity to vote on this major change in attitude.

nickoi wrote: »

Secondly, if you use the flex account as your main account you will gain free Europe wide travel insurance. This starts now and while it only works for UK residents, that is (to be fair) the vast majority who would use a UK current account as their main account. It also is good travel insurance. I'm a Type I controlled diabetic and it will cover me. If your unsure if your covered. Give them a call.

It doesn't cover my parents (or others) over 75. It may cover your medical condition but it doesn't cover everyone's (especially without a bigger excess or additional payment) - my own annual worldwide insurance offers me exactly what I need for better value.

nickoi wrote: »

Thirdly, with the risk of repeating myself, Nationwide still has some of the best rates on the high street.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

nickoi wrote: »

If you have the Flex Account as your main account you can get great mortgage and savings deals, and at the moment they have some good home insurance deals too.

Savings deals not "great", don't need a morgage and my home insurance was significantly cheaper elsewhere.

nickoi wrote: »

Not everyone will benefit,

Anyone over 75, anyone with a medical condition they don't automatically cover, anyone with insurance from another source, anyone who doesn't travel to Europe, anyone who only uses their card for internet shopping...

nickoi wrote: »

Being a mutual gives Nationwide the power to give great deals on borrowing and saving, but it still has to survive as a business, cover costs and have enough money in the bank (so to speak) to cover itself...

Being a mutual means that members should have a say. I'm not a borrower so I can't comment on that but I haven't noticed any "great" deals on the savings side. As for covering costs, the proposed charge is for more than cost (back to "tips" again...)

nickoi wrote: »

Honestly.

Quite.

ubrain

I just spoke to NW to 'confirm the rumour I'd heard'.

I explained that I was concerned that little by little the details that made the mutual Nationwide different from the grabbing banks on the high street were disappearing and that I am unhappy about it.

I was promptly passed up to a more senior person.

She rolled out the standard lines:
"We have had to..." : no, you have chosen to...
"The average customer saved just £12 and the European travel insurance we're offering instead is worth £80" : unless you're providing some pretty specialist cover, that's hardly worth £80 - your board might want to check some of the comparison sites.
"Well sir £80 is based on the value of cover for 2 people with a joint account" : OK so you're comparing an individual saving £12 to a couple gaining £80 of product they didn't ask for. You see, that's the sort of spin-speak cleverness with the numbers that I expect of the greedy-banks and which the Nationwide has been refreshingly free of until recently.
etc.

To her credit though, she was a good listener and was nothing but polite and courteous no matter how agitated I sounded. She offered to log my comments as 'feedback' which would be noted but not responded to or to list them as a complaint which would receive a response within 5 days. Being an awkward !!!!!! I chose the latter of course

luci

nickoi wrote: »

Secondly, if you use the flex account as your main account you will gain free Europe wide travel insurance. This starts now

Not according to the person I spoke to in the travel insurance department. Granted I didn't ask if I was covered from now , however I did enquire about declaring PEMC's and upgrading the policy to worldwide as we are going to Vegas in a few weeks.

She couldn't talk to me or discuss the policy until I had received a letter confirming that I qualify for the policy. Obviously, for that, not every account holder will have insurance that starts from now.

RobertinHerts

Olipro wrote: »

So far they haven't given *ANY* notice at all, there's only been press releases, nobody on here has received personal notification about the change as required by the account terms.

Two brach staff told me on different days last week that letters were going out from then however, as you say, no one here has reported recieving such a letter.

Robert

SallySunshine

I pity the poor Nationwide staff, just as I pitied the staff at my local branch of what was Abbey, Santander took them over, there seems to be less staff to serve and more to try and sell you things.

They are the cannon fodder, not the generals.

Having said that, the Post Office now is a nightmare.
Scenario;

'A book of 2nd class stamps please'

'That'll be £...., would you like a mobile top-up, have you got house/car/travel insurance, etc, etc,'

Now I only go in if I have to post something, it's like a commando raid :eek:

ViolaLass

SallySunshine wrote: »

Scenario;

'A book of 2nd class stamps please'

'That'll be £...., would you like a mobile top-up, have you got house/car/travel insurance, etc, etc,'

When the house price crash had been well under way for a few months, I banked a cheque at NW for about £50. "Are you looking for a mortgage?" asked the teller!