Nationwide FlexDirect - 5% interest, free overdraft

Mitus

MissE001 wrote: »

I've got a FlexAccount (no interest) with a Flex Regular Saver (6% interest for 12 months). Does anyone know if I can upgrade my Flex Account to Flex Direct and keep the Regular Saver or if the FlexAccount is a pre-requisite for the Regular Saver??

Thanks!

I too have the regular saver and wondered the same. I'm pretty sure Nationwide would honour it given that the pay-in on the direct is £1000 compared to £750 for the FlexAccount. However, I decided to open a new FlexDirect account rather than upgrade as you then get the best of both worlds! Free travel insurance, plus you know the regular saver will continue as normal. Then also the benefits of the direct account on top

Derivative

Opened one of these today (non-NW customer), waiting for the mail now.

Cheers OP. Beats 3% Vantage or 2.x% savings accounts. £2500 is a good amount as 'emergency savings'.

MissE001

Mitus wrote: »

However, I decided to open a new FlexDirect account rather than upgrade as you then get the best of both worlds! Free travel insurance, plus you know the regular saver will continue as normal. Then also the benefits of the direct account on top

Thanks! I thought about that but also have the Santander 123 account and don't have enough savings to fund £2750 between all 3 of the accounts! I really just wanted the FlexDirect so that I get interest on my current account - kind of makes me :mad: that I get nothing while the money is sitting there during the month

MissE001

le_loup wrote: »

On the Savings board, they are saying you can.
Take a look at the threads there.

Thanks le loup - didn't even think to check the savings board! And there's a very comprehensive response on there from Nationwide replying to an email saying that you can have Regular Saver and the new FlexDirect :j

Oh, there's also rumours of another Nationwide offer next week.....

Mitus

MissE001 wrote: »

Thanks! I thought about that but also have the Santander 123 account and don't have enough savings to fund £2750 between all 3 of the accounts! I really just wanted the FlexDirect so that I get interest on my current account - kind of makes me :mad: that I get nothing while the money is sitting there during the month

By savings do you mean the £2400/£4000 in your sig? If so then you can afford to fund all 3. Sit it in the Flex Direct account, Standing Order to Santander for £1250 every month, from there S/O to Flex account for £750, from there £500 back to Santander and then finally £1000 from Santander to FlexDirect. This will leave £250 in the FlexAccount every month to fund your regular saver with (assuming you're maxing it out, adjust figures if not)
The 123 is a £500 pay in, I've said £1250 so that when only £500 comes back from FlexAccount, this adds to the £500 left from the original pay-in. Might be wise to stagger the S/O's by a day or two, I've noticed NW can be a bit slow sometimes...

Edit: Of course, this does mean your FlexDirect balance will drop by £250 every month, but at least whatever is in there will be getting 5%. Plus, I guess you'll be treating it as a savings account and will put any spare money in when possible to top it back up?

adindas

blindman wrote: »

So if you can open more than one of these accounts here's a thought:

If you don't have £2500 at the moment to invest in this account

Open,say 4 accounts, and fund one of them up to £2500 from the combined total of other three overdrafts.

At the end of the 12 month period pay off the overdrafts and keep the £100 interest;

Anyone see the flaw in this?

There will be credit check involved even if you are already banking with NW for quite some times.

I have read that people are allowed to open up to three a/c. I also want to hear
- How many people have managed to open three with free overdraft for three accounts successfully.
- How many people have been declined ..

Hominu

Mitus wrote: »

Will be watching this thread with interest, I'm sure it will be reported back anyway but could those who have opened multiple FlexDirect's confirm whether they're getting interest on all of them please?

I asked via secure messaging and got told that you can have as many FlexDirect accounts as you want, but the 5% is only applicable to the first account. I asked them to confirm and they said that once the bonus has expired, you can close all your FlexDirect accounts, and then 12 months later open the account again (if it still exists) and get another introductory offer.

So I've just opened the one.

Nine_Lives

Hominu wrote: »

I asked via secure messaging and got told that you can have as many FlexDirect accounts as you want, but the 5% is only applicable to the first account. I asked them to confirm and they said that once the bonus has expired, you can close all your FlexDirect accounts, and then 12 months later open the account again (if it still exists) and get another introductory offer.

So I've just opened the one.

Good that they responded to you.

Still waiting on a response about how it effects the Flexclusive ISA criteria.

alanq

The Nationwide web page comparing Flex and Flex Direct does not mention that the latter does not offer paper statements through the post only statements online. This may matter to some who require recent original statements as a form of identification.
http://www.nationwide.co.uk/current_account/compare-accounts/default.htm

See Page 16.
"4. Statements
4.1 Statements will only be made available on the Internet Bank."
http://www.nationwide.co.uk/pdf/btp/P857_ImportantInformation-TermsAndConditions.pdf

Mitus

Hominu wrote: »

I asked via secure messaging and got told that you can have as many FlexDirect accounts as you want, but the 5% is only applicable to the first account. I asked them to confirm and they said that once the bonus has expired, you can close all your FlexDirect accounts, and then 12 months later open the account again (if it still exists) and get another introductory offer.

So I've just opened the one.

Thanks for the info, confirms the quote from the T&Cs earlier in the thread. Never mind, back to plan A for me then!

I wonder how many accounts have been opened and had £2500 dumped in them?!