Nationwide flex/current account

grumbler

Just some clarification about overdraft.

1. Only Solo, Visa-electron and Cirrus cards protect you from being overdrawn - only when making purchases (not very small) and withdrawing cash. Nationwide cash card is Cirrus.

2. With all other debit cards it is your responsibility not to go over agreed overdraft limit.

3. If you chose not to have overdraft this will hardly help you to get debit card, but increases your chances to go over agreed limit (zero in this case) and to incur corresponding fees and charges. It is worth having some limit even if you don't use it. I have £1500 and never use it, but I am not afraid of being charged for going over limit by mistake. BTW, Nationwide have the lowest interest rate for agreed overdraft - just about 7.5% as far as I remember. This makes just about 20p/day for £1000. If you make a mistake and correct it quikly you don't lose almost anything.

4. If you have agreed overdraft limit and sometimes go into overdraft for short time (I think it is better to do this just before the statement date) this can help you to build some credit history.

Helen_from_yorkshire

My son had the same problem as you Scotty. Although he was still at college, he had a couple of p/t jobs and was earning around £600 a month. He had had a savings a/c with Nationwide for about 6 years and applied for a flex account hoping that he would be supplied with a debit card. He didnt get a debit card, just a cash card and, even after explaining to staff about the previous a/c he had held for 6 years, they would not issue him with one.

He therefore closed that account and opened one with Abbey where he got an electron card straightaway. Although u can't use it everywhere, its possible to use it at most places which is better than just a cash card.

If my son had kept jsut the Flex account open, he would have spent more money as, for example, when he went to buy petrol, say £15 worth, he had to get £20 out, £5 of which was wasted. Now with the electron card he buys the petrol and just gets the cash out when needed.

Nationwide please note that you are getting your customers to spend more money than they otherwise have to if they remain with your flex account.

Scotty123_2

The reason I worry about being able to go over the limit accidently is not because I personally would, but because incase someone got the card and decided to buy a very expensive item .

jimmyjim_uk

you've go nothing to worry about.

if you report your card lost/stolen and someone uses it, the bank will pick up the tab.

Scotty123_2

I'd use it mainly for internet purchases though..

Also what is the difference between switch and maestro?

mancitychick

Scotty123 wrote:

I'd use it mainly for internet purchases though..

Also what is the difference between switch and maestro?

They are now the same thing. Switch has become maestro.

Milarky

[I'll just tack this here]

I've said before that NW FlexAccount always took a day longer for bill payments [i.e. BACS payments] to arrive than other banks - which should only take two days - but that lately some payments [notably to Halifax] were actually going through a day quicker than was standard! Because of this historic slowness, I have suggested making use of an Egg savings account to 'bounce' payments [i.e. credit the Egg account by debit card and make an instant BACS payment from there] knowing this only ever takes two days

The good news [is it 'news'?] is that, having now checked the dates for all the bill payments that I have made from FlexAccount for the past 12 months, they are now just as quick as other banks [i.e. all BACS payments took 2 working days - or just one in the case of payments to Halifax]. So you can now be confident of making a payment on Wednesday - to arrive before the weekend - which you prevously could not be.

[On debit cards: I had a FlexAccount for eight years with just a cheque guarantee card and was never invited to apply for a debit card by them. When I did apply it was granted but, strangely, they refused to post it to me, even though collecting it from a branch was difficult because of my working hours. The somewhat reserved approach to providing facilities thus shown marks Nationwide out from the other banks, I would agree with other posters]

Turning_into_scrooge

:rolleyes: Banks totally confuse me. My so who is a student and has no income at all, or student loan was given a current account with the Halifax with a debit card. They also approved him for a £500 over draft which he refused a £1500 limit credit card which was also refused and a £5000 bank loan which was also thankfully refused :T . where is the sense in that? He has a savings account with them but considering the amount of debt that he could of got him self into if he hadn't had the sense to refuse all credit would not of covered it. At one point he nearly walked out of the Halifax as the woman dealing with all this was getting quite angry that she couldn't get him into debt. :eek: Do they get a bonus if they manage to sell loans etc. to customers? I know its probably a stupid question but the way she was going at it one would think so :eek: :eek: :eek: I must add here that all he actually wanted was a basic cash card account

grumbler

Scotty123 wrote:

The reason I worry about being able to go over the limit accidently is not because I personally would, but because incase someone got the card and decided to buy a very expensive item .

Having zero overdraft limit on Visa debit card does not protect you if this happens. The 'someone' can make an expensive purchase that gets you overdrawn over any agreed limit.

markftmuk

Just reading this thread got me thinking, i recently received a new debit card from natwest and details of the name change, along with a maestro card, replacing a solo one. As i didnt really read the booklet. i presumed solo and switch were becoming the same. I find it a bit odd they suddenly chnage my account and let me go overdrawn.