Packaged Bank Accounts

sharsky53

I don't understand why MSE keep promoting Nationwide as the best packaged bank account. I am sure they must be on the payroll. I have religiously paid my £13/month since it was increased from £11/month and finally I had to make a claim due to the pandemic and that was when it fell apart. Their travel insurers wormed their way out of my claim and felt so guilty about it they gave me a £50 'sorry but we are not paying your claim' payoff. Needless to say I cancelled the Flexplus account. Why do MSE rate them so highly? I had to pay an extra £30/annum because my wife had an ongoing ailment which I have found that at least one other banks insurers do not charge for. Also you have to pay an additional £65 if you are 70 and over whereas the other banks limit is 80. And lastly, the Nationwide have a standard excess of £50 per claimants claim whereas the other bank have a £0 excess. I don't understand MSE's promotion and they don't mention some of these disadvantages so I am now transferring my bank account purely because Nationwide's packaged account is certainly not the best. I have nothing against Nationwide as a bank but I reckon they are totally overrated by MSE.

eskbanker

If you're saying that you feel a competitor has a much better and/or cheaper offering than Nationwide then why not name them?

adamp87

Sharksy you’ve had a bad experience but MSE does offer other options & does say its only the best if you maximise the features. What didn’t work for you probably works for many others 

Eyeful

1. Did you not read the terms and conditions on the Nationwide website before signing up?

2. Why did you not do the search that discovered these superior packages before signing up to Nationwide?

3. Will you please name these packages that have much better terms so others can benefit from your research? 

sharsky53

In answer to all questions, I have been with Nationwide bank for 5 years and when joined they had some pretty good incentives which have all fizzled away, like with other banks. Their Flexplus account was £11/month and you also received 3% interest on your balance up to £3500 which helped to offset the fee. It went up to £13/month some time ago and then they also dropped the interest on the £3500. I stood by them until the holiday claim went sour and so dropped back to the Flexdirect account and cancelled the £13/month. I would be wary of the claiming procedure with Nationwide. Because it was a joint account they wanted to apply two lots of excess which meant the first £100 of my claim was not covered. Recently I have looked at other banks offerings and the one I prefer is the Cooperative but have not changed yet as I don't need holiday insurance at the moment. It works out as around the same cost as Nationwide but as I am approaching 70 I don't want to add an unnecessary £65 to my package as well as paying the £30 for my wife's ongoing ailment.

kaMelo

sharsky53 said:

In answer to all questions, I have been with Nationwide bank for 5 years and when joined they had some pretty good incentives which have all fizzled away, like with other banks. Their Flexplus account was £11/month and you also received 3% interest on your balance up to £3500 which helped to offset the fee. It went up to £13/month some time ago and then they also dropped the interest on the £3500. I stood by them until the holiday claim went sour and so dropped back to the Flexdirect account and cancelled the £13/month. I would be wary of the claiming procedure with Nationwide. Because it was a joint account they wanted to apply two lots of excess which meant the first £100 of my claim was not covered. Recently I have looked at other banks offerings and the one I prefer is the Cooperative but have not changed yet as I don't need holiday insurance at the moment. It works out as around the same cost as Nationwide but as I am approaching 70 I don't want to add an unnecessary £65 to my package as well as paying the £30 for my wife's ongoing ailment.

Without wishing to be pedantic the account was actually £10 per month and interest was paid at 3% on £2500. The interest generated around £6 per month so the account only cost around £4 per month. Excellent value and almost a no brainer unless you had very specific requirements that Nationwide couldn't help with.
Then, as you mention, the interest was withdrawn and the costs increased to a more comparable level to other packaged accounts. As such it was vital to look through the terms of each banks offering as they all differ slightly so some would be more suitable than others.

For example, Nationwide travel cover extends to family including children under 19 or 23 in full time education. Not many others offer this cover, most limit children to 18 (as Co-Op do) or under 19. Then at the other end of the spectrum Nationwide is not as generous as other offers such as Co-Op who cover up to age 80.  

Excesses on travel claims with Nationwide have always been per person, it matters not how many are named on the account it only matters how many people are involved in the claim. Co-Op have no excess on travel insurance which is quite impressive actually. The rest of the cover is much too detailed to list here.

One is not better than the other, it's about choosing the one that suits your needs.  If you've a family with multiple children in University then Nationwide is clearly better even with the excess as they're covered whereas with Co-Op they're not.. If you're nearing/over 70 with no dependent children then the Co-Op is a much stronger candidate..

Mobile cover is different on all packaged accounts, with different value levels, excess levels, new or recycled replacement phone. Too many variables to mention here.

Breakdown cover. Most offer a short distance recovery, usually 10 miles, and you pay for longer distances. Nationwide offer recovery to local garage, like others, however it also offers nationwide recovery if the car is not fixable that day at the local garage. Co-Op's offer is if the car is not fixable in what they deem "a reasonable time" they may recover the car to a destination nationally.  Co-op don't offer cover for lost/broken keys whereas Nationwide do.


I could go on and on. There is no such thing as one sized "packaged bank account insurance" All banks offerings vary widely in both what they offer and what they cost and none are good or bad, they're just different. The bottom line is it's up to the customer to pick the one that suits you best.

jimjames

We have Nationwide Flexplus, it's an excellent account and I think the MSE recommendation is spot on. As above it doesn't necessarily work for all but for us having breakdown cover including Europe, worldwide travel and mobile phone cover x4 is good value for money.

No other bank I've looked at comes close to the value for money so I'd be interested to know which is better?

born_again

sharsky53 said:

In answer to all questions, I have been with Nationwide bank for 5 years and when joined they had some pretty good incentives which have all fizzled away, like with other banks. Their Flexplus account was £11/month and you also received 3% interest on your balance up to £3500 which helped to offset the fee. It went up to £13/month some time ago and then they also dropped the interest on the £3500. I stood by them until the holiday claim went sour and so dropped back to the Flexdirect account and cancelled the £13/month. I would be wary of the claiming procedure with Nationwide. Because it was a joint account they wanted to apply two lots of excess which meant the first £100 of my claim was not covered. Recently I have looked at other banks offerings and the one I prefer is the Cooperative but have not changed yet as I don't need holiday insurance at the moment. It works out as around the same cost as Nationwide but as I am approaching 70 I don't want to add an unnecessary £65 to my package as well as paying the £30 for my wife's ongoing ailment.

You are aware that any Insurance is NOT offered by the bank, just a chosen partner. So if any claim is declined. It is not the banks fault..

As to the extra payment due to age. Nationwide must be one of the few that allow that. As most others say 70 & out... But try getting a travel ins deal for less than you are paying now for all the benefits for the whole year.

WillPS

born_again said:

sharsky53 said:

In answer to all questions, I have been with Nationwide bank for 5 years and when joined they had some pretty good incentives which have all fizzled away, like with other banks. Their Flexplus account was £11/month and you also received 3% interest on your balance up to £3500 which helped to offset the fee. It went up to £13/month some time ago and then they also dropped the interest on the £3500. I stood by them until the holiday claim went sour and so dropped back to the Flexdirect account and cancelled the £13/month. I would be wary of the claiming procedure with Nationwide. Because it was a joint account they wanted to apply two lots of excess which meant the first £100 of my claim was not covered. Recently I have looked at other banks offerings and the one I prefer is the Cooperative but have not changed yet as I don't need holiday insurance at the moment. It works out as around the same cost as Nationwide but as I am approaching 70 I don't want to add an unnecessary £65 to my package as well as paying the £30 for my wife's ongoing ailment.

You are aware that any Insurance is NOT offered by the bank, just a chosen partner. So if any claim is declined. It is not the banks fault..

It's the bank's problem if a customer decides to up sticks and leave though.

I once overstayed in a customer car park for a branch of Tesco while doing my shopping. Tesco didn't own the car park, nor set the terms at the car park, but it'd sure as hell be their problem if I decided never to shop there again.

eskbanker

WillPS said:

It's the bank's problem if a customer decides to up sticks and leave though.

I once overstayed in a customer car park for a branch of Tesco while doing my shopping. Tesco didn't own the car park, nor set the terms at the car park, but it'd sure as hell be their problem if I decided never to shop there again.

Your prerogative to go elsewhere of course, but unhappy individuals choosing to vote with their feet aren't likely to be a problem to businesses as such, unless they're symptomatic of much wider issues causing significant loss of market share, so many customers have a rather inflated view of their worth to a company!

WillPS

eskbanker said:

WillPS said:

It's the bank's problem if a customer decides to up sticks and leave though.

I once overstayed in a customer car park for a branch of Tesco while doing my shopping. Tesco didn't own the car park, nor set the terms at the car park, but it'd sure as hell be their problem if I decided never to shop there again.

Your prerogative to go elsewhere of course, but unhappy individuals choosing to vote with their feet aren't likely to be a problem to businesses as such, unless they're symptomatic of much wider issues causing significant loss of market share, so many customers have a rather inflated view of their worth to a company!

I agree, but I disagree with the notion that one can't take umbrage at a company because those specific services are contracted to another provider, and the customer perceives that service as being poor.