nationwide flex cash card no good for travel now!

Hey guys,

I have read a lot about how good the nationwide flex card is for travelling. Well nationwide have so called upgraded the card cash card plus. I don't know what the plus is because now it's not able to be used. You can upgrade the account to a debit account but it goes on how long you have had the account and credit scoring.

I only rang Nationwide this morning to double check which country's I could actually use it in, to be told none basically none.
GGGGRRR.

Back to the drawing board. What other accounts are out there thatare cheap to use worldwide?

So heads up guys double check your card before you head off on your travels!!

Cheers

Kaz

I am thinking of getting a pre paid credit card probably with Virgin so I can keep it seperate from my main UK bank account and also set up an account when I get to OZ.

Anyone recommend or any advice on their experience's using pre paid cards??

Yes, you can only use your Nationwide Flex account abroad if you have the debit card attached to it with the chip on - not the cash card. I think the reason for this is security, our Flex account debit cards are very hi tech now with loads of security features, so Nationwide probably don't want to take the risk with card fraud etc with the cash cards without the chip.

It may be worth telling Nationwide how much in savings you have - say you will deposit them all into the Nationwide account if they can give you a debit card to go with the account. This may be enough to persuade them.

i thought so! i just opened a nationwide flex account and im pretty sure i can use it anywhere in the world with a 1% fee! absolutely bricked it when i first saw this thread!

Yep - Flexaccount debit card is still free in most European countries and 'All' EU countries.
I never thought the other cards were ever free in the first place.
I used my Flx/Acc card in Spain last week and it wasn't charged for either cash withdrawals or purchases in restaurants.

[ Edit: Edited on 14-Jun-2010, at 11:40 by flyingbob ]

I have been doing a bit more research. Our mortgage is with Santander so we qualify for the Santander Zero account.

Benefits:
- Currently 6% Credit interest for 12-months (then 1% after that) on positive balances from £1 up to a maximum of £2,500.

- Fee-free withdrawals from ATM's worldwide and fee-free chip and pin transactions. A point of note here, is that some ATM's may charge you themselves, however, Santander will not charge you (I.e. if you spot a charge on your statement, blame the ATM provider)! And if you withdraw cash from a Spanish Santander ATM, you definitely won't be charged!

- And probably a big one (due to the previous ruling), there are no fees/bank charges for going into any unauthorised/Instant overdrafts. Instead, if a payment request is cleared/paid by Santander you'll just be charged 12.9% APR a (which is also the same rate as the Authorised Overdraft for this account).

It sounds perfect!

Panick about the Nationwide flex cash card now over

Kaz