Bank accounts v Building Societies

BMN

amorphix wrote: »

Of all the building societies, I found Nationwide to the best by far.

That's laughable.
Nationwide near enough operates like a bank and it certainly doesn't offer better rates.

amorphix wrote: »

I was actually with Santander before Nationwide, and went overdrawn just just 24 hours, and they tried to charge me £25+£5. I withdrew all my funds, and said no way I was paying those extortionate charges, and wished to close my account. Surprise surprise, the lady on the phone offered to wipe off the fees as a "one time gesture of goodwill". But I decided to move to Nationwide in the end anyway because of their mortgage deal and I think in the long term, you benefit from building a relationship with your Building Society.

The fees outlined by Santander and other banks are just as clear as Nationwide. You took the banks money without permission and got charged but a member of staff was kind enough to see past your negligence and waive the fees as a one-off. Yet "surprise surprise" you're still being sarky about a good bit of customer service.

You have a bad attitude.

Archi_Bald

BMN wrote: »

Nationwide near enough operates like a bank and it certainly doesn't offer better rates.

Well, like with just about anything about banks/BSs, this generalisation is just plain wrong.

E.g. Nationwide has, without a shadow of a doubt, the best AER of any current account right now (5% FlexDirect). Their Flexclusive ISA wiped the floor with a 4.25% AER a year and a bit ago. Their current Flexclusive ISA of 2.25% is still way better than many others.

I am not defending Nationwide as being "better" - - IMO, all of the banks and BSs are much of a muchness. Sometimes some of them are better, sometimes some of them are worse. The trick is not to get hoodwinked by any of them in believing that you need to decide for one or the other. There is nothing wrong in picking whatever is the best deal for you, regardless of who offers it.

Gromitt

Archi_Bald wrote: »

E.g. Nationwide has, without a shadow of a doubt, the best AER of any current account right now (5% FlexDirect). Their Flexclusive ISA wiped the floor with a 4.25% AER a year and a bit ago. Their current Flexclusive ISA of 2.25% is still way better than many others.

Don't forget the 'Loyalty Saver'. It seemed poor at the time it was made available, but now its one of the best savings accounts available for people who opened it last year (New accounts now get a maximum of 1.7% and a balance limit of 50K).

Then there's the 6% Regular saver which a fair proportion of people here have because it was only shadowed by First Direct with their 8% version.

In all I've been a happy Nationwide member for 15 years now. The only bank I've been with for longer than that is First Direct, and thats only by a few months.

I do have accounts with BoS, TSB, Santander, etc, but only to take advantage of what they currently offer. I'm likely to drop them as soon as they drop their offers.

wiseshark

Gromitt wrote: »

I do have accounts with BoS, TSB, Santander, etc, but only to take advantage of what they currently offer. I'm likely to drop them as soon as they drop their offers.

Exactly. Just use them.

ColdIron

Gromitt wrote: »

Then there's the 6% Regular saver which a fair proportion of people here have because it was only shadowed by First Direct with their 8% version.

Think you may have your wires crossed. The First Direct RS is now 6% and I don't think Nationwide ever did a 6% one, perhaps you are thinking of the HSBC one?

The Nationwide one is 2.5% which is fairly poor until you realise you can put in £1,000 pcm and there is no annual restriction so you could stack up £36,000 in 3 years. If you've maxed out all the usual better paying suspects (Santander, Lloyds etc) and have cash sitting in an easy access account at 1.6% or so it may be worth a look for some, just an idea

JuicyJesus

Nationwide are a bank in building societies' clothing. They operate no differently to any other major banking group, have roughly the same tariff of charges as most banks and have roughly the same level of service. They make a marketing virtue of being "different" but don't make it clear how. They claim to be a mutual, but you receive no dividends as you would with the Co-op or a credit union, and if the business sells itself off you have no entitlement to a windfall any more; the effect being "mutually owned" is completely meaningless since the "owners" will never get any benefit from it, and it's just marketing speak.

I do always find it amusing though when people consider the application of bank charges as per the bank's stated tariff and terms to be "bad service" as the OP seems to. Especially when Nationwide will do exactly the same thing in the same scenario and it's entirely the customer's fault.

Archi_Bald

ColdIron wrote: »

Think you may have your wires crossed. The First Direct RS is now 6% and I don't think Nationwide ever did a 6% one, perhaps you are thinking of the HSBC one?

Nope, no crossed wires. Nationwide did indeed have a Flexclusive Reg Saver with 6% that has long closed for new applicants but is still going for a while yet for existing ones.

Gromitt

Archi_Bald wrote: »

Nope, no crossed wires. Nationwide did indeed have a Flexclusive Reg Saver with 6% that has long closed for new applicants but is still going for a while yet for existing ones.

Correct, I was just about to post part of the "Welcome" email, but your confirmation will do just as well

Yes, the First Direct RS is now 6%, but it was 8% when Nationwide published the 6% RS. I'm still getting 8% on my FD RS until the end of September this year

ColdIron

Archi_Bald wrote: »

Nope, no crossed wires. Nationwide did indeed have a Flexclusive Reg Saver with 6% that has long closed for new applicants but is still going for a while yet for existing ones.

I apologise unreservedly, before my time obviously

Gromitt

It was September last year, I wouldn't say it was that long ago Expires October this year.