Nationwide Flexclusive Saver Iss 8

retiredandskint

Nationwide are reducing the rate from 0.75 to 0.50 from 28 June 2018. Yes, I know and will move our money once our Regularl Saver account matures.

Did I miss the news that BofE had dropped interest rates?

[Deleted User]

retiredandskint wrote: »

Nationwide are reducing the rate from 0.75 to 0.50 from 28 June 2018. Yes, I know and will move our money once our Regularl Saver account matures.

Did I miss the news that BofE had dropped interest rates?

Typical Nationwide action. They regularly change the goalposts just to keep us on our toes. They don't behave like a mutual. In the last year (for example) they have reduced the monthly payment into the flex regular saver from £500 to £250 and rewritten the rules on the FlexDirect current account so you can only get the 5% interest once. I would give up on them if it wasn't for the (still) good rate on the Flex RS.

bowlhead99

retiredandskint wrote: »

Did I miss the news that BofE had dropped interest rates?

The BoE rate is 0.5% and one-week sterling Libor is a little lower. So 0.5% on instant access isn't completely terrible.

As you probably know, banks and building societies set their rates based on market forces rather than purely on BoE moves; which explains why Nationwide ISA paid more than 0.5% on their ISA for quite some time after the BoE cut rates to 0.5% in 2009, for example.

You probably didn't see many people complaining then that, "did I miss something or didn't the BoE rate cut happen, why don't they just drop my ISA rate to 0 5% to keep in line with the central bank please"

Deleted_User wrote: »

and rewritten the rules on the FlexDirect current account so you can only get the 5% interest once.

Hmm, the introductory offer to attract you as a new customer of that account with 5% in the first year was so popular that people would join for a year, leave and then come back to grab it again, or simply demand a second bite at the 5% 'new account' cherry after their rate had dropped to normal levels for a while. So they made their terms more reasonable (to stop people 'playing the system'). Hardly the act of a terrible financial institution.

You say they don't behave like a mutual, but as they're a mutual owned by members they probably don't want some members to lose out too heavily on what they can afford to offer in savings rates or borrowing rates due to other customers double-dipping the special offers, which is similar to how banks don't want their shareholders to lose out by people pushing the special offers right to the limit of acceptable behaviour; so they formally codify the rules in a policy or T&C.

I would give up on them if it wasn't for the (still) good rate on the Flex RS.

Yes I wouldn't use them either if they didn't have decent current accounts, good mortgage and personal loan rates, a credit card without foreign currency exchange rate loading, the highest interest rate in the country on their regular saver account, and so on. I'm surprised they have any customers at all.

SuiDreams

bowlhead99 wrote: »

Yes I wouldn't use them either if they didn't have decent current accounts, good mortgage and personal loan rates, a credit card without foreign currency exchange rate loading, the highest interest rate in the country on their regular saver account, and so on. I'm surprised they have any customers at all.

Personally I only use the for the Regular saver, but I also have 4 other 5% regular savers with 4 other banks, so they aren't the only ones offering this - they were the ones offering the highest paying though, but not since they dropped it to £250.

xylophone

I keep my Nationwide current account solely for the Regular Saver.

I wonder what the ratio of savers to borrowers is ?

le_loup

Deleted_User wrote: »

I would give up on them if it wasn't for the (still) good rate on the Flex RS.

So, they're not all bad then.
As a member, I would be grateful if all the chancers did give up on them so that I would get even better deals than I do.

ColdIron

All right... all right... but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order... what have the Romans done for us?

talexuser

I also just keep the current to feed the regular saver. If they didn't have that I would leave, just as they are free to change their rates if they want me to leave.

[Deleted User]

The general consensus is that the only reasonable thing offered to savers by Nationwide is the 5% Regular Saver. As someone has pointed out, they are not the only savings body offering this rate. To those who have used their once-only chance at the 5% FlexDirect current account, Nationwide's current accounts offer nothing. Well beaten by non-mutual s like Santander, Lloyds, Bank of Scotland, Halifax, even TSB (to name but a few).

They may offer good rates on mortgages, personal loans, credit cards. Not of much interest to savers.

Nationwide trumpet themselves as Britain's biggest mutual but offer next to nothing to Britain's small savers.

If Nationwide disappeared from the market, I for one would not miss them.

Malchester

Nationwide are real Jekyll and Hyde institution. Sometimes paying good rates (currently have their 1.4% single access ISA) and other times very poor - 1% 2 year loyalty bond. I keep FlexDirect just for the odd time they offer good rates. Been with them 30 years so cannot be that bad!!!!

Thrugelmir

Deleted_User wrote: »

They don't behave like a mutual.

Still a business. That has to be run on a commercial basis. Underlying profit fell in the last financial year. Likewise net lending fell also. Which results in a need to increase lending margins while requiring less deposits/other sources of funding. Not a static business model.