5 Weeks and counting till I have to drag myself away for a weekend of drinking on my friends hen wee...
5 Weeks and counting till I have to drag myself away for a weekend of drinking on my friends hen weekend to glasgow!!! Cannot wait x xx x x
Member since:18.03.2005
Reviews:22
Members who trust:13
Sorry but I could not think of a witty title, so I left it very simple!
I started banking with the Nationwide Building Society around 7 years ago, me and my now husband decided to open a joint account as we had been together a year by then and were ready to settle down. He already had a savings account with them so we decided it would be easier and then we could keep the savings account open as well.
We had to make an appointment as we had to take in documents to prove our identity and a utility bill. Off we went on the day of the appointment fully armed with documents and ready to open our first joint account together, oh if only life could be simple!
Flex Account being the main on although there are basic flex accounts of this if you are not completely 100% credit worthy. My husband had had a CCJ 4 years previous to this and it was paid in full, so we thought everything would be ok. NO, it was not. A credit search was performed and it came back with that dam CCj on it even though satisfied.
We were told that this can affect us for 6 years and because of this we could not have the full flex account, only the cash card account. It is just so embarrassing really because it is not as though you are in a small little office being told that you can not have a full bank account with them, no its in the branch in full view of everyone who is banking or working there. Well, we decided just to have that anyway as I had an account with the Halifax that had cheque book and switch card with anyway. The advisor had already said to us that they will watch how you bank and you can upgrade when the building society feels you are able to manage financially. We had to sign several forms and have our documentation photocopied, and were told everything would be sent out in 7-10 days. We paid a couple of cheques in ready so that when cash cards came through the cheques would have cleared, now that is something else annoying, cheque clearing, I will move on to that later in the review.
Anyway, 10 days later both pin numbers arrived through the post for both of us. A few days later the cash cards came through, how exciting I thought our first account together. On closer inspection I noticed that my card was in someone's else's name, I checked my husbands and yes his was in someone' else's name as well. Two completely different names though. I phoned the building society and explained their mistake to them. They could not understand what had happened but assured me my pin numbers were correct and the correct cards would be sent out, well they were but 4 weeks later!
Anyway I will not go on about all the little nigs and nags that I have had with Nationwide, otherwise I should be in the buyer beware section!
**ACCOUNT FEATURES**
Flex Account.
Gross p.a/AER Net p.a. £1000+ paid in each month* 3.00% 2.40% £500 - £999 paid in each month* 1.50% 1.20% Less than £500 paid in each month/ no deposit is made* 0.50% 0.40%
Annual current account fee Free Cash machine withdrawal Free Stopping cheque (lost or stolen) Free Stopping cheque (other reason) Free Additional copies of statements Free Banker's reference Free UK Electronic transfer (CHAPS) £20 each time Electronic transfer to overseas account (SWIFT) £20 each time Express cheque clearance £12 per cheque Use of cash machines overseas Free Use of debit card worldwide Free Cash machine withdrawal limits £300 per day Unauthorised overdraft charge £20 Charge for transaction unpaid - insufficient cleared funds £30 Charge for cheques guaranteed - insufficient cleared funds £21.50 per transaction
Any credit balance Gross p.a/AER Net p.a. Interest rate 5.00% 4.00%
*CHEQUE CLEARING*
If you have the full flex account your cheques will take 3 working days to clear in your account, if, however, you have the basic account, they take 7 days to clear. Now this annoys me my husband gets paid by cheque every week as he is self employed and it takes 7 working days to clear his salary. I don't understand why this is, because if the cheque is clearing in 3 days for a full account, why cant it clear in 3 days for a basic account. I know that LloydsTSB only take 3 days for their cheques to clear, and that is with a basic account.
Nationwide also offer their internet banking, which I must say is absolutely fantastic. I have never had a problem with it, It is so easy to use and there is up to date information on the site so you do know exactly what is in your account every second of the day. It is a very secure site so there is no danger there. Very simple to register and sign up, it takes a week to ten days for security numbers to come through the post, but after that everything is up and running.
They also offer all the usual banking services, i.e. credit card and switch cards, cheque books and over draughts. I am unable to comment on these as I have never used them so it would be unfair for me to rate them.
I have my home insurance through the nationwide as well. It was the most competitive around at the time and I must admit it covered everything I needed to have covered. I sat down with an advisor and it literally only took 10 mins to sort out and I have had no problems, although I have not claimed on my insurance, so again unfair for me to comment, unless that day comes where I have to claim.
The only thing that gets me with Nationwide is that if you have a charge on your account, they do not advise you separately in a letter. It is on the last page of your statement, now if like me you don't really want to sit there looking at how much money you haven't got in your account, you do not take too much notice of the statement. I have not had regular statements from them so I was utterly unaware of the charges that were being taken from my account. I wrote to the Nationwide and told them of my situation and they wrote back to say that they would refund those charges and make sure I receive regular statements. In my letter I also said would it not be better to send a separate letter to advise of a missed payment, and to advise of the charge. In their letter they said it was not their "policy" to send separate letters to everyone advising them of charges that are due out of the account. Well fair enough, I mean if I could face looking at my account on the internet I would see all the horrible charges due, but each time I look, I get completely deflated.
I have now made a conscious effort to look every day and make sure that I will not incur these charges!
They treat all their customers in a very friendly manner and they always call me by my name when I am banking in the branch. It makes you feel important and not just the next customer. I know that all banks get moaned at regarding their charges, but I wont go on about that, they are all the same. Nationwide just tend to cushion it a little bit by going out of their way to please you as a customer.
Thanks for reading xxxx
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Advantages: Cheapest way to have foreign cash and make purchases Disadvantages: Without a backup source of money or payment system, if it fails for whatever reason, then you could have a problem. But that applies to whatever method chosen. The foreign bank that owns the ATM could charge a handling fee, but that applies to all cards.
Advantages: Good rates and account options - online services are good Disadvantages: Customer service isn't great - the live to serve their shareholders
father_jack 12.11.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
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Jun 29th, 2005
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