Nationwide Flexclusive ISA - 4.25%, instant access

Paul_Varjak

xylophone wrote: »

(i) Do you agree that the Flexclusive is a cash ISA?

(ii) Do you agree that the Flexclusive ISA is not an E-Isa or an on-line Isa?

Then "Transfers from your Online ISA to another cash ISA product (excluding another Online ISA or e-ISA), must be done using a paper application form."

"Transfers from your e-ISA to another cash ISA product, or from another cash ISA to your e-ISA, must be done using our paper transfer process ......Transfers from one e-ISA to another e-ISA can only be carried out on the Nationwide Internet Bank."


""Transfers from your Online ISA to another cash ISA product (excluding another Online ISA or e-ISA), must be done using a paper application form "

The above seems clear enough. Only transfers between e-isas and on-line isas can be done on line

See also http://www.nationwide.co.uk/isas/transfer-isa/default.htm


Any other type of transfer between Nationwide Isas requires a paper application. Or so it seems to me.

xylophone, you are looking at Nationwide's rules for transferring:
EXISTING Nationwide Cash ISAs > NEW Nationwide cash ISAs

You should be looking at Nationwide's rules for transferring:
EXISTING Nationwide Cash ISAs > EXISTING Nationwide cash ISAs


A disctinction needs to be made between Nationwide cash ISAs that are opened and maintained entirely on-line (eg e-ISA, Online ISA) and Nationwide ISAs that cannot be opened on-line but may be maintained on-line once opened (eg Flexclusive ISA)

With Nationwide cash ISAs opened on-line (eg Online ISA) it is possible to transfer an existing Nationwide cash ISA to the Nationwide cash ISA being opened as part of the account opening process – you will see the EXISTING > NEW rules you quoted apply at account opening

But for Nationwide cash ISAs, such as the Flexclusive ISA, that cannot be opened on-line, there is simply no on-line mechanism to transfer existing Nationwide ISA funds as part of the acount opening process – it has to be done on paper (or by phone) Again you will see that the EXISTING > NEW rules you quoted apply at account opening.

Once a new Nationwide cash ISA is opened and, assuming it is made available on-line to accept transfers, the EXISTING > EXISTING rules then apply.

You can see an example of EXISTING > NEW and EXISTING > EXISTING rules for the Online ISA in the link below...

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/C9C314D6-EEE4-4949-9A43-D3EE4C4ACB5F/0/P1036_V2_online_isa_Apr_12.pdf

KTF

Slim wrote: »

Nationwide is discriminating against its low income FlexAccount holders. These are students, pensioners, part time employees, those on low incomes, the unemployed and the sick. These are precisely the people that Nationwide should be encouraging to save what they can by offering them the best interest rates.

It could be argued that these are the sort of customers that they are deliberately trying to avoid by setting a barrier to entry.

leaphaze

Patsy80 wrote: »

As a postscript to my previous post, I have now noticed a wonderfully useful application on Nationwide's website, inviting me to make this account, my main account!? Do they really think my main account is now with Coutts or someone and I'm just being awkward in not paying £750 into my Flexaccount per month (after 25 or more years of using this as my main account!) I'm getting really sick of Nationwide's bullying tactics, especially as all these wonderful 'benefits' are not really that valuable to me anyway. Oh well, I'm transferring another few thousand away from them next week, which will be satisfying. (Their advert is continuing to rub salt into the wound, though)!

Patsy, if I were you I'd open a Halifax Reward current a/c and transfer cash back and forth between the two a/cs, thus raising your cash input into your FlexAccount beyond £750 per month. If you accumulate more that £1000 of inputs into the Halifax, they will pay you £5 a month for your efforts. Be aware that Halifax only allow one transfer by fastpayment per destination per day.

Patsy80

Thanks very much for all your comments; I was beginning to think it was just me!:)

xylophone

Once a new Nationwide cash ISA is opened and, assuming it is made available on-line to accept transfers, the EXISTING > EXISTING rules then apply.

I have read the link in your post.

It seems clear then that although all Nationwide products can be seen on on-line banking, there was an intention to restrict transfers between isas on-line except in certain circumstances.

It would also appear (from the original press release) that the Flexclusive ISA was intended to be a passbook account, operated in branch, with a fixed subscription and a "view only" status on-line.
It may also be the case that the "£5mn maximum" was set in line with other Nationwide maxima and also to take account of interest possibly eventually accumulating ( it would take a long time to reach that sum...)

However, the Flexclusive specific terms do not set a maximum amount for subscription or transfer in.

To sum up then, either the original press release was wrong/incomplete ( internal transfers in would be allowed so that "deposit" referred only to the initial subscription) or a drafter failed to insert the necessary clause into the T&Cs and a programmer failed to code to make the account "view only" and prevent on-line transfers into the account.

A case of the spirit and the letter of the law?

And will Nationwide be able to challenge these on-line transfers into what was meant to be a branch operated and is a pass book account?

That remains to be seen.

innovate

Slim wrote: »

Nationwide is discriminating against its low income FlexAccount holders. These are students, pensioners, part time employees, those on low incomes, the unemployed and the sick. These are precisely the people that Nationwide should be encouraging to save what they can by offering them the best interest rates.

Nationwide are a Building Society, not a charity. They have to run the society so the books balance and the business is healthy.

They are not discriminating, they just have different offers for different people. There is absolutely nothing that forces people to pay in £750 a month. Everybody can have a basic Nationwide cashcard account, which allows them to do literally everything you need to do. They can even have a full Flexaccount and VISA Debit Card, without having to pay in a penny.

However, if anyone wants to participate in certain offers, such as the free travel insurance, or special interest rate deals, it is only fair that Nationwide should ask for some commitment from their customers. Why would anyone think they'd get, for instance, free travel insurance for nothing? Who would be paying for those freebies?

As has been mentioned several times now, it is hardly difficult to meet the requirements - it is a doddle to pay in £750 a month, even if it means setting up one or more other current accounts and a couple of Standing Orders. However, if this is asked too much, everyone is free to buy their travel insurance elsewhere, and to put their savings into accounts other than the Flexclusive ones.

Hooloovoo

Back at the beginning of September I posted this thread.

Hooloovoo wrote: »

Curious situation ...

Nationwide have just updated their internet banking to show interest rates, and also a summary of ISA contributions.

I hold an e-ISA with them containing several years contributions.

In April I opened a Flexclusive ISA, which I funded with £500 new money subscription from my Flexaccount.

A couple of months later I did an online transfer direct from my e-ISA to my Flexclusive ISA of £5140. This was a personal transfer and so should have used up my remaining ISA allowance for this year since the money transferred outside of the ISA. This is ok because I wasn't planning on paying any more money in this year.

I can now see online that apparently I have only funded £500 of my cash ISA so far this year.

I know Nationwide allow you to use several different ISA products to make up your yearly allowance.

Have they inadvertently allowed me to transfer-in to my Flexclusive ISA when it specifically says transfers-in are not allowed?

Obviously for a definitive answer I should contact Nationwide, but if a mistake has been made I don't want to give the game away ...

I contacted Nationwide about this with a secure message. They looked into the situation, and updated my "used cash ISA allowance" up to the full £5640. Therefore it now indicates that I have used my full allowance this year.

However, the bulk of the transfer into my Flexclusive ISA was made online directly from my eISA.

So what is the situation here? Have I used my full allowance this year or not?

I am fuming if I can indeed transfer my old eISA across since I've moved half of it to a fixed rate Post Office account at 3.6%. If they do allow internal transfers I could have moved all of it to 4.25%! :mad::mad:

Hooloovoo

Paul_Varjak wrote: »

Provided that monies are moved from one Nationwide cash ISA product to another Nationwide cash ISA product on Nationwide's website (without going via a non-ISA product) guarantees that the ISA status is preserved as each cash ISA product is all part of a single Nationwide ISA. That is certainly Nationwide's understanding of the current ISA rules.

The information for the online ISA (http://www.nationwide.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/C9C314D6-EEE4-4949-9A43-D3EE4C4ACB5F/0/P1036_V2_online_isa_Apr_12.pdf) includes the following...

"Transferring funds from your Online ISA to another Nationwide cash ISA product

To transfer your funds online to an existing Nationwide ISA product use the “Transfer money” screen on the Internet Bank, select the account you wish to transfer to and enter the amount."

I'm just looking at transferring some more money from my eISA to my Flexclusive ISA (which already holds £5640).

I can do the transfer directly - the drops downs let me select from the eISA to the Flexclusive ISA.

I then get a confirmation page that says this

Check and confirm the details below. If you confirm, your money will be transferred immediately. Important information - any funds that are withdrawn from an ISA and credited to a non-ISA product are no longer considered to be tax-free savings. They can only be added to another ISA as part of your annual ISA allowance. You should not withdraw funds that you wish to transfer to another ISA; instead you will need to contact the new provider who will arrange the transfer for you. This includes transfers to other Nationwide cash ISA products.

I'm hesitant to click "yes" on the "are you sure?" prompt.

Paul_Varjak

Nationwide have to the follow the T&Cs, xylophone. Whatever it says in any press release or advertising is pretty irrelevant, except if we, as customers, relied on it and it was to our benefit.

When Nationwide launched the account, staff did tell me that the account would be on-line within a few days for view only, but that they would be extending that to on-line transactions as well in the course of time.

Paul_Varjak

Hooloovo...

As long as you transfer from ISA to ISA directly, without going via any non-ISA account, you will be fine.

Just be very, very careful when doing the transfer that you select the correct accounts from the drop down list. I have so many Nationwide accounts now that it is easy to make an error. I did make an error once but, thankfully, it was not crucial.