Hi all

I was advised from many sources to take out one of these accounts to access sterling cheaply from Spain, but just realised I actually have no idea which cashpoints I can use to withdraw my cash without fees!  Can anyone who uses this account enlighten me so I don’t get ripped off for charges… thanks in advance,

Maya x

any machine showing a Cirrus or Link symbol (plus visa if it is a visa debit card) - most of them. if you are given the option of being billed in GBP or Euros always choose Euros (if billed in GBP the bank from which you are withdrawing adds a charge)..this usually means pressing “no” on the screen when asked but read to make sure. Most banks seem to offer the same exchange rate so you can use almost any of them. Being billed in Euros is the key which means Nationwide will not charge a fee saving about ?3 or ?4 per ?100 withdrawn.

Shaggy that is precisely and exactly what I needed to know, thank you SO much - I love this forum - and I am off to get some free money!  [If only…. but at least it’s nice not to pay any to the bank for a change!]

Maya x

UPDATE….
Nationwide are withdrawing their ‘fee free’ service for using the flex card in Spain/any other ‘Non Stirling Country’.
From 1st Nov charges for using your Debit card will be:
2% commission in store (unless charged in Stirling - but then I need to double check if the store will charge a commission as Shaggy says)
PLUS flat 1 GBP fee in addition to 2% for any ATM cash withdrawals. That makes a whopping 3GBP per 100 GBP withdrawn!

The only way around this seems to be to get a Nationwide Visa Credit card (for which there is no charge from NW side), but do make sure the shop you are paying in does not add commission (although I have been told this is illegal!)... and as long as you fill in the Direct Debit form to pay your CC off in full each time, then no charges at all!!!!

——————-

I would be pleased to hear from any other NW users in Spain and how they have worked out if the above is sound and correct or not.  It still baffles me all the hoops we have to jump thru!

Thanks for updating this Susan, yes v frustrating about Nationwide isnt it.

Is anyone aware of any alternative Uk current accounts we can use that give free or cheap Euro withdrawals?  As it costs so much to move balances around within Spanish bank accounts!

I hope mass ditching of accounts makes Nationwide reflect on how they are letting their expat clients down over this one….

Hi BDP et al….
Sadly we have trawled the UK banks for a suitable alternative, but even someone like Santander who are Spanish origin, will not give any concessions to their dual account holders!

The best I have come up with so far (asuming I cannot make the NW Visa Credit card work for us), is a monthly transfer (from UK bank to Sp bank) of a lump sum from my First Direct account who charge a one off fee of 9GBP per transfer. Unlike NW who quoted me a whopping 25GBP for a Swift transfer. I did read in their small print that they are even reviewing this part of their service, so who knows what they will come up with!

We thought we had found a good card in the FairFX pre loaded Visa Credit Card, but the small print did not warn us that even though we are literally using it like a Debit card (i.e you have to have money in the account to start with, we got charged 1/5%, which as you know makes it frustrating to say the least - as well as expensive!)

Will get back to you if we find out anything else.

Friends of friends who have a regular sum transfered over use MoneyCorps and the like. 
Does anyone have experience of this/know how it works?

Unfortunately they have got us by the short and xxxx!

SJ

Have you tried Metro Bank they dont charge to use their card abroad.

Thanks Pepsi, will look into it. 😊

We use Tor FX for monthly transfer - have accts with Moneycorp and Smart and they have beat them on spot rate for last few months. 

It’s just an account for withdrawing a few quid cash spending money I wanted to get easy Euros for, and Nationwide used to be perfect!  grr!  I will look into Metro Bank,

Meanwhile for transferring larger amounts like salary or pension you will get far far better rates at a broker than any bank, well worth checking out,

BDP x

susanspain - 19 October 2010 08:08 AM

UPDATE….
Nationwide are withdrawing their ‘fee free’ service for using the flex card in Spain/any other ‘Non Stirling Country’.
From 1st Nov charges for using your Debit card will be:
2% commission in store (unless charged in Stirling - but then I need to double check if the store will charge a commission as Shaggy says)
PLUS flat 1 GBP fee in addition to 2% for any ATM cash withdrawals. That makes a whopping 3GBP per 100 GBP withdrawn!

The only way around this seems to be to get a Nationwide Visa Credit card (for which there is no charge from NW side), but do make sure the shop you are paying in does not add commission (although I have been told this is illegal!)... and as long as you fill in the Direct Debit form to pay your CC off in full each time, then no charges at all!!!!

——————-

I would be pleased to hear from any other NW users in Spain and how they have worked out if the above is sound and correct or not.  It still baffles me all the hoops we have to jump thru!

Are you sure about that because most credit cards usually charge a cash forwarding fee if cash is taken out on them?
I got charged ?5 when using an HSBC card the other day.
Nationwide was free and charged at the correct rate (well, Nationwide’s rate anyway) at one of the Cajas.
The other trick the banks use is to apply their own exchange rate instead of Nationwide’s. The whole idea about the Nationwide one was that you would ask for your Euros and get it at Nationwide;s rate but the machine’s now give you the choice of GBP/Euros and even if you select Euros, it is it put through as a charge at that bank’s crap rate instead of Nationwide’s rate even though you don;t get any ?5 charge for the privilege.

Hi Qwerty.. I was not saying free commission on CASH.. as there will always be a penatly for taking out cash against a credit card.  I meant to say that there is no fee involved (if you can find a shop who will let you elect to pay in Stirling and not charge you anything their end).... The payment is only if you are buying Goods in a shop…. not cash.
Hope that helps 😊

I think Nationwide shot themselves in the foot by withdrawing this no commission service.
I’d hate to think how many accounts have been closed in the process.

Juaba ^ et al….

An influential friend of a friend is taking the matter up personally with the ‘powers that be’ at NW. He usually gets results as he is a retired professional who believes in ‘fairness’ for all and will not give up till he has at least exposed this issue.

It still beggars beliefe that NW/others spend 100,000’s of 1,000’s on football spnosorship, yet do not see the merit in keeping its customers happy! (I have told my father to move his money out of there as he is getting very little in the way of interest even though his savings is over 50K).

Shot themselves sounds about right…

susanspain - 25 November 2010 12:24 PM

Juaba ^ et al….

An influential friend of a friend is taking the matter up personally with the ‘powers that be’ at NW. He usually gets results as he is a retired professional who believes in ‘fairness’ for all and will not give up till he has at least exposed this issue.

It still beggars beliefe that NW/others spend 100,000’s of 1,000’s on football spnosorship, yet do not see the merit in keeping its customers happy! (I have told my father to move his money out of there as he is getting very little in the way of interest even though his savings is over 50K).

Shot themselves sounds about right…

I totally agree with your sentiments Susan.
Makes you wonder about the kind of numpties we have running banks and large corporations.

But I guess you can’t blame their attitude because they know that if they fail, the taxpayer will always pick up the tab, courtesy of HMG.