subject: Nationwide Bank Account Offers Commission Free Use Abroad [print this page] If you're going abroad this year and you plan to use your bank card to make purchases or withdraw cash from ATMs you are likely to end up paying commission on each transaction with hidden fees that can be avoided.
The alternative to using your bank while abroad is to take cash, but this is very risky so is not advised. However, there is an answer that will keep your funds safe and give you access to cash without being charged for the privilege.
The Nationwide bank account offers a number of benefits when using your card abroad, helping you to dodge the fees that other banks add on, with some providers charging as much as 2.75% for buying goods or services and withdrawing cash abroad.
According to Martin Lewis moneysavingexpert.com, the Nationwide FlexAccount Visa Debit card beats every card out there hands down when it comes to spending in Europe.
The Nationwide current account allows you to avoid paying a load fee in Europe, but does charge 1% worldwide. There are no fees for using ATMs (apart from the load fee mentioned above) and you can withdraw cash interest free (unless youre overdrawn).
The Moneysavingexpert website says: Nationwide wants you use this as your main current account, yet you can sneakily avoid this by setting up a free savings account at the same time as opening the Flexaccount,
[Nationwide's] e-savings plus* account can be opened with just 1. Then you can just preload the Flexaccount for spending before travelling abroad.
Many people think switching their current account is a complicated and time consuming process, but with the Nationwide Account Transfer Service it couldn't be easier.
It takes as little as 3 weeks to have all of your Direct Debits, standing orders and bill payments transferred to your new Nationwide account, plus you can benefit from a 3-month interest-free overdraft if you switch bank accounts.
