Nationwide no longer free from Nov

[Jool]

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/t ... -customers

[El Cid]

It was bound to happen. Most of the users that take advantage of the free withdrawals never use the bank for anything else.

There's no such thing as a free lunch!

Sid

[Devils Advocate]

Well then, they should have just penalised those people you reference Sid

[El Cid]

I believe there are other accounts which offer the same deal if you pay a regular sum into your account.

Personally it's not a problem as my pension is paid into my Spanish account free.

Sid

[Campo Steve]

Free use of ATM's overseas was always a selling point for Nationwide, they advertised themselves as the only bank doing it. All my family use Nationwide. Although free overseas ATM's influenced their choice, they use Nationwide for other banking as well.

Now the incentive isn't there, all other banks and Building Societies come back into play when selecting a new acoount.

Although it may have cost them to provide the free service, I believe they will now see a drop in people opening accounts. This, in turn, will see a drop in deposits, so less money for Nationwide to invest. Banks make a lot of money from investing/lending depositors money.

I admit to being biased. When we moved permanently to Spain I needed to keep a UK bank account as my pension is paid in pounds. Free ATM's was the deciding factor so I decided to stay loyal. My pay had been paid into Natiowide for years. Every month Nationwide has my work pension to invest until I decide to withdraw it. If I was in the position of moving now and selecting a bank I could well chose another so they would lose a monthly deposit into the account.

Overall, I can't see how this is a good business decision.

[Devils Advocate]

Exactly Steve, we put a large chunk into the E.saver which in turn fed the flexi when in Spain, killed 2 birds with one stone we thought..........first year we got a good a good return of interest, second year nada .......queried why interest had not been paid and the answer was "Ahhh you need the "new" E.saver plus dont'cha know"........... "Thanks for telling me".....the goal posts moved as I posted on here a while back in a stealthy move to con people.

Silly me moved to the "new" E.saver plus

Now the 2% charge is to be levied they can stuff it. I can hear what Sid says about the "free lunch" but they wanted a free lunch on my deposit by underhand tactics....so *beep* them now

[concorde]

I think it isn't just the 2% for a withdrawal but also an extra £1 charge.

There are a lot of angry customers out there believe me, and it was mentioned that the guy who introduced this 'bright' scheme has come from A&L where things haven't been too good there lately.

Also, pity this wasn't brought up at the A.G.M. which I believe was in April.

It will be interesting to see how many customers will take out all of their money on principle.

I've just checked out my local B.S., they actually give you a debit card with free withdrawals but ask for just £200 per month to be credited to your account. Ironically I've never looked at it before as the rates are usually rubbish, also you have to be a resident in the area it covers, but I may do that.

Why don't Nationwide follow this example, travel insurance is not that great a deal for a lot of people as they usually get it with another account/method etc

[alisonb]

We're with Nationwide, and I've had a good look at the website. The only place I can find reference to the change from Nov is in the media centre. If you look at info for the flex account, where they are trying to persuade new customers to open them, they are still advertising free EU cash withdrawals, which is a bit disingenuous since it's now a very limited offer. Problem is when you live in Spain, it's difficult to open a UK account with another provider. I know you can use Halifax in both UK and Spain, but I think I was told that Spanish banking with Halifax isn't free. At the minute we're with Cajamar. I'm miffed! Particularly since we've been with them a long time, and still use them for receipt of pensions

[concorde]

Lots of action around about this and some very angry customers.

There is even a page on Facebook.

[murbisa]

Am I right in assuming this does not apply to their credit card?

[concorde]

taken from martins money tips

.Nationwide is pushing up overseas spending charges for millions of Flexaccount customers.

The changes, which come into force on 1 November 2010, could add £100s in fees for the million-plus customers who use Nationwide’s Flexaccount for overseas spending.

New overseas spending charges

Foreign currency loading is a hidden fee that Nationwide has always avoided. However, from November, even it’s decided to add a stealth charge for the million-plus holidaymakers who use it overseas.

It will introduce a new 2% load for European currency and double its load for worldwide currency from 1% to 2%. This means £100 of foreign spending actually costs you £102.

Currently, using ATMs in Europe costs nowt, from November it will cost £1 per cash withdrawal (plus the above loading fee).

Nationwide credit card will stay the same

Nationwide's specialist travel credit cards are not changing. They will still be load-free for European travel, with a 1% load for worldwide currency.

On top of this, you'll be charged around 2% per month interest on cash withdrawals even if you repay the card in full, and a 2.5% fee each time you use an ATM (see how this compares in the Cheap Travel Money guide.

[Campo Steve]

If I remember correctly, the interest on ATM cash withdrawals using the credit card start from the day of withdrawal, not at some time after the statement is sent out.

[murbisa]

Thanks Concorde. That explains it fully. My sister was panicking about using her credit card here, but not for withdrawing cash. Seems she is OK.

[markwilding]

I'm not affected by this....
....but I remember a recent ad on the tele where the Nationwide ridiculed other banks, building societies for the way they give higher interest rates on new accounts only and the other things mentioned on the thread such as free ATM withdrawels.

[concorde]

Also since you can only withdraw a certain amount daily this charge can add up.

I realise not everyone has this account and so it doesn't matter to some people but I wonder if Nationwide really realise the numbers it does affect, especially those living abroad.

We get no interest at all on the Flexaccount, but Nationwide certainly do, sometimes I think banks forget whose money it actually is and they are doing us a big favour holding it

On a money forum I visit, lots of posters have written/e-mailed the Nationwide to complain bitterly and threatened to withdraw their funds, which could actually be a lot of money.

It will be interesting to see if this makes any difference, it should.

[wendyakemp]

Hi Concorde
I mentioned this on a previous thread about a month ago and some people accused me of lying.......I hope the offendors read this ,
I had a little insert in my statement "changes to terms and conditions".
So glad you have confirmed the truth.

[Julie]

I also use Nationwide flexi account and I have written stating my dissapointment

[concorde]

I'm like a dog with a bone tonight about this.

Have to wonder at some of the replies/ideas on this article though.

Someone said get 100 volunteers/members to stand outside each branch with placards etc and tell anyone that passes that they've heard a rumour about the Nationwide being in trouble. It'll be just like the Northern Rock fiasco, hopefully everyone will start to panic and try to withdraw their money.

Withdraw all funds in your account except for 5p, add a small amount every so often and then withdraw again, think of all that paperwork etc.

Don't withdraw everything, keep enough in to be able to vote next year and get the board out.

Get enough members together to have a Special General meeting.

Actually some of these ideas are well worth thinking about, I think some of the people who have written them would be better running the show

[Wicksey]

I was half wondering if they set the date for the change as 1 November in order to guage the reaction. If everyone started to withdraw their funds and kick up a stink about it, maybe they'll do a U turn. If they want to weed out those just using the account for foreign transactions then they could at least have given long standing customers, or those with savings, some sort of exemption but I expect that in practice it would be impossible to administer.

[Campo Steve]

I wondered that Wicksey. It would be one way of not upsetting customers that have saving with them and have regular deposits.