Nationwide joint account with ex

Night_Fury

Hi all

I expect this crops up quite a lot but can't find much on Nationwide. A friend of mine has recently rediscovered a flex account tied to their ex. They really need to get themselves removed from this account as the ex has been affecting their credit (their report is clean otherwise). The account is in credit and doesn't appear to have been used for a little while.

Nationwide said that both persons need to be present to close the account. They have no contact with each other and live opposite ends of the country. What would Nationwide do in this case? Can one person freeze the account? Could a notice of correction on the credit report help in the meantime? Could they visit separate branches / send a letter in writing?

Anyone have any advice / experience?

premierfella

I have no experience, and note that Nationwide's website indicates that both FlexAccount holders need to be present even if the request is to convert a joint account to sole account rather than close it (at a guess the policy is probably there to protect the remaining account holder).

It should be straightforward to freeze the account, but that doesn't resolve the aim of removing their name from the account. In your friend's position I would go down the complaints route and write a brief letter outlining what they were attempting to do (remove their name from the account) and what was preventing them from doing this (no longer in regular contact with the other party, their living at another address, no possibility of both attending the same branch). Perhaps include the joint to sole form with just your friend's signature for good measure in case Nationwide seek to resolve the issue by posting that part-completed form to the other account holder - assuming their address is known.

Whilst this isn't strictly a complaint, it would increase the chances of getting the name removal actioned, as if it is Nationwide policy to require both parties to attend the branch then the branch staff are somewhat limited in what they can do.

benjus

I have recent experience with this (about 2 months ago). I wanted to close the joint FlexAccount I had with my ex.

The first thing I did was to go to the Stratford (E London) branch. Bad move. Rather foolishly I hadn't brought the debit card or cheque book with me, and they politely told me to get lost. I had completed an account closure request form (with my signature only) which I gave them to be sent on to head office; this disappeared into the ether and was never seen again.

About a week later I tried calling the customer service line and speaking to a senior supervisor. Another bad move. They told me that both account holders had to be present to close a joint account, and the best they could offer me was to cancel the cards. He didn't even offer to freeze the account. I let him cancel the cards anyway.

A couple of weeks later I decided to go in person to the branch in Eltham, SE London, taking with me the cancelled debit card (couldn't find the cheque book). That branch is staffed by people who actually know what they are doing. You might want to call the branch directly if you can't get to a branch with competent staff yourself. They told me that head office are always giving people incorrect advice, and arranged to close the account with no problems at all. I had moved the small remaining balance (less than £1) out of the account earlier the same day and as a result they couldn't close it immediately, but they promised to do it the next day, which they did. The day after that the account disappeared from my online banking screen.

So if you zero the balance and have no outstanding payments or credits, you should be able to go to a branch with competent staff and just get it closed.

Night_Fury

Thank you both. I will suggest they visit the local branch and see if they get the same helpful service to get it all sorted. Fingers crossed. If not, the complaints/letter route does sound a good idea. They really need this sorted asap as attempts to get credit are failing based on this other person.

ses6jwg

My general understanding with current accounts, is that as long as you set up the account as "either to sign" (which is what 90% of people do unless they are setting up a club/ society account or very untrusting of each other), then either party can CLOSE the account without the other being present. This is what I found with Natwest.

However, both parties must be present in order to remove or add any holders.

Night_Fury

One branch visited so far and they say the same - must have both parties present. This seems daft. Surely if they live opposite ends of the country, Nationwide should sort something out rather than expect one to travel to the original branch which I'd be sure they wont want to bother doing.

It must happen loads so there must be some help available. They are going to try a couple more branches (including the original branch) and see what they say. After that I suppose the complaint route will be the best option. The account has now been frozen at least. Maybe a notice on the credit report would help now?

benjus

They might want to try calling the Eltham branch directly (http://classic.multimap.com/clients/browse.cgi?client=nationwide_02&lon=0.053670&lat=51.450920&scale=10000&width=300&height=300&rt=browse2&count=5&f0_branch=yes&f1_atm=no&boolean_order=OR) and asking to speak to the manager, since that specific branch has recently helped me in an almost identical situation.

Night_Fury

Thanks. I will suggest that if the local branches wont help. I take it the Eltham one wasn't your original opening branch? It isn't local though so can't see them travelling to London if they have to be there in person.

benjus

Night_Fury wrote: »

Thanks. I will suggest that if the local branches wont help. I take it the Eltham one wasn't your original opening branch? It isn't local though so can't see them travelling to London if they have to be there in person.

No, it wasn't my original opening branch - we opened the account when we lived in the midlands. It's the closest remaining branch to where I live now, after they closed the Blackheath, Lewisham and Greenwich branches. I was just lucky to find a branch with helpful, competent staff who don't just say "Computer says no" to every request.

I agree that making a journey to London is far too much hassle, but they *might* be able to do it over the phone, or offer to do it if your friend posts/faxes them a signed letter directly to that branch.

Night_Fury

Ok thanks. It'll be worth a shot if all else fails. I expect the letter route will take some time so may as well exhaust all the quick options first.

shackalak

In my experience, one person can freeze the account or at least register a 'dispute'. This will ensure that the account can no longer be used.

In order to close the account, they will need all the 'tokens' to be returned. These are all cards, cheque books etc. If they are insisting on both parties being present in a branch (but as we know, this is not logistically possible in this case as they have no contact and live at different ends of the country), I would suggest your friend visit their local branch to complete the paperwork and explain the situation.

If your friend does not have any contact with the other party and does not want to instigate any, then ask the adviser if they could possibly send a letter to the other party asking them to make contact with that particular adviser (who now understands the situation). Once contact is made, the adviser could ask the other party to visit their local branch to confirm they are happy for the account to be closed (plus sign a form and return all tokens). Once this has been done, the two branches could speak to each other and the two pieces of information could be married up then the account closed.

I've got to say, i suppose it does depend on which adviser you get (I would do it if it were me but unfortunatly, i'm off sick at present and things may have changed!). The relevant branches need to use some common sense here because they can see this situation is an exception to the norm.