Nationwide Flexclusive ISA @ 2.25% AER

alanq

"I have not actually used whatever it is that I do have with them for 3 years"

If your current account is inactive and you have no plans to start using it as a main account you would not be eligible for a Flexclusive ISA.

"To be eligible to apply for a Flexclusive ISA, you must either:

Hold a FlexAccount with a Visa debit card (not cash card or cash card+) and:
Have been paying in £750+ a month (excluding internal transfers) for the last 3 months; or

• Complete an account transfer to us (from a non-Nationwide account) using our Account Transfer Service or have done so in the last 4 months; or
• Hold a FlexDirect account or FlexPlus account"

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/savings/cash_isa/flexclusive_isa/default.htm

SpideressUK

alanq wrote: »

"I have not actually used whatever it is that I do have with them for 3 years"

If your current account is inactive and you have no plans to start using it as a main account you would not be eligible for a Flexclusive ISA.

"To be eligible to apply for a Flexclusive ISA, you must either:

Hold a FlexAccount with a Visa debit card (not cash card or cash card+) and:
Have been paying in £750+ a month (excluding internal transfers) for the last 3 months; or

• Complete an account transfer to us (from a non-Nationwide account) using our Account Transfer Service or have done so in the last 4 months; or
• Hold a FlexDirect account or FlexPlus account"

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/savings/cash_isa/flexclusive_isa/default.htm

It all seems to still be open somehow though it could be something to do with the VISA credit card maybe? I remember I got a notice a little while back saying my VISA credit card was due to expire but since I had not used it for so long they were not going to send me a new one so I used the VISA credit card for one transaction on something then paid it off in full and they sent me a new VISA Credit card. I am a bit surprised that the VISA Debit account is still working though considering I only used it for a holiday to Spain in July 2010. However, it has let me put money in and out of it today and transfer money via the ISA that they let me open online though I have to admit I found opening the ISA in the first place online with them *really* complicated and at one point they opened two ISAs for me so I closed one of them down. They told me it was not illegal to have two open at once just so long as there is only money in one of them in that tax year but I closed the extra one down anyway since it was confusing.

alanq

Bad move! Now that you have transferred funds into the Nationwide ISA you cannot open an ISA elsewhere this year. It would be a case of transferring the Nationwide ISA to another provider assuming that the new provider would be willing to accept transfers in.

SpideressUK

alanq wrote: »

Bad move! Now that you have transferred funds into the Nationwide ISA you cannot open an ISA elsewhere this year. It would be a case of transferring the Nationwide ISA to another provider assuming that the new provider would be willing to accept transfers in.

I do not "need" nor "want" to open an ISA elsewhere this year so I do not think there should be a problem and I do no have any ISAs any where else from previous years so the Nationwide is the only one I have and the only one I need (now that I know how to get my money into and out of it online)

alanq

I think that you may end up with a 2% EasySaver ISA when Nationwide discovers that you do not "Complete an account transfer to us (from a non-Nationwide account) using our Account Transfer Service"

As I said before Flexclusive accounts are for customers who use their current account as a "main" one.

Archi_Bald

alanq wrote: »

As I said before Flexclusive accounts are for customers who use their current account as a "main" one.

Or who have a FlexDirect (or a FlexPlus - but that doesn't sound appropriate for the OP).

So the OP could upgrade their Flexaccount to a Flexdirect, and shuttle £1,000 between their RBS and FlexDirect each month.

They might even use the FlexDirect to "park" up to £2,500 for up to a year, before moving the money into their ISA. Thus getting a lot more interest than they would in the ISA.

SpideressUK

alanq wrote: »

I think that you may end up with a 2% EasySaver ISA when Nationwide discovers that you do not "Complete an account transfer to us (from a non-Nationwide account) using our Account Transfer Service"

As I said before Flexclusive accounts are for customers who use their current account as a "main" one.

Ah OK, well 2% is better than the 1% the RBS were offering. At present the Nationwide ISA says 2.25% but there is nothing in it to pay me any interest on anyway and I will be lucky if I can get £300-£450 into it by the end of the tax year and even that will be paid in over a period of months so not qualify for much in interest payments anyway. I just thought it was better to save the £150 a month I hope to save per month from sometime next year onwards (which I will be using for annual bills like car insurance etc) and get a small amount of tax free interest than saving it in a current bank account for the annual bills.

SpideressUK

Archi_Bald wrote: »

Or who have a FlexDirect (or a FlexPlus - but that doesn't sound appropriate for the OP).

So the OP could upgrade their Flexaccount to a Flexdirect, and shuttle £1,000 between their RBS and FlexDirect each month.

They might even use the FlexDirect to "park" up to £2,500 for up to a year, before moving the money into their ISA. Thus getting a lot more interest than they would in the ISA.

This might be useful for someone reading this thread who has that kind of money. At best I will only be able to put £150 a month into the ISA from sometime next year in order to save up for the annual bills like car insurance etc. I thought it better to do any kind of "saving" even if its a small amount in an ISA rather than just trying to put it to one side in a bank account to "save" it there. I really wish I had £2,500 to "park" up anywhere Hubby and I are about to adopt and will be living hand-to-mouth for quite some time.

badger09

Well done for managing to transfer in & out of Nationwide

At the risk of confusing you even further , if you can meet the conditions for Natinwide's FlexDirect current account you will get 5% interest on up to £2500. 5% after tax is still 4%, which beats the pants off the ISA rates.

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/current_account/flexdirect/default.htm

Just a thought

SpideressUK

badger09 wrote: »

Well done for managing to transfer in & out of Nationwide

At the risk of confusing you even further , if you can meet the conditions for Natinwide's FlexDirect current account you will get 5% interest on up to £2500. 5% after tax is still 4%, which beats the pants off the ISA rates.

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/current_account/flexdirect/default.htm

Just a thought

Thank you, considering how confusing I was finding it I thought it was quite an achievement to finally find out how to transfer money into and out of the Nationwide :rotfl:

I'd be a bit scared of their condition of paying in £1,000 pm in case hubby lost his job then we would have no chance of that kind of money going into the account. Also his wage is not quite that much a month but with working tax credit (and child tax credit and child benefit once we adopt later this year) we might just get over the £1,000 pm going into the account each month but then WTC or CTC might be delayed in paying in so we would not meet the £1,000 pm paying in and I do not know what they would do then, they might fine us or close the account down which would mess up all the direct debits etc. It is a good idea though for people with enough money coming in each month.