Nationwide FlexBasic

miller

I am looking for an additional account for a friend with no overdraft permitted, a debit card and reasonable foreign currency charges (nice to have).

The main reasons behind it are:
-to limit any damage to their main account where DDs are paid from and a reasonably large credit balance is held should a fraud occur
-to help with budgeting
-the debit card associated with this main account does not need to be used as the additional account can be topped up from it
-they go abroad fairly frequently, so taking a card not associated with their main account would help in case of loss

Nationwide FlexBasic seems to fit the bill, except, their main current account is a FlexAccount so they are not eligible. Are there any alternatives that fit the bill?

Zanderman

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/basic-bank-accounts

System

None of the banks need to offer you a basic account as you have a current account in the UK.

A secondary standard account (even with Nationwide) would meet your criteria anyway.

miller

Heng_Leng wrote: »

A secondary standard account (even with Nationwide) would meet your criteria anyway.

AFAIK Lloyds, Halifax etc. do not permit unauthorised overdrafts now. I think Nationwide still does though and charges hefty fees for using it.

miller

There may be alternatives to basic bank accounts I have overlooked too. Maybe some other type of account would work.

System

miller wrote: »

AFAIK Lloyds, Halifax etc. do not permit unauthorised overdrafts now. I think Nationwide still does though and charges hefty fees for using it.

You think Nationwide permit authorised overdrafts more than LBG does?
If you have no funds or overdraft, transactions will almost certainly be declined.

ValiantSon

I don't understand why the overdraft is an issue. If your friend can manage their money properly then there is no risk of them going in to an unauthorised overdraft.

I'm also not clear about the issue with fraud on their main account. If there is fraud then the bank will return all of the misappropriated money to them. There is no issue.

Perhaps, I am missing something?

Nonetheless, what you are actually looking for is a normal current account on which your friend won't have an overdraft.

Based on the criteria regarding overseas spending then either Starling Bank or Metro Bank would make sense, as they don't charge fees on non-sterling cash withdrawals or overseas spending (with the Metro Bank account this limited to Europe).

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/travel-credit-cards#debit

System

A NatWest / RBS Select account with the free control option should prevent most unintentional overdrafts.

18cc

I would second the recommendation of Starling Bank. Also, they have an 'overdraft slider' which you can presumably slide to zero.