Nationwide changes

pedrod, it may well be true that Santander offer zero transaction fees, commissions, etc  but this is offset by the fact that they give a crap exchange rate. I have a Santander current account (legacy Abbey) and have used it occasionally to get money out of ATMs in Europe from time to time. Leaving aside the hefty charges - (as it is not a Zero card) - the Santander exchange rate is always around 5% worse than Nationwide.

I withdrew €140 at Banco Santander in Salamanca last Wednesday at exchange rate of €1.15 - £1 and no transaction charges. I have an A&L current account with a minimum credit of £1000 each month and use the debit card. If you do not credit a min of £1000 per month then I do not think the ATM withdrawals abroad are free.

My advice is to avoid Santander if at all possible!

I was with the Alliance and Leicester for many years, and then of course they changed to Santander.  Since moving to Spain, I have only kept a few hundred pounds in the Alliance and Leicester account.  When I was in the UK in August, I withdrew money and when I returned to Spain realised that I had withdrawn too much.  I no longer have an overdraft facility on the account as I don't want to pay the charges, so I decided to transfer the money from my e-saver account into my current account to cover a small direct debit that was due.  I didn't suceed in doing this online, so sent a secure message asking them to do this immediately.  Nothing happened (they sent a reply saying the message had been forwarded to the relevant department)! I was worried about the direct debit that was due, as the pension that is paid into this account wasn't due to be paid in before the date of my direct debit, so I sent another secure message asking for the IBAN so I could transfer money from Spain to cover the direct debit.  Nothing happened..... ! The next thing I know is that I am being charged because there were insufficient funds.  I sent another secure message protesting about this, as if they had replied to my messages there would have been sufficient funds.

I was back in London at the weekend so went into an Alliance & Leicester/Santander branch to try and sort this out and find out why the money hadn't been transferred from the e-saver account as requested. "We cannot find an e-saver account on the system, Madam".  "But when I go online I can see it."  "It's not here, Madam."  After a while they said maybe it had been closed as I hadn't used it for a long while!  So why would it show up on the screen?  "We can't find it".  "What about the money that had been in the account?"  "They probably sent out a cheque."  "I haven't received a cheque and, if they had closed it, why not reply to my secure message telling me this?"

I was in that place for over one hour, more or less being accused of making up stories because they couldn't see anything about an e-saver account on their system.  The guy that was dealing with me never smiled, never showed any hint of empathy, and his manager who was sitting beside him and listening in was equally unsympathetic and unhelpful.  If we still had a UK address I would close down this account and have the pension paid into a different bank account.  Don't use them unless you really have to!

Sue

 God that sound awful and sums up what I've seen on the various web forums!! Sounds like I'll have to stay with the NW!

Some news from the Sunday Times yesterday (November 7th) :  Norwich & Peterborough building society has announced it will scrap foreign exchange fees on its debit cards from January.  The paper says 'the move will fill the gulf left by Nationwide which pulled the plug on the free-free overseas spending perk on its current accounts on November 1'.  N & P is reported to be revamping its Gold current accounts into a Gold Classic (for those paying in more thann £500 per month) or Gold Light - but neither account will carry charges for overseas spending.  Consumer group Which? says that if nothing changes between now and January N & Ps current accounts will be the best option for anyone who makes regular trips abroad, providing they don't get caught by overdraft fees or a charge for making fewer than five transactions a month on the Gold Light account (eligible transactions include standing orders, card payments, & direct debits - so achieving five shouldn't be a problem).  So for everyone nervous of Santander's reputation, N & P may be the answer.

Continuation of the sorry saga (see my earlier post)!  On a visit to Newcastle, for my nephew's wedding, I went into an Alliance & Leicester/Santander branch, and it was a totally different story.  Staff were very helpful and friendly.  They found my e-savers account, told me that it was marked as gone away i.e. they had sent a letter to my previous address which had been returned, got me to complete a change of address form, then went into the account to close it and transferred the money into my current account.  Sorted! 

I found it bizarre that they had written to me at our previous address, bearing in mind that I had given them our Spanish address for the current account, and was receiving mail here!  So, even though customer service in the northeast was excellent, I don't think I would recommend them to others.

Sue

 Well just back from Spain where we had a lovely time! That was until I checked my NW statements! For the privilege of withdrawing my cash in Spain, and using my card in shops, car hire etc.. the NW have charged me over £30 in charges!!

The Nationwide: Proud to be exactly the f*@%!ing same as every grasping bent bank!

Tony.

Visited Gib the other day and withdrew £100 (sterling - not Gib £) with NW Flex card. The charge was £3. This is the last straw when you even get charged for withdrawing sterling.

Have been using the A&L debit card successfully in Santander ATMs. On 7th Nov got £1=€1.14 when the official Visa Rate for that day was €1.15.

On my return to Uk I will be moving from NW to Norwich & Peterborough - they seem to be offering a good deal with free ATM withdrawal worldwide.

 Yes I looked at that after carmol's post. They are not starting free withdrawals 'till Jan.

Hola all!

Two links mentioning the N & P 'deal' ... odd their site hasn't it on then.

Details of the zero charging for cash withdrawals abroad w.e.f Jan 2011 is on the N&P website under Current Account Changes

Well spotted Pedrod.

http://www.nandp.co.uk/current-account/changes-to-your-current-account/

 Looking at that page it also seems to suggest there will be a £5 monthly charge for use of the debit card.

http://www.nandp.co.uk/current-account/changes-to-your-current-account/

Even given a charge for the card use, it would still be a saving on the £30 charges incurred by me just for one trip!(the 5th trip of the year!) If I were to use my NW card everytime that's around £150 in charges alone! I'm toying with the idea of using HiFX to transfer not only my monthly mortgage payments, but also all of my spending money so I can use my Bancaja debit card whilst out there.

Tony. 

The £5 a month charge only applies if you make fewer than 5 transactions a month on the Gold Light account, or if you incur overdraft fees.

Seeing that our requests not to impose charges on Nationwide Debit Card withdrawals abroad was totally ignored and imposed, now comes the time to let the Board of Directors know what we think of the way they run "our" business as they say it is a building society run by and for the members. AGM voting packs arrived this morning for me and my wife. It's easy to do as you can vote either online or by post.

I've voted in a way that reflects my dissapointment with the decision and I hope many others let Nationwide know how we feel about being ignored. I realise that its a drop in the ocean but I stayed with Nationwide to wait for the chance to have my say. 

I, too, will be expressing my displeasure.

On the plus side, my Citibank euro account is doing everything that my Flex Account did, and for free.

Costachris: what a good idea. We´ve just done our votes on line and voted against all of the rotters!

Irene & Alan

Just done the same and voted against the Directors Renumeration report. as well - it won't make any difference but I feel better!

Write on the voting form why you are taking this action, so that they know our views.