MSE News discussion. Nationwide kills cheap overseas spending

StudentOfBusiness

I can see where you were coming from!
But, Caxton still offer much better rates than everywhere else pretty much!

greyteam1959

Yes I was talking about now......
On November 1st I will be dumping my Nationwide debit card, Flex Account & Esavings account.
I will be using my FairFX euro card.
Although they charge a 1.50 euro ATM fee I am happy with their speed of top up etc etc and will not be using the Caxton card.
Its all swings & roundabouts really.....Caxton have a minimum top up of £100 I believe FairFX don't have a minimum......

virgo17

mervyn11 wrote: »

Yes I was talking about now......

OK thanks.

Agreed that when the Nationwide facility worsens it will be swings and roundabouts about which is best.

Good luck with the FairFX Euro card, I might look at getting one of those myself or perhaps the Caxton, which I think is funded by the Newcastle Building Society.

Either way, it won't be as good as it has been.

Aotearovas

chriskross wrote: »

You're looking at a different policy. The one specifically for Flexaccount customers is linked from the front page announcement for the new travel policy, but you can also get to it by following the Insurance -> Travel Insurance link which shows both policies side-by-side.

Quite right and thanks for pointing it out. ( Just makes my point about always reading the small print - everywhere!) So, if it suits you, fine, accept it but therefore, if you're a biker DON'T buy the ' standard' Nationwide Travel Insurance.
Which is where my interest stops. I definitely won't be eligible for the Flexaccount policy as I have committed the cardinal sin of not depositing £750/month in my Flexaccount for the last three months. Somehow I get the feeling that my 35 years loyal adherence to Nationwide ( mortgage, savings accounts, ISAs, current account, bonds, etc) would count for nothing if I should complain.
Better then to take most of my business to a better deal elsewhere, but leave just enough with Nationwide that is definitely to my benefit not theirs and so they don't forget me.
===
Keep the wheels rolling and - "Safety Fast " - as the old MG slogan used to say....

chexum

virgo17 wrote: »

Good luck with the FairFX Euro card, I might look at getting one of those myself or perhaps the Caxton, which I think is funded by the Newcastle Building Society.

For fairfx, caxton and rationalfx, the cards all are issued by Newcastle Building Society - interesting, isn't it? There are minor differences in the use fees/charges/percentages - and the rates as well, which are not set by NBS. It may be worth checking what's better for the usage you plan - for purchases in the card's currency, there are no differences, only ATM/cash transactions.

virgo17 wrote: »

Either way, it won't be as good as it has been.

Agreed.

Olipro

patman99 wrote: »

So to recap, 900,000 people use Nationwide purely for their free overseas spending (which costs N/W 2% each time). ...

Not even close, go check Visa's interchange fees, 2% is well above the mark, so is £1.

adecor

I'm miffed too! We've recently retired to Germany and our pensions are going into our Nationwide FlexAccount (had this for over 20 years). We're living on a very tight budget and this is going to hit us hard so I'm now going to look at using a forex broker for the pension to see if that is the best option. We are fortunate that we also have an address in the UK and plan to return frequently so have no problems with saying that we still live here.

Reading through this thread it seems that the new charges will not apply to the credit card so our other option is to spend as much as possible on this - problem being in Germany they often will only accept an EC card!

Methinks we may well be stuffed:mad:

patman99

As each card provider realises that their new customers are taking the mick, I'm sure they will also introduce charges.

I wonder if you spend a great deal of time abroad, if it is possible to open an account in a European bank, then use online banking to transfer money from your UK account to your foreign account without incurring any fees?.

gusmelv

Online banking and international transfers is not the solution it might appear at first!!
I queried this with Halifax this week.
I wanted a UK bank account plus an account in Spain - I had heard how easy it was to transfer from UK bank to Spain thru Halifax.
Yes , it is easy, BUT, the exchange rate used was quoted on the day at 1.142 euros to Sterling.........market rates were 1.214 at the time.
To my simple mind this equates to a charge in excess of 6%!!!

feival

What a shame. This has been a great offer over the years and they also got two children's savings account, gold credit card from me and a mortgage. The latter went some time ago and now they will be losing all my other business including the credit card since that can be beaten elsewhere. I am sure they will find their decision VERY profitable with regards to myself.

Morons.