Natwest - emergency cash. Anyone else?

Legacy_user

One evening a couple of weeks ago I travelled to London from my home in Leicestershire for a night out with a mate. At some point in the evening I lost my wallet which contained my debit and credit cards, £50 cash and my return train ticket. I did all the obvious things like retracing my steps and asking staff in the pubs I had visited, but to no avail.

Fortunately my mate lent me the money for a new train ticket - this was at 11pm. It made me think what I would have done if I'd been by myself.

I listened to Money Box on Radio 4 this weekend and heard about the Natwest emergency money scheme and realised what a life-saver this could be. So much so I am thinking about opening a NatWest account on Monday. I have searched around on the net and haven't come up with anything similar from other banks - I'm sure that during banking hours I would have been able to call on my bank for help, but that late in the evening I would have been well and truly stuck.

Can anyone suggest alternatives to the NatWest scheme? I am aware of the stories about how people have been ripped off by fraudsters but I would register for the GetCash service on my mobile immediately so nobody else could do it in my name should they manage to somehow avail themselves of my info.

custardy

http://www.lloydstsb.com/travel/emergency_cash.asp

http://www.rbs.co.uk/personal/current-accounts.ashx?extcam=ppc_RBS-MTA_BP-D-Emergency+Cash+-+Scotland+Only_emergency+cash|emergency%20cash

from google

System

RBS is the same as NatWest, I am with Lloyds and understand the emergency case is made available at a bank rather than through a 24hr cash machine.

- from Google

System

Why are we citing the search engine we used to find our information?

custardy

scgf wrote: »

RBS is the same as NatWest, I am with Lloyds and understand the emergency case is made available at a bank rather than through a 24hr cash machine.

- from Google

I have searched around on the net and haven't come up with anything similar from other banks

So which is it?
you want similar or not?

System

Sorry, thought I'd made my predicament clear. I was stuck in London at 11pm at night. So far it appears NatWest would be the only bank who could have offered me help, had I been a customer. I am asking if anyone knows of any alternatives before I take the plunge and open a NatWest account. Sometimes there are services not advertised which customers of other banks might know of.

Your suggestions, while most welcome, wouldn't have helped - RBS effectively NatWest north of the border and Lloyds couldn't have helped out of hours.

Cheers.

Hominu

Open a Lloyds Vantage current account. You can put the card in your boxers or in your shoe for example, and whilst you don't need the money, you'll be getting interest on it. Bonus.

I always carry an emergency card, just in case. So if I was stuck in London at 11pm, I could retrieve the card and head to the nearest ATM.

dalesrider

scgf wrote: »

I lost my wallet which contained my debit and credit cards, £50 cash and my return train ticket. I did all the obvious things like retracing my steps and asking staff in the pubs I had visited, but to no avail.

Fortunately my mate lent me the money for a new train ticket - this was at 11pm. It made me think what I would have done if I'd been by myself.
.

I hope that also included ringing bank and stopping card straight away......

The obvious thing is to NOT keep everything in one wallet, but to keep something in a seperate pocket.

jamespir

pity barclays dont do this

chambta

With the RBS Android app I've been able to get cash without a card on several occasions.

System

dalesrider wrote: »

I hope that also included ringing bank and stopping card straight away......

Oh yes, as soon as I realised my wallet was genuinely lost I rang all the card issuers to cancel the cards. None of them had been used, not even my Oyster Card. I was about £100 down with having to buy a train ticket which cost about £1 less than a full return ticket :-( And how pleased had I been that I managed to book a cheap return deal a few weeks in advance, lol!

One lesson I did learn is to carry a document on my phone with the numbers to ring to report a lost or stolen card. I had to look them up on the internet while waiting for my train at St Pancras. I had a record of all the card numbers but not the telephone numbers.

Thanks for the advice, guys. Think I'm going ahead with the NatWest account. The emergency money feature is definitely a deal clincher!