Natwest Platinum account

bruceiow

Hi All,

I was shocked to find that I was being charged nearly 20.00 a month by the AA for breakdown cover that never seemed to be valid for handful of cases that I ever used it..

I have a Natwest Current account and was recently offered for 16.00 a month their platinum account which seems to offer a better level of vehicle recovery and 'National Trust Days Out' membership.

Now both of those are attractive propositions, but is this account upgrade a good deal, or is it expensive for what it is? It does offer some other elements such as tastecard and travel insurance, but neither of these I would make any use of.

I have a young family so National Trust would be a good call, if it is indeed a full membership (I haven't come across this days out scheme).

Has anyone got any experience of this account or advice on any alternatives?

Many thanks

Crag30

I've just downgraded my account from a Silver Select.
It was fine at first with free phone insurance, holiday insurance, and free music/film downloads.
But things change and all I was getting for £10 a month was the phone insurance which I can get cheaper elsewhere.

nidO

It really depends on how you're going to use the features and whether you would be otherwise paying for them.

Breakdown - This gets you Green Flag cover for your vehicle(s) (not you in other people's vehicles), with national relay and home cover - Equivalent annual retail cost with green flag is £60, from the AA as a new customer it's £110.
So if the cover for your vehicle rather than you individually is good enough and you're happy to be with green flag rather than the AA, about £5 of your monthly account fee is the equivalent of getting retail green flag cover.

So, its deciding if what you get for the other £11 is worthwhile.

Worldwide travel insurance is also a direct cost offset if you would otherwise be paying for a policy, or just a nice-to-have if you wouldn't otherwise bother with travel insurance but do travel.

Same with phone insurance - Standalone insurance will generally be in the ballpark of £5 a month so if you have an existing policy you can cancel that directly offsets the cost of the account, or is just a nice to have if not, assuming your mobile is reasonably valuable.

National trust day passes, these are fairly worthwhile if you actually use them - Some sites can run upwards of £20 for family tickets (sometimes with parking on top) so these are a potential £50 ish saving a year.
This isn't national trust membership, but is literally 4 vouchers you can download per year - 2 for free parking at any national trust car park, and 2 for free family entry to most national trust sites.

Tastecard membership is, imo, worthless.
We've used both tastecard and gourmet society cards over the years and with all the restrictions on use, restaurants which are signed up readily providing equivalent deals to non-cardholders anyway, or just restaurants stopping taking the cards but tastecard/gourmet society not bothering to update their listings so only finding out when turning up at the restaurant that there's no discount available, these things really don't offer anything worthwhile.

Travel service is where you can potentially save big bucks if you go on holidays - You can get 10% off a large number of holidays and associated services, sometimes the price can be beaten via deals anyway (as its 10% off the "base" price of a holiday) but you will sometimes find the prices unbeatable - We saved about £300 over the best alternate price we could find each time on a couple of holidays a few years back, so that's paid for our mobile insurance, travel insurance, and breakdown cover for several years

Interesting minor point with Natwest's paid accounts (no idea if the same applies to other banks) - If the account is a joint account the monthly cost is the same but both you and the joint account holder are covered by the benefits - Travel insurance covers your entire family anyway so there's no added benefit there, but the joint account will provide mobile insurance and breakdown cover for both account holders.

dr_adidas01

Quite clearly states on the Natwest website that the National Trust days out scheme is not a full National Trust membership.

You are allowed 2 family day passes a year for 2 adults and 3 children provided they are under 17 years old.

http://personal.natwest.com/personal/current-accounts/manage-your-select-platinum-account/select-platinum-benefits.html

bsms1147

Nationwide Flexplus (£10/mo) is worth considering.

bruceiow

thanks guys, some really comprehensive advice there - I am going to rethink I think... If it was full NT membership I would have been more tempted I think! :beer:

brewerdave

I've just paid £88 pa for all singing/dancing Green Flag cover for two of us in ANY car.

dr_adidas01

brewerdave wrote: »

I've just paid £88 pa for all singing/dancing Green Flag cover for two of us in ANY car.

Where I just pay Nationwide £10 a month for singing and dancing account benefits that include breakdown cover in any car that I either drive or am a passenger in.