N&P Gold Light Bank Account

Venusflytrap

The main reason for opening this account is so to benefit from the VISA debit card offering fee-free cash withdrawals and card purchases abroad.

Silly of me not to have searched for customer reviews on N&P before going ahead, but after opening my account yesterday I found some very recent negative comments around poor/no customer service, slow processing of new accounts (reportedly took up to 2 months in one case) and unexpected stinging account charges.

I am only a little concerned about the 1st two complaints because CS is pivotal especially as there are no N&P branches in London so I will be heavily reliant on telephone or online contact; secondly, I would ideally like to have my account and card active in time for a trip abroad next month. The 3rd is inconsequential as I think I understand how I must manage the account to avoid penalty charges or an imposed £5 per month account fee.

I do have a back up CC for cash withdrawals - the Halifax Clarity (though not interest free - and another for foreign card purchases - the NW Select CC - but in case either of the aforementioned don't work or get blocked, the N&P debit card will then be useful.

Can any N&P current account customers share their experiences and views please? Should I expect a professional and competent r/ship with this Building Society?

Thanks

dr_adidas01

Venusflytrap wrote: »

The main reason for opening this account is so to benefit from the VISA debit card offering fee-free cash withdrawals and card purchases abroad.

Silly of me not to have searched for customer reviews on N&P before going ahead, but after opening my account yesterday I found some very recent negative comments around poor/no customer service, slow processing of new accounts (reportedly took up to 2 months in one case) and unexpected stinging account charges.

I am only a little concerned about the 1st two complaints because CS is pivotal especially as there are no N&P branches in London so I will be heavily reliant on telephone or online contact; secondly, I would ideally like to have my account and card active in time for a trip abroad next month. The 3rd is inconsequential as I think I understand how I must manage the account to avoid penalty charges or an imposed £5 per month account fee.

I do have a back up CC for cash withdrawals - the Halifax Clarity (though not interest free - and another for foreign card purchases - the NW Select CC - but in case either of the aforementioned don't work or get blocked, the N&P debit card will then be useful.

Can any N&P current account customers share their experiences and views please? Should I expect a professional and competent r/ship with this Building Society?

Thanks

As you live in London why didn't you use Metrobank, they don't charge any fees for withdrawing cash abroad via there debit card.

They would have also created your debit card and cheque book straight away and handed it to you there and then.

You also wouldn't have had to fund the account with a minimum of £500 to avoid the £5 monthly fee.

grumbler

Venusflytrap wrote: »

...unexpected stinging account charges. ...

Any other charges besides these: http://www.nandp.co.uk/current-account/gold-classic-current-account/ ?

System

The light version requires 5 transactions per month or largish credit balance not a £500 deposit to avoid the £5 low usage fee.

Okay for an account used on a regular basis but a bit of a pain otherwise but I guess that's the reason for the T&Cs.

Also depends if you especially need Visa over MasterCard as Metro Bank issue the latter.

Venusflytrap

Thanks All.

Dr Adidas, you make a valid point about Metro bank as there's a branch 15 mins away from me. Though another reason I opted for N&P is because they are a Building Society which might mean less irresponsible business practices in comparison to (most) banks.

Grumbler - I remember some complaints stating a fee of around £47 for going overdrawn by £1! I do not intend to dip outside of my available funds so not concerned about this.

Heng Leng - In addition to utilising the card abroad, I plan to use the account as my budget controller from which I access my monthly allowance. I will therefore satisfy the requirement to put at least 5 transactions through the account.

Still, any feedback re experiential customer service?

CG19a

I got my N&P account last year. I stick £10 in it a month, then use it to buy a bottle of juice, or a sandwich etc 5 times a month. After that I stick all my holiday spending money in the account and withdraw it abroad. I've never had any issues using the card, or hit with any charges.

Downsides are:
Faster payments are only processed Mon to Fri 9 to 5, outwith this time, you need to wait until the next working day.

The online banking only shows the full balance, not the available balance, so if you've made a transaction and it hasn't hit your account, it can get a wee bit difficult to track your spending. The only benefit is that the light account only comes with an online visa debit, so you can't spend more than you have anyway.

huw01

I have a gold (not light) current account with N&P, this was opened for the fee free abroad debit card usage. I can only praise their customer service everytime I have contacted them. Excellent customer service on a par with first direct.

Their internet banking is also good, although there is a lag in the faster payments, however I have not found this to be a major problem. The gold current account differs to the light version as I'm required to deposit £500 minimum to avoid a £5 monthly underfunding fee, as opposed to the five debit card transactions to avoid the underfunding fee with the gold light account. I haven't found this to be a problem though as I deposit £500 from my first direct account, then move £250 per month into an N&P gold regular savings account which pays 5% interest. The remaining balance is used a my spends for any weekends or holidays, home or abroad.

I would really recommend them

Venusflytrap

Thanks Both. Sounding good.

I plan to do same - use it for my monthly allowance.

Though I am used to seeing my actual account balance (including pending transactions) but guess i'll have to keep strict tabs on what's left to spend week on week.

Well, i'll see how this goes. Still waiting for the account to be officially opened once they complete a manual ID verification as it couldn't be done automatically online. Something about how my address was inputted throwing the system off. Not a good start but neither a sign of a bad one.

noh

CG19a wrote: »

I got my N&P account last year. I stick £10 in it a month, then use it to buy a bottle of juice, or a sandwich etc 5 times a month. After that I stick all my holiday spending money in the account and withdraw it abroad.......................

huw01 wrote: »

The gold current account differs to the light version as I'm required to deposit £500 minimum to avoid a £5 monthly underfunding fee, as opposed to the five debit card transactions to avoid the underfunding fee with the gold light account............................

The Gold Light account requires 5 transactions to avoid the monthly fee. These can be any transaction including credits, they do not need to be debit card payments. They can be deposits.
I satisfy the requirement by making five separate deposits of £1 by SO from my other bank accounts.

Venusflytrap

With these many options defined as 'transactions' I need not have a stringent monitoring plan to ensure I meet the monthly threshold of five. Super!

Thanks to Everyone for contributions and tips.