Nationwide e-Savings cautionary tale

Gawdblessyerguv

Being a Nationwide BS user, I have always thought that an e-Savings account was unique to the Flex account to which it is linked, but my daughter has found that there is a set of circumstances where one e-Savings account can be linked to a second Flex account. When viewed on the online screen this situation is not however obvious and it resulted in my daughter inavertently giving away thousands of pounds of her savings.

In the middle of last year she split with her husband. They had a joint Nationwide Flex account through which all their bills and spending money passed. In 2003 they had also set up an e-Savings account, but hardly ever used it because they were always short of money so the account just lay dormant and empty. Soon after the split-up. she decided to open an account last August, in her name only - also with the Nationwide. Previously all the online business had been done by her husband, so she was unfamiliar, not only with online banking in general, but the Nationwide system in particular.

Having set up her account, when she viewed it on screen she saw she had an e-Savings account attached and made the not unnatural assumption that it was her own personal e-Savings account. It was in fact the joint one, but it is only identified by an account number which she never knew anyway. Indeed she had forgotten they ever had one in the first place.

This then led to what could have been a disaster. As money became available from the marriage break up. she began to put her share into the e-Savings account, and when the house was sold, her share of the profit went in as well. At this point she and her husband mutually agreed that he should take over the joint account in his name only and she duly signed the standard form to remove her name as a joint account holder. This included a commitment to remove her name from all e-Savings linked to the joint account. She was, of course, unaware that the e-Savings account which appeared to be hers alone, was in fact joint, so what she had actually done was to hand back to her husband many thousands of pounds! He has been decent enough to agree to return it, but legally it had become his.

The whole problem arose because, although my daughter's individual and joint accounts were two separate entities, the way the online banking is set up actually does allow the same e-Savings account to be linked to two separate Flex accounts. But you are unlikely to be aware of this when viewing the accounts screen. In fact when we asked an adviser in our local Branch whether an e-Savings account is unique to the Flex account to which it is linked, she assured us that it was, but under the above circumstances this appears to be untrue.

Admittedly, if you are familiar with the way Nationwide accounts are set up online you might know that you need to apply separately for an e-Savings account for your own Flex account, but this was not something my daughter was aware of. She certainly didn't think another e-Savings account would attach itself to her own individual account, even if she was a part owner of it, so to speak.

missile

A good warning. I can appreciate how easy this could happen. If one has a number of accounts it is very easy to loose track of the numbers. Only the last few digits are shown on line.

I think you may find that most online accounts will automatically show all other accounts which were previously opened in your name (or joint name).

I had an old TESSA account with Alliance+Leicester and when I opened an online Premier Derict Current Account it automatically gave me access to this old account.

Another thing to be aware of is it is important to close the window properly when accessing online banking if you share a PC. I try to avoid using internet cafes

zeberdy

Excellant Post,

Personally I would stay clear of all joint accounts,

This is just an example of what could have hapened I would suggest all couples/partners maintain their own accounts and pool resources to pay bill etc.

I understand it can also be a proplem if a partner dies then the account can be frozen by the bank pending probate.


Zerberdy

RayWolfe

zeberdy wrote:

I understand it can also be a proplem if a partner dies then the account can be frozen by the bank pending probate.

I think your understanding is wrong.

jem16

zeberdy wrote:

I understand it can also be a proplem if a partner dies then the account can be frozen by the bank pending probate.


Zerberdy

Never happened in all the joint accounts I had with various banks when my late husband died. The only ones I had to wait for access to were those in his sole name.

LittleVoice

I believe that normally joint accounts are on the basis that the funds (or overdraft) are the assets (liabilities) of both holders jointly and severally.

Though it can be a problem when couples split, many a widow (or widower) must have found the advantage of a joint account, that if one of the holders dies, the other has continued, uninterrupted, access to the funds.

Certainly in the past, many a widow had problems of having no easily accessible funds because their husbands had been sole signatory to a current account used to pay household bills and they had no money of their own.

Crabman

There is an option with Internet Banking to rename accounts - I've renamed all mine so there are no ambiguities

RayWolfe

I think that only changes thr "label" for online purposes. It does not change its legal status.