MSE News discussion. Nationwide kills cheap overseas spending

fxfrancaic

First post!!

Have read all the entries on the this thread.

I have ALL my income into my flex account - plus all my direct debits etc, so consider this to be my main account. But, because I withdraw my expenditure in France from my one and only account, Nationwide is about to impose about £25.00 per month on this expenditure.

One way to reduce this extra cost is to have our state pensions paid direct into our French account instead of our flex account. The exchange rate is top rate. This means that we can get cash/ goods from our French account, bypassing the 2% + £1 ATM charge.

Have not yet found a way to bypass the 2% charge for purchases but am still working on a "cunning plan" that avoids Santander.

ManAtHome

Think the NW credit card is still no charge for purchases, or get the the Halifax Clarity credit card if you're peed off with NW (also good for ATMs if you get the lowest rate of just under 13% pa).

peterbaker

The way this has been implemented is so short-sighted of Nationwide - I can hardly believe it. They had the moral high ground for so long and were also the only effective internal campaigners against the misuse of Dynamic Currency Conversion within the group of organisations using the VISA network. I remember how they kicked a$$ a few years ago when I discovered Ryanair had habitually used DCC without permission on my account over a long period. They even waived the usual 120 days to complain rule when I discovered I had been overcharged (via DCC) for over a year.

This is a blow for consumers. It looks like big VISA has got its way. Whether it is 2% or 3% for FOREX on VISA it is a wholly unjustified fee and has never been challenged generally. I feel sure that Nationwide have not been swallowing these VISA charges - something surely has changed in their contract with VISA? Does anyone know the answer?

At least Nationwide's VISA Credit Card remains fee free in Europe for a little longer ...

magpiecottage

Just to say there are now some 200 names on the petition here.

If you haven't added your name you might want to!

Marksfish

I've just seen an advert for the Sainsburys Gold credit card (wwwdotsainsburysbankdotco.uk/credit_cards/micro/cca_search_gold_apply_micro.shtml"] which is advertised as with "no fees on cash withdrawals". Only downside I can see is the £5pm fee.

Mark

(Can't post links, remove the dot and replace with .)

Gamegal

Marksfish wrote: »

I've just seen an advert for the Sainsburys Gold credit card (wwwdotsainsburysbankdotco.uk/credit_cards/micro/cca_search_gold_apply_micro.shtml"] which is advertised as with "no fees on cash withdrawals". Only downside I can see is the £5pm fee.

Mark

(Can't post links, remove the dot and replace with .)

Hi Mark
http://www.sainsburysbank.co.uk/credit_cards/summary_box/cca_summary_box_gold.shtml
says you pay 24.93% on Cash Advances though it also says You will not pay interest on purchases or cash advances if you pay your balance in full and on time each month.

Marksfish

Didn't see that extra page . Shouldn't be an issue though, as if you were going to withdraw the cash as you would with a debit card, you "should" have the cash to pay onto the card at statement time.

Mark

callum9999

Nicholas wrote: »

When I was in Australia earlier this year, the most I could withdraw was 400AUD (roughly £235) at a time. The way around that was to use each of our four flex account cards (2 for our joint account and 1 each for each of our sole accounts) to withdraw a decent amount in one go.

From November that will cost £4 just for the ATM element for what I would effectively deem one withdrawal. What a ripoff!:mad:

Why do you need $1600AUD in cash each day? I rarely spent more than $150AUD a day when I was there, and even then I spent a lot of it using the card in shops etc.

RobertinHerts

If you're comparing banks with the idea of changing you might like to take a look at a comparison of Online banking at 11 banks showing a variety of features. PC Pro Magazine November 2010 pages 98 - 107. There is a particular focus on security.

Robert

saddad49

From my son's letter to our local Nationwide branch:


"I have had a FlexAccount for several years and this has always been used as my main account. Following three years at university, short term employment and then six months travelling, I have now obtained full-time employment, and my pay (three months to date) has been deposited by my employer directly into the account. I also have other accounts and savings with the Nationwide.

I find, however, that this is insufficient to earn me free travel insurance, as the criterion for acceptance appears to be having had one’s salary deposited into the account each month between April and July. Because I was not in employment at that time (following the six months spent travelling), I am unable completely to satisfy this condition.

My alternative approach to obtaining the free travel insurance is apparently to transfer direct debits and standing orders from another account. As I have no other active current account, this is not possible.

I am sure you will agree that as a longstanding member and customer of the Nationwide Building Society, and one who uses his FlexAccount appropriately, and not merely as a tool for obtaining low foreign exchange rates, the insurance facility should be available to me. I am optimistic that your system is flexible enough to allow the free travel insurance to be awarded despite the strict criterion not being satisfied, and I would be grateful for your written confirmation that that is the case."


Their reply is essentially: "Tough. There's nothing we can do."


This implies that as the criteria for the free insurance are not being met now, they never will be, however long he keeps his account with them open, and funds the account with his salary.