Nationwide FlexPlus fee hiked to £18/month from December

King_Of_Fools

VXman said:

Fizicuk said:

This still is a good deal if you want the insurances. But the benefits are getting watered down over time too. For joint account holders the mobile phone insurance and travel insurance is worth it. The AA rescue is a good back up but not essential for us as our cars are covered by the manufacturer call out. Need to keep your eye on the costs though 

Why do people keep emphasising 'Joint Account holders'? The cover is for the account holder and their partner/family for Travel insurance and account holder/partner for the breakdown (i believe - i need the check that bit out). So no need to be a joint account.

edit - just checked the breakdown and it indeed covers your partner and any kids aswell as long as you own the vehicle so in some circumstances a partners car might not be covered - interesting to know how they would ascertain the owner. My wife's car was a present from me to her but the receipt is in my name and the V5 also as I purchased it originally.

Who is covered?

Our FlexPlus breakdown cover includes both:

• personal cover – FlexPlus account holders are covered in any eligible vehicle they're travelling in, whether as a driver or passenger; and
• vehicle cover – all eligible vehicles you own are covered, even if you're not travelling in them.

Your dependent children are only covered if they're driving an eligible vehicle that you own. 

But as you show, having a joint account does add the benefit of covering the joint account holder in any car they are in as a passenger, at no extra cost per month.

billyboy

For all the oldies out there, including me, who use the account mainly for travel insurance, the Virgin account has no surcharge up to the age of 75 not 70 as with Nationwide. could be worth switching to them at least until the takeover finalizes and Virgin ups the charge as well

harz99

billyboy said:

For all the oldies out there, including me, who use the account mainly for travel insurance, the Virgin account has no surcharge up to the age of 75 not 70 as with Nationwide. could be worth switching to them at least until the takeover finalizes and Virgin ups the charge as well

The Aviva Travel Insurance now provided by the Nationwide Flexplus account no longer has an age surcharge... 

Archergirl

moneyworrier2021 said:

Does the Flex account travel insurance cover damaged luggage and is there a time frame to claim?

You should claim for damaged luggage from the airline at the airport, we have done it before very easy. Not sure it's something covered by insurance, the best thing is to call them.

moneyworrier2021

Archergirl said:

moneyworrier2021 said:

Does the Flex account travel insurance cover damaged luggage and is there a time frame to claim?

You should claim for damaged luggage from the airline at the airport, we have done it before very easy. Not sure it's something covered by insurance, the best thing is to call them.

Yeah I did try but they wanted receipts of the case that was bought over 3 years ago.

dipityseren70

WillPS said:

VXman said:

M.A.S.H_2 said:

This has put me in a bit of a pickle; I am flying to Dubai at the end of September. I upgraded my FlexDirect to FlexPlus on the 2nd of September. I was debating with myself about what would be the best choice and decided to go with this instead of getting a single trip policy for me and my partner.

Can I downgrade back to FlexDirect after the trip? I was okay with the £13 a month, but not so much with £18. I know it has nothing to do with when I signed up, but it feels like the rug was pulled out from under me. I really hate monthly fees at the best of times.

This presents an interesting thought. I wonder how often you could downgrade/upgrade. I have done it once and it is immediate and easy. Possibly one could upgrade to flex plus just before a trip and down again after?

The advice is normally to take cover as soon as a holiday is booked. If you only want cover while you're away and you're not concerned about the risks which apply before you head off, then the approach works so long as Nationwide continue to accept your upgrade requests. I've never heard of anyone being denied an upgrade (other than FlexBasic customers, which is a different issue), but there's no guarantee they'll allow it endlessly either.

VXman said:

Fizicuk said:

This still is a good deal if you want the insurances. But the benefits are getting watered down over time too. For joint account holders the mobile phone insurance and travel insurance is worth it. The AA rescue is a good back up but not essential for us as our cars are covered by the manufacturer call out. Need to keep your eye on the costs though 

Why do people keep emphasising 'Joint Account holders'? The cover is for the account holder and their partner/family for Travel insurance and account holder/partner for the breakdown (i believe - i need the check that bit out). So no need to be a joint account.

edit - just checked the breakdown and it indeed covers your partner and any kids aswell as long as you own the vehicle so in some circumstances a partners car might not be covered - interesting to know how they would ascertain the owner. My wife's car was a present from me to her but the receipt is in my name and the V5 also as I purchased it originally.

Who is covered?

Our FlexPlus breakdown cover includes both:

• personal cover – FlexPlus account holders are covered in any eligible vehicle they're travelling in, whether as a driver or passenger; and
• vehicle cover – all eligible vehicles you own are covered, even if you're not travelling in them.

Your dependent children are only covered if they're driving an eligible vehicle that you own. 

Agreed, it's worrying but perhaps unsurprising that people don't know the basic details of the product they're paying a premium for...

Mmm Interesting that you have agreed to follow vxman. vxman is incorrectly making a very big assumption that a joint account has to be between husband/wife partner/partner. It can be friend and friend. Both get the benifits for them and their families.

dipityseren70

VXman said:

Fizicuk said:

This still is a good deal if you want the insurances. But the benefits are getting watered down over time too. For joint account holders the mobile phone insurance and travel insurance is worth it. The AA rescue is a good back up but not essential for us as our cars are covered by the manufacturer call out. Need to keep your eye on the costs though 

Why do people keep emphasising 'Joint Account holders'? The cover is for the account holder and their partner/family for Travel insurance and account holder/partner for the breakdown (i believe - i need the check that bit out). So no need to be a joint account.

edit - just checked the breakdown and it indeed covers your partner and any kids aswell as long as you own the vehicle so in some circumstances a partners car might not be covered - interesting to know how they would ascertain the owner. My wife's car was a present from me to her but the receipt is in my name and the V5 also as I purchased it originally.

Who is covered?

Our FlexPlus breakdown cover includes both:

• personal cover – FlexPlus account holders are covered in any eligible vehicle they're travelling in, whether as a driver or passenger; and
• vehicle cover – all eligible vehicles you own are covered, even if you're not travelling in them.

Your dependent children are only covered if they're driving an eligible vehicle that you own. 

A very poor and big assumption that a joint account has to be between husband/wife partner/partner. It can be friend and friend. Both get the benifits for them and their families and only pay once. 

Space_Captain

I'm looking at the Halifax reward extra current account. £19 a month but £5 cashback and it also has home emergency cover as well as the same benefits as Nationwide.
Has anyone here considered this one? 

crumpet_man

I remember looking at the Halifax account before choosing Nationwide.  I think the breakdown cover doesn't include Europe and/or onward travel and the phone insurance wasn't as good/more restrictive.

WillPS

Space_Captain said:

I'm looking at the Halifax reward extra current account. £19 a month but £5 cashback and it also has home emergency cover as well as the same benefits as Nationwide.
Has anyone here considered this one? 

I had it back when it was £17, which with the £5 reward (which you can have as well as having 3 standard Reward accounts earning £5 each) made it £12/month - a quid cheaper than Nationwide.

I moved to Nationwide because the Home Emergency cover was no help at all the one time I needed it (faulty bathroom sink drain - their advice was 'use the kitchen instead') and also the AA cover included with Nationwide's was better as it was inclusive of onward travel - which I decided I wanted as we holiday in the UK a dozen or so times a year.

I did have good experience with the phone insurance - but I believe basically all these PBAs use the same company for that component (Assurant). Nationwide's includes coverage for the whole family but as a childless couple equal coverage can be obtained with a Halifax Ultimate joint account.

The lack of onward travel puts me off, to be honest. But maybe it's not a dealbreaker for you, and if it isn't then £14 net is a good deal. 

Both include European travel cover with the AA. Corrected later in the thread, Halifax does not cover Europe.

There is apparently an enhancement you can purchase to top up the AA component to include Onward Travel among other things, but I've never successfully found out how much you pay and how you purchase it. ISTR being passed from Halifax to the AA and then all around the place before ending up speaking with a confused French person who put the phone down. All I've managed to get on it is the T&Cs: Halifax Ultimate Reward Current Account Enhanced ...theAA.comhttps://www.theaa.com › pdf › breakdown-cover