Help With Nationwide Flex Account

We eventually opened a Nationwide Flex account, but unfortunately - or may be fortunately not in time to transfer our money into before we went on holiday. They lost our paperwork and we had to re-sign electronically at the Nationwide., They assured us our cards would arrive before the holiday which they did 2 days before but without pin numbers they were useless.
So the day before we flew out to Spain we had to transfer our money through the Halifax as usual. We did however put a few pounds in the Nationwide and got the pin number text to us while we were away so we could try it out.

We did not get as good a rate as we got at the Halifax so guess we did something wrong - any one any idea what we may have done wrong and what we should have done. We used the right ATM and was not charged for the transaction.

Thanks - any help would be appreciated for next time. 

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Did you take the option offered by the bank of taking Euros or the Sterling equivalnet? Some ATM's don't make it easy to make the right choice and you end up with a poorer rate.

Mark

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Hi Peter & Anne

Mark's right. We use our Nationwide Flex account debit cards at Cam or Caja Murcia banks as their ATMs have the necessary VISA sign & don't ask what you want to do.

We've just returned & I've printed the rates so I can tell you.

  4/9/08    1.225
  9/9/08    1.240
11/9/08   1.248
12/9/08   1.256
16/9/08   1.259
19/9/08   1.263
23/9/08   1.255
24/9/08   1.259

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Hi Marksfish and Morerosado 

Thanks for you replies.

We used the same machine at the same bank and did it both ways it offered to test it but got the same poor rate!! On 9/9/08 we got 1.189.

We will use a different bank next time the Cam or Caja Murcia as you suggest, if theres no need to select an option its got to be easier and foolproof.

Many thanks again.

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Hi Peter & Anne

You said on 28th  " We used the right ATM and was not charged for the transaction."

Which bank DID you use & are you sure it had the VISA logo on it ?

Sounds very odd. We never have trouble.

As I said we got 1.240 on 9/9 but you got only 1.189 on that day, a big difference.

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Hi

We too used our Flex Account whilst in Vera Playa area the first week in September at Cam and Unicaja machines.  We received on average a rate of 1.23 each day we used the machine during that week.

Kaz

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Hi Morerosado

we are not sure of the name of the bank but it is definitely a Visa ATM. it is opposite the Nissan garage on the main road in Los Montesinos near "bar Pepi". Our receipt has "Telebanco" on the top - we use the same ATM to withdraw from our Banco Halifax account.

We need to get it right for next time as we wanted to do what you suggested - draw our cash out and pay into Banco Halifax to cover bills etc.

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If you have a Halifax Hispania account you should use an ATM with Servired - they do not charge commission but the others do as Halifax are a member of the Servired network.

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Quite right there, Smiley, we do use a Servired ATM for our Halifax Hispania account. No charges. 

To find a Servired ATM look HERE 

Anyway More's off to bed now. Just LOOK at the time, been writing & didn't realise the time.

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I don't want to ask the obvious, but did you calculate the rate right? I know when I first used my card abroad I got my figures around the wrong way, you can see my shocked post in the long Nationwide post (can't remember where). Once you get your statement it will show what the exact rate was they applied to your transaction.

Mark

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You can check your Nationwide Flex a/c rate you received online too, don't forget. No waiting around for the statement.


This message was last edited by morerosado on 10/1/2008.

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Being the suspicious person that I am I'm always checking my on-line accounts!!

I've got a Nationwide account and always seem to get a great rate through the  ATM machines, when I'm over in Spain.  As More says, a quick check of the on-line account will tell you the rate given. 

I don't have a computer when I'm in Spain, but there's a handy internet cafe just around the corner to my house!

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Thanks for all your replies.

Yes we have checked the rate on line and checked and double checked the calculation, with our Nationwide Flex account.

In all the years we have been using the Halifax Banco in Spain we have never had a problem - we have known the rate on the day we transferred from England, and know which ATMs to use in Spain, so we don't get charged for the transaction.

Our problem was with our new Nationwide - but we will use the Cam and Caja Murcia banks as suggested next time, are there really no options where we can go wrong?

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We've just returned from Costa del Sol and can report that we were given rates of over 1.20 on the several occasions we used our Nationwide card. 

However, the first time we used the card back in June we had a problem and this was also with a 'Telebanco' ATM.  We were offered an unfavourable rate in euros so chose to cancel the transaction or so we thought.  When we checked our account on line we were shocked to see the transaction charged to our account.  On speaking to the Nationwide we have been advised that the wording on the ATM machines can be confusing and that we will not have cancelled the transaction but declined the local currency rate and that we must have omitted to pick up the cash!  As it was the first time of using the card, we were very careful and there were two of us.  Also we never leave a machine without putting our cards away and this gives ample time for the cash to be dispensed.  Even though we were not expecting any cash to come out we are 100% sure there was none. We couldn't bring ourselves to use this machine on our latest visit but it was out of order anyway!

Nationwide have since notified us that the ATM in question balanced on that particular day so we can only now make a further complaint by letter.  Before we do this, I just wondered if  anyone else has had a similar problem?

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Hi Crackers

sorry to hear of your problems with Telebanco.

We have used this particular ATM loads of times to withdraw money on our Halifax card, as its the nearest to our apartment with no problems.

We are now thinking we must have totally mis understood the options, but we think we tried both options on our 2 withdrawals, luckily only for small amount of money. Like you we always wait and make sure we have our card, receipt and money before we leave.

We shall not be using this machine ever again, as we are hoping to do as Morerosado suggested and withdraw the cash out from the Nationwide account and pay into the Halifax as all our direct debits are paid from there for the apartment, so we need the best rate possible.

Hope you get something sorted and you didn't lose too much cash.

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My Wife was in Spain last week with her friends and using a the ATM at Caja Mar. The rates she got were:

4th Oct    1.283
6th Oct    1.283
7th Oct    1.288
8th Oct    1.283

The rate we got on the hire car with the Nationwide credit card was 1.282955.

Mark

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After previously praising the x-rate that I got on my Nationwide card, when withdrawing money from an ATM machine in Spain, I am a bit horrified at the amount that is charged if I do a SWIFT payment from N to Solbank!!

The charge to send money from here is £20.  I have been sending money between the two banks, now and then, over the course of 4 years.  However, a month or two after sending money I now get letters from Nationwide to say that an extra charge has been put against my N account, from the receiving bank.  The last time that I sent money an £8 charge was levied.  This extra charge does not seem to have any relevance to the amount sent.  When I queried it with Solbank they said that they did not charge for receiving any money - but thought that the money levy was made by the system that N uses.  I wrote to the N head office, but they say that it is made at the Solbank end.  

Can anyone shed any light on this - or had the same experiences?

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Banks should not be charging to receive funds under €50,000 so not sure where the £8 is coming from. Does it not say on your statement? I believe some banks (Barclays and Citibank I know have) have introduced SEPA payments which allow free transfers, although the exchange rate given is less to compensate. I use Xe.com which charges between £8- £18 per transfer with a slightly better rate.

As you have already written to Nationwide, I would send another asking for their alternative disputes resolution details as they are failing to adequately explain the charge, failing that, the next step is the ombudsman service. That said, Noreen works for LloydsTSB and may be able to explain where this charge may originate from?

Mark

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I don't know for sure but this could be an agents charge. All major banks (nationwide isn't a Bank) have agent banks in other countries through which foreign payments are routed. If your bank doesn't have a direct relationship (an account basically) with the receiving bank then it uses an intemediary  bank to process the payment & that is where the charge comes from.

So for example if Nationwide has no account with Solbank, it would route it's payments through Barclays or BBVA or whoever & they make the charge. If you haven't paid the £8 previously, it could be that Nationwide has changed it's representative. This could also be compounded by the fact that Nationwide is not a bank & therefore may be using more than one agent in the process.

I transfer funds between LTSB & Caja Murcia & I don't pay agents charges but on the foreign transfer form you are asked to indicate whether you want to pay agents charges or whether you want the recipient to pay or whether the charge should be split.

It's an awful long time since I have worked in a branch but I think that is a fair summary of the situation.

Regards

Noreen


This message was last edited by nfm2862 on 10/12/2008.

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Hi Mark

I'll quickly type out a copy of a letter that I have received from the Payment Services (Swindon) at the Nationwide

"Further to your SWIFT/CHAPs transfer request that was debited from your account on .......  We wish to advise that the additional charges of .... have now been applied back to Nationwide from the receiving banks for this transfer.  These charges will be debited from your account in 5 working days.  This is in line with the Conditions of Transfer declaration (points 4 and 5) that was signed by you when the request was made.

You also need to know tht you may be subjected to further charges from the receiving bank or their agent, this is unlikely, however this is something we can't guarantee.  If this is the case then please let me assure you that you will receive notification from us prior to the charge being taken.

If you do have any dispute or query over any charges passed on from the foreign banks involved with your transfer, please may we ask that you contact the beneficiary bank or the receiving bank account holder in order to clarify the charge as unfortunately all we have been advised is tht this is a charge for the agent/beneficiary bank processing your payment.!

Yours sincerely

Hi Noreen
Looking at the form that I signed there is no provision for the commission to be split - but paying out the equivalent of £28 every time now that I do a transfer seems a lot 


 I think that I need to find the cheapest way to send money - and still trying to get a good exchange rate!  Yes, I want to have my cake and eat it as well!!

.....


This message was last edited by abbbb1 on 10/12/2008.

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