Nationwide Current Accounts - Is there any point?

colsten

BigBlueSky wrote: »

Is the account with the travel insurance still available ? - Is there a monthly charge for that ?

If you haven't got an old (pre-2018-ish) FlexAccount, you'd have to pay for the FlexPlus to get travel insurance. If you have an old FlexAccount which you have been feeding with at least £750/mth, then provided the £750 comes in every month, you still have EU travel insurance for free.

Penelopa.Pitstop

I'm happy with FlexPlus account, claimed on travel insurance in past and it worked ok. Limits are quite decent on the policy. Also used phone insurance and roadside assitance.

Years of using Select Card for free abroad was also useful. I switched to MBNA card now, that has free use abroad and 0.5% cashback (not available to new customers).

It's a shame regular saver will be disappearing. I will use Tesco account as donor for switches.

BigBlueSky

colsten wrote: »

If you haven't got an old (pre-2018-ish) FlexAccount, you'd have to pay for the FlexPlus to get travel insurance. If you have an old FlexAccount which you have been feeding with at least £750/mth, then provided the £750 comes in every month, you still have EU travel insurance for free.

I opened my FlexDirect in August 2016. Is the FlexAccount the same as the FlexDirect ?

I haven't been paying in £750/month though, but assume if this is the same account I could start doing so to make this available to me?

eskbanker

BigBlueSky wrote: »

Is the FlexAccount the same as the FlexDirect ?

No.

Nationwide's infinite wisdom led them to unimaginatively but confusingly prefixing all of their current accounts with 'Flex-' but those two are different, as are FlexPlus, FlexOne, FlexBasic, FlexStudent, etc....

badger09

colsten wrote: »

If you haven't got an old (pre-2018-ish) FlexAccount, you'd have to pay for the FlexPlus to get travel insurance. If you have an old FlexAccount which you have been feeding with at least £750/mth, then provided the £750 comes in every month, you still have EU travel insurance for free.

The upgrade to Worldwide cover, over 70, & various health conditions isn't too expensive either.

We had occasion to claim last year when I was hospitalised in Thailand.

Main complaint was that they phoned my husband, who was also ill but not as bad as I was, in the middle of the night to ask if I was still in hospital:cool: The method of submitting all the paperwork afterwards was also a faff. Hopefully we won't ever to claim again:o

Alexland

Also if you have children don't forget that having a Nationwide main account gets you access to 3.5% on the Future Saver passbook account. That's the main reason I will keep my FlexDirect account after my RS runs out next year.

gabanker

I would suggest keeping your nationwide current account if you don't want to then maybe you could keep another product etc. Due to the fact they offer some of the best rates to there society members not many other financial institutions offer what they do. Plus for anyone looking for a basic current account I would try Nationwide, I got to upgrade a few months later and now my credit is great!

xlnc99

gabanker wrote: »

I would suggest keeping your nationwide current account if you don't want to then maybe you could keep another product etc. Due to the fact they offer some of the best rates to there society members not many other financial institutions offer what they do. Plus for anyone looking for a basic current account I would try Nationwide, I got to upgrade a few months later and now my credit is great!

how did u upgrade if you dont mind me asking? in store or online? Did you apply for a new current account, can you explain the process?

Silverspeed

pochisoldi wrote: »

Is there any point in holding a Nationwide Current account?

Post April 5th when they pull their Flexclusive Regular Saver, all of their "flexexclusive" products can be easily beat by other products on the open market.

Their "loyalty saver" account similarly punishes naive loyalty.

Their Visa rewards program (for what it was worth) was canned at the end of last month.

It`s funny, I wanted to switch to them a month ago. ( Because of the regular savings, interest in the account, visa rewards.)
Still, I would say, I am ok to switch because of the interest (5% on £2500 balance plus refer a friend.) But I have a feeling it`s also over a month later or two.

You are probably in that position like me with my bank now. It doesn`t cost me money, but I can`t "earn" more than 50p per month interest.

Malchester

Is there any point in the Nationwide at all. As a member for more than 30 years their 'loyalty' rates are way lower than you can get elsewhere as a new customer. Even their new single acess ISA is poor value compared to other organisations. Have gone to Paragon for easy access ISA - higher rate, unlimited withdrawals.