Nationwide internal scoring and OD

simax

Hi,

Basically, I have 2 current accounts with Nationwide, as follows:

1) FlexAccount (opened in 1999 so doesn't show on credit reports - used to be main account however now only used for accepting BACS payments and for longevity reasons)

2) FlexPlus account (opened in July last year as a FlexAccount) - used as main account - salary and bill payments come out of this account, and has a £1,000 OD (not used) - carries a balance over £1,000 most of the time.

Have applied (and been accepted for) a FlexDirect account with another £1,000 OD (interest free for 12 months). Plan is to dump the £1,000 from this account into a savings account for 12 months, then return the money to the account and close it. Won't be used for any other purpose.

Will there be any implications of doing this? Will they pull the OD on the account due to lack of activity or will the overall use of my other accounts with them (Current Acc/CC/Loan) mean all will be well?

Ta

Gromitt

So, what other savings accounts do you have which give you 5% ?

Ie, wouldn't it make more sense to put £1000 (or more) into the FlexDirect and get 5% than go OD by £1000 and get 2% ?

Milarky

I found that is was possible to bump up an overdraft on a flex account to a max of £5000 simply by repeatedly taking the offered 'reserve' - since that amount is guaranteed to be approved when requested. About one month after each increase a new reserve figure would appear which was £500 above the last one.

something similar worked at Barclays too.

simax

Gromitt wrote: »

So, what other savings accounts do you have which give you 5% ?

Ie, wouldn't it make more sense to put £1000 (or more) into the FlexDirect and get 5% than go OD by £1000 and get 2% ?

Bearing in mind it is 5% AER (so not really 5% after tax) the plan was to put £1,000 from my Flex Plus and the £1,000 from the OD facility on the FlexDirect into a Flexclusive ISA they have offered me at 2.5% gross. Which would net me more than a balance of £1,000 in the FlexDirect (marginally) - then there's the transferring £1,000 in and out from a non NW acc every month (which could be forgotten etc)..... So I think this would be a safer bet...

Thrugelmir

simax wrote: »

Will there be any implications of doing this?
Ta

Overdraft usage will be recorded on your credit file.

simax

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Overdraft usage will be recorded on your credit file.

But no different than using £1000 on a credit card, no?

simax

I'm presuming not (seeing there was a lack of answer). Account appeard on-line this morning and the £1,000 OD went straight into the savings pot.

YorkshireBoy

simax wrote: »

But no different than using £1000 on a credit card, no?

If I was an underwriter, I'd view a month-on-month O/D balance more negatively than £1K on a credit card...as it'd tell me you couldn't manage your month-to-month finances.

However, I've done what you've done and shifted £7.5K (£2.5K on each of my 3 FlexDirect accounts) to my Halifax Online Saver making 2.8% AER until the end of June. After then it'll go to a Santander 123 account (which I've yet to open).

simax

Not just me doing it then

Reason of my post is that I'd hope they would see all my other accounts working well and they wouldn't view it as financially negative (My FlexPlus is my main acc) so wanted to get some opinion on this.

CherlokHomes

A 1k OD or 1k balance on a credit card either way they are both debts so can't see them looking any different.

Thrugelmir

simax wrote: »

Not just me doing it then

Reason of my post is that I'd hope they would see all my other accounts working well and they wouldn't view it as financially negative (My FlexPlus is my main acc) so wanted to get some opinion on this.

Lenders score on debt history, overdrafts, loans, credit cards etc. They take no account of savings balances.