if you pay for Flex plus you also get free worldwide travel insurance, uk breakdown cover, moile phone cover and extended cover on some purchases. Costs £10 a month but worth it for some people

£100 for a wife - good deal that.

Combine it with refer a Friend and get £100.

Combine it with refer a Friend and get £100.

already got three of these. heat for the post though. :-)

if you pay for Flex plus you also get free worldwide travel insurance, uk breakdown cover, moile phone cover and extended cover on some purchases. Costs £10 a month but worth it for some people

Dumb question. Does the interest get paid monthly?

If you can afford to leave £2500 in it at all times the interest earned is slightly more than the cost of the monthly fee. After the first year that no longer applies.

The difference with this and the Tesco one is that with the Tesco account, you can just stick in £3000 and you're done. With these you need to make sure there's money being paid in - not a huge issue and certainly better than the Coop one - when I was looking at switching it needed 4 active dd's!

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/nationwide-flexdirect-current-account-5-2553320

this is from quite a while

So after 12 months what's the interest rate?

If you are clever, the interest will cover the account fee.

If you have had one of these accounts before can you reapply??
ALso is the flexexclusive regular saver a new account,never saw this one before??

Can you transfer £1000 into and out of the account every month?

No 3% on £3000

Am I missing something...

It says interest is paid and compounded once a year.

Transfer it in or via Tesco stores

If you have the full £2500 you get £10 and a few pennies each month from the interest

​Just transferred it in either through online banking or in which ever bank you're transferring from

thanks, re regular saver, but can you also open a new flex direct account as well

yes you can reapply, this is what i did when the 5% on 2500 has expired. Actually i have switched to another bank and then back to NationWide if that make sense.

many 8% deal...

Not for everyone
https://www.gov.uk/apply-tax-free-interest-on-savings/how-much-tax-you-pay

I thought you lose the alliance if you earn something like 16k or above, which many will do to have 3k sitting around.

Nope, you're entitled to the full £1000 a year if you're a basic rate tax payer and £500 a year for higher rate tax payers.

Personal Allowance

You can use your Personal Allowance to earn interest tax-free if you haven’t used it up on your wages, pension or other income.

Starting rate for savings

You may also get up to £5,000 of interest tax-free. This is your starting rate for savings.

The more you earn from other income (for example your wages or pension), the less your starting rate for savings will be.

If your other income is £16,000 or more

You’re not eligible for the starting rate for savings if your other income is £16,000 or more.

If your other income is less than £16,000

Your starting rate for savings is a maximum of £5,000. Every £1 of other income above your Personal Allowance reduces your starting rate for savings by £1.



Example
You earn £14,000 of wages and get £200 interest on your savings.

Your Personal Allowance is £11,000. It’s used up by the first £11,000 of your wages.

The remaining £3,000 of your wages (£14,000 minus £11,000) reduces your starting rate for savings by £3,000.

Your remaining starting rate for savings is £2,000 (£5,000 minus £3,000). You don’t pay tax on your savings interest.

And as mentioned by Mr.No ...

Personal Savings Allowance

You may also get up to £1,000 of interest tax-free depending on which Income Tax band you’re in. This is your Personal Savings Allowance.


Income Tax band

Tax-free savings income


Basic rate £1,000
Higher rate £500
Additional rate £0

I sort of have 3, one in my name, one in the wifes and one joint

up to £2500, oh whoopee doo....

Also nationwide offers a limited access account with a interest rate of 2.25%. You can save up to £50000 in that account. Only issue with that account is that you have to open by adding your kids name as a saving account and you can only make one withdrawal per year. If you do withdraw money more than once, interest rate will drop to 0.05%.

​3 of these? thought you could only have 1? :smirk:

​reapply after 12 months?

As you say, costs £10 a month, its not free. I have this account and its great, worldwide travel insurance for family including kids up to 22 in full time education. Breakdown for my cars (Home start, roadside and onward travel all included, and european cover) , mobile phone cover for the family - already claimed twice. Plus get £6 interest a month, so costs me £48 a year

After 12 months it goes down to 1%
You need to ditch, or change the account type.Then re apply after another 12months

Don't forget the £100 bonus for being recommended by another nationwide customer.

I guess this repost must be within the rules of HUKD, but its not really equivalent to the Tesco post. The Tesco deal was worth the repost because of the commitment to extending the rate until 2019. Whereas, I assume Nationwide could drop this rate in a few weeks if they wanted. This is just a cheeky repost, so well done for the 500+ heat. OK, I'm just being gloomy because I didn't think of it first!

My wife has an account of her own, can she recommend me?

Yes. I got £100 for my wife and she got £100 as well

is it monthly? cant see anywhere that says that?

all the bases covered there :wink:

states one 5% account per customer

£100 for a wife - good deal that.

I've got these too.. Nationwide are currently the leader on the high street in my opinion.

We have this too but on our joint account, so it's still only £10pm but covers both of us.

I have this and get £6/month in interest on a £2,500 balance so effectively £4/month for all of the insurances!

In the past two months I have claimed on the travel insurance and roadside cover.

she can I have recommended my wife​

i already have the plus account was just sending £10 a month to it..

so if i put the 2500 in, i'll need to put £1000 in each more to get the good rate?

can you tx the 1k in and out next day?

This is a good account as long as you are happy to do everything automated or online. I have had one of these accounts over two years now mainly due to the 5% initially on the flex direct account and now on a regular saver.
The downside is your are not permitted to use in branch counter services, everything is done via the self service machines in the branches, so not much good if like me you want to pay a credit card bill ( for another bank ) and the machine fails to accept the paying in slip, I was advised to pay it by internet banking instead as they could not accept it at the counter .Oh obviously you cannot pay in or withdraw any coinage as machine accept notes only. Customer service contact is via e mail only and they can take up to five days to get back to you , telephone line is completely automated for everyday transactions such as transfers, balance enquires etc.
So basically if your willing to forego branch services and customer service this is a decent account. Myself I have a separate account elsewhere that is my main account and am using this account solely to gain the interest

Firstly, I'd like to point out that I have The Nationwide FlexPlus, FlexDirect and Flexclusive Regular Saver in addition to the Tesco Current Accounts. I'm not saying that this deal is cold by any means (even if it isn't a new offer) but I just want to play devils advocate a little.

The FlexDirect does offer a good rate but is a little more fiddly than the Tesco account on account that it requires £1000 to be paid in each month. Personally, I was happy to change my current account provider for this benefit (and the £100 cashback) but many would prefer to stick with their main account provider and may not want to set up standing orders to go back and forth for the extra interest, especially when it is only on £2500 and for only the first 12 months. Tesco has no pay-in or direct debit requirements and the 3% interest is paid on up to £6000 for a longer term.

While the Flexclusive Regular Saver is good for monthly savings, it isn't actually that impressive for lump sums when you bear in mind that a maximum of £500 can be deposited each month. In reality, if you have the £6000 sat around, it would be better placed in a couple of Tesco accounts at 3%.


Note that the interest rate is reduced to 3% on the FlexPlus. Again though, there are a lot of useful benefits to the FlexPlus so it is worth considering.

we know about this.

I can't comment on paying bills as mine are all direct debits (as I imagine most people's are?) but my local branches have had no problem with me depositing cash and cheques and changing my details over the counter, so I wouldn't say that customers "forego" branch services.

Interest is paid on a balance up to £2,500.

So not worth putting in more than this amount.

How does it work if u add £2,500 into the account then add £1000 each month as it states then will u still get 5% interest as it will take it over the allowance

You will get 5% on £2500. Every penny above that is ignored.

Pay £2500 in and then set up standing orders to move £1000 in and straight out every month.

Had it for a number of years. Use it for free ATM use abroad.

I thought nationwide stopped doing free atm withdrawals abroad?

Open a joint account and both of you will have the benefits for the same cost (about £4 a month - if you have £2500 in the account the interest is around £6/month)

Have 3% interest per month from Santander up to 20k, 4% up to 4000 Lloyds, 5% on 2500 Nationwide per month if you set up the standing orders correctly :wink:

santander is 1.5 now

How do you get three?

I have two out of 3 of these Nationwide accounts but u r only allowed to hold one of the 5% saver accs and pay in caps of £500 per mth at a time as I tried to open a second and they closed it stating this.

You need to read some of the letters and emails you get from your bank...

...Santander decreased the rate to 1.5% at the end of last year and Lloyds decreased the rate to 2% a few weeks ago. You're effectively losing out on money by not putting them in accounts paying >2%.

I guess I do, I setup the loop 8-10 months ago and haven't had the time to review since, although I am still satisfied my money is turning a profit.

Thanks for letting me know.

What account do you suggest paying more interest on balances above £2500?

decent insurances too, I have used mobile phone and breakdown cover and the family travel insurance saves us on the family camping trip to France every year! :smile:

I have just re read the terms and conditions and u can have more than £2,500 in the account, you will only get interest on the first £2,500

can these accounts be used by pensioners depositing the money in and out of 2 or 3 of the accounts (tarting) or would it end up in hassle or reduction in things like pension credit ???

i.e. are these things only of used to employed people with no benefits of any kind like tax credits or pension credits or family allowance ???

​The clue's kind of in the title....

How did you get £166 interest each month?

They didn't and didn't say they did.

How do you do the recommend bit guys? Does it ask you on the form if someone has recommended you?

Also does the person who recommends you have to have this specific account (flex direct current) or can they have any Nationwide account? Thanks for help :smiley:

This may sound like a stupid question... Can I set up a standing order from another bank account to pay £1000 into the Nationwide account, then set up a standing order to payout £1000 from the Nationwide account to the original account each month.

Will this satisfy the £1000 pay-in ToC's?

​Yes. Presumably from a different bank though. Not sure would work between nationwide accounts.

Yes, or you could do it manually with online banking.

So I created one of these accounts thinking I'll put £2500 of savings into there. Now the rest of my savings (£2500) are in my current account offering 3% interest. Is it better to get that flexexclusive regular saver that someone mentioned? And put my current account savings into that?

So would it be better to put money in to one of these and the tesco one, rather than put that in this year's isa? I've probably got about 5k to use

The referral is made by an existing customer via a form (requires the new members details to be entered including Name, DoB and email).

It's worth noting that the referral requires the Current Account Switch Service to be used and two Direct Debits must be transferred over from the old account to the new Nationwide account.

Be sure to do the maths on the Regular Saver.

Remember, the rate of 5% is an AER rate. I.e. over 1 year.

Given that you are only able to add a maximum of 500 pounds per month, the best you can do if you put in the full £500 per month is about £162.50. In order to get to this point, you'll have put £6000 into the account by the last month.

Hope this makes sense!

Yes it would be better. You would keep your 3% current account and drip feed from it to the 5% regular saver. Google "mse drip feed" for more.

Almost certainly, what ISA rate have you got?

​Tesco is easier. No direct debits or minimum pay ins. You can have 2 also so 3% on 6k and the rate guareteed til 2019 I think.

Is this just for new customers ...???

So if I have £2500 in my account and I'm adding £1000 every month, how much interest does that work out to be per month, £125?

so does this mean you get 5% interest on upto £2500 each month for 12months. so over a year i would get £1500 on £2500?

(new to credit/interest stuff)

No, the 5% is the annual interest rate, so the maximum interest over 12 months is £125.

Oh does it. That's a pain, don't have enough direct debits to open this then. If you don't do the referral, do you still need the dd's ?

One in my name, one in wife's name, one joint

Simples :-)

You only get interest on the first £2500, so no interest on anything above that. £125 a year max.

This is exactly what i do, but when it comes back from one of my flex directs to my santander, it then goes out to another flex direct, then back to santander, then out to third flex direct and back to santander. easy

it is when you refer a friend of friend has referred to you? how to get hold of that 100quid?

Thank you op heat from me :smiley:

I don't believe you do need the DDs to have the account. In order to get the interest you will need to pay in £1000 per month though. Worth having a quick skim of the terms to get comfortable. Hope that helps!

Both the referer and the referee get 100 pounds each (total on offer = £200)

Thanks for replying. So I can still put £500 in to it for 5 months and leave the value as £2500 for the year; therefore getting the £125 in interest. I guess the downpoint is keeping the money in there until the year is up.

I actually thought it was £1,000 you could earn in interest before you paid tax on it.

According to the link above if you dont earn above £11K you can actually earn £5000 interest from your savings

Looks like the £1000 part comes in because 20% of £5K is £1K is this correct.

i.e. hypothetically if interest rates were 5%

You earn £11,000 from your job
You have £100,000K in a bank earning 5% (£5K interest)
Does this mean you dont pay interest on your wages and you dont pay interest on you £5k Interest you earned from yoru savings.

PS I dot have £100K lol, jut hypothetical in case I win the Premium Bonds w ich acording to MSE are worse than savings anyway :wink:

Thank you - I'll have a look now

It depends which card you have. FlexOne and FlexPlus accounts do not incur charges for ATM withdrawals but FlexDirect do. More info here.

You could still switch without direct debits but you wouldn't get the £100 switching incentive. I use a combination of charity payments, Tesco internet saver and paypal funding to fulfil direct debit requirements for switches etc.

Dont you have to pay fees when you use Paypal ??

Hi Tara,

It's important to be clear between the Flex Direct Current Account and the Flexclusive Regular Saver.

For the Flexclusive Recular Saver, your calculation would be slightly off - you would not get £125 in the scenario you posed for the Regular Saver.

The key thing to understand is that with the Regular Saver the 5% rate is for one year only (starting at account opening) and you're limited by what you can put into the account each month.

So, in effect, you only get a full 5% return on your first £500 opening balance (as it's in the account for the full 12 months).

Let's do the maths to make it clear:

The £500 invested in Month 1 earns 5% interest for 12 months = £25.00
The £500 invested in Month 2 earns 5% interest for 11 months = £22.92
The £500 invested in Month 3 earns 5% interest for 10 months = £20.83
The £500 invested in Month 4 earns 5% interest for 9 months = £18.75
The £500 invested in Month 5 earns 5% interest for 8 months = £16.67

So by this point, you have the £2500 in your account that you mentioned but, if you add the interest calculated above, the total is £104.17 and not £125.

If you continue to invest £500 per month for the remainder of the 1 year term, the max interest you can accrue will be £162.50.

In conclusion, if you can afford to invest the £2500 upfront, you're best to open a Flex Direct Current Account as the interest applies to the account for a full year and you can put 2500 in immediately (ensure that you meet other account terms though as mentioned earlier in the thread). This means that the most you can earn on the Flex Direct Current Account in 1 year is indeed £125.

I hope that this helps to clear things up.

EDIT: Nationwide works on calendar months and so the splits in my example are not 100% accurate. In my example, the calculations are based on each month accounting for 1/12th of the year but, in reality, it wont work quite like this. Hopefully this makes sense.

No. Just add the bank account to your PayPal account and they will set up a direct debit instruction. You can then use the bank account for payments if you have no balance (instead of a linked card), withdrawals and to simply add money to your account on an ad-hoc basis.

​been like this for ages for existing customers :wink:

Thank you for going through that and yes it does make sense. The nationwide account is what i'm opening anyway with the £2500. I guess I was just thinking about what to do with the other half of my savings. And it seems like the best bet is to leave it in my current account with 3% interest and drio feed this into this regular saver once opened. Thanks again for taking your time to respond.

You're very welcome - glad to help.

Drip feeding with any additional funds is a good option if you are in a position to do so and have exhausted other higher rate return options.

Perhaps also worth looking at the Tesco offer which went hot yesterday.

Good luck!

Flex plus should be. It's why I originally opened the account.

annoying u need 2 direct debit sets up if your switching, plus to be eligible for the referral offer! :disappointed:

See #108

It's pretty much what I said. Unless you think I opened the account on the basis of being charged abroad for ATM use.

:/

Opened 3 accounts. 1 for Mrs, 1 for me & a joint.Re-read posts and realised i could have capitalised on the refer a friend too. face palm time now

are you sure you've got the name of the account correct? Im logged in on Nationwide right now and checked the accounts that can be open. The only 5% account I can find is;

Flexclusive Regular Saver

If you are a Nationwide main current account customer*, our Flexclusive Regular Saver offers our highest instant access savings rate. Could this be just the encouragement you need to start saving?

Flexclusive Regular Saver lets you increase your balance by up to £500 each month for 12 months, with the reassurance of unlimited instant access to your money and easy management online, via our Mobile Banking app, or in branch.

How on earth do I find the one you've put in this deal?

If you click on Get at the top of the page it takes you there or Click here

I would open a Nationwide FlexDirect Current Account soon. I wonder if anyone is interested in a refer a friend reward. Message me if you already have a qualified account and you are happy to refer me. Thanks.

Happy to help should you have not already received assistance.