Nationwide BS increase debit card fees

[Mark]

They have announced an increase from 2 to 2.75% from mid October, that's an other reduction in available funds in addition to faltering rates.

At least using their gold credit card (which I currently use for larger purchases) attracts no fees so looks like I will be using that more.

Aaaaaaaaargh!

[Dominic]

What do you mean by debit card fees?

[Mark]

Fee for purchases and hole in the wall withdrawals, all my income is paid into Nationwide.

[trevnhil]

I will have to check later. But as far as I am aware I have never been charged any fees for using my Nationwide Visa Debit card online to buy things with it..

[RattyPatty]

If you are eligible for a UK bank account and are in the UK get yourself a Metro bank debit card. No charge for withdrawing money.

I use a Nationwide Select credit card for all my card payments in Cyprus. Again no fees.

[Mark]

As I am a permanent resident in Cyprus, I cannot open a new UK account. Trev I am not talking about online purchases, but local use of the card. My Cypriot account is used for paying healthcare, insurance only, with money transferred to my BOC account.

I tried to switch to Nationwide select, but am not permitted to do so

[trevnhil]

As I am a permanent resident in Cyprus, I cannot open a new UK account. Trev I am not talking about online purchases, but local use of the card. My Cypriot account is used for paying healthcare, insurance only, with money transferred to my BOC account.

I tried to switch to Nationwide select, but am not permitted to do so

Ah Mark... Firstly how are people to know you are a permanent resident here. there is no location on your profile and you didn't say until now in your posting.
Certainly I know about the fees for using a UK Nationwide Card here in Cyprus and any foreign country outside of the UK.. I don't use my UK card here because of that reason.

All you have to do is use your Cypriot account for purchases...

[Anarita John]

We still have our Santander Zero debit card. I do not think the Zero Current Account is available at the moment but the Zero Credit Card Account is. This allows us to make purchases in Cyprus commission free at the proper exchange rate, as long as we pay in Euros. When we opened a Nationwide Current Account last year, to get a high rate of interest for one year, we also opened a Nationwide credit card account, which is still commission free.
My advise for anyone still in the UK is to open as many zero commission credit card accounts as possible, at least two, for use in Cyprus in the future and look round for a bank that does zero or low withdrawal fees.

[trevnhil]

Or if you are a pensioner in Cyprus just have your pension paid into a Cyprus bank of your choice..

[WHL]

As I am a permanent resident in Cyprus, I cannot open a new UK account. Trev I am not talking about online purchases, but local use of the card. My Cypriot account is used for paying healthcare, insurance only, with money transferred to my BOC account.

I tried to switch to Nationwide select, but am not permitted to do so

Ah Mark... Firstly how are people to know you are a permanent resident here. there is no location on your profile and you didn't say until now in your posting.
Certainly I know about the fees for using a UK Nationwide Card here in Cyprus and any foreign country outside of the UK.. I don't use my UK card here because of that reason.

All you have to do is use your Cypriot account for purchases...

They know.

[trevnhil]

Re... " They Know".... I am on the forum every day and I didn't know... I feel sure there must be other's that don't know either.. So when you are complaining about things it would help if you mentioned where you were talking about to avoid confusion..

[Mark]

Sorry Trev, was not trying to cause confusion or cause an argument.

[WHL]

Re... " They Know".... I am on the forum every day and I didn't know... I feel sure there must be other's that don't know either.. So when you are complaining about things it would help if you mentioned where you were talking about to avoid confusion..

When I say they know, I meant companies get information, on every aspect of our lives,,, on what you look at on line, what you buy, where you shop, where you use your cards, what you buy with your cards....where you travel, etc etc they know where you live, . I was replying to your ''how do they know your a resident here''.

[Mark]

I should add that I wanted to keep and use my UK account, for fear of losing it if not used, and to avoid issues should I return, for whatever reason to the UK.
The previous 2% commission charged by nationwide I absorbed, but the increase will perhaps make me consider currency fair etc.

[Firefly]

Mark

Very sensible, we kept our UK account thank goodness, it was difficult enough returning to the UK after 9 years in Cyprus.

Re Trevor's post, I did see the subject and thought I had missed something, I have a Nationwide account, and a debit card, but I didn't know the op was just referring to Cyprus, thank goodness.

Jackie

[trevnhil]

I agree with Mark and Jackie, keep any UK accounts you have.. We stopped using the Nationwide card in Cyprus a few years ago when they introduced charges.. But we still use if for good and services that we buy in and from the UK..

[smudger]

I agree. Almost by default I kept my Nationwide UK account, albeit dormant for several years. I had reason to resurrect it when my granddaughter came to live with me and have been pleased that I did this on several occasions, and it's always useful on the 3 times I'm in the UK each year.

I would say to anyone anticipating a move to Cyprus to keep at least one UK bank account open, you never know when you may need it!