written by Yurivenge on 30/10/2018
Have been trying to open an online savings account for 6 weeks.Account open but not showing for online banking. Nationwide have still not resolved problem.Have contacted them many times calling at the branch,phone & online.This has now gone to their complaints dept to try & resolve.
written by Fedupoldfart on 13/11/2016
I joined this bank about two years ago. I have had no bad experiences, and a few good ones. I have transferred money to accounts both in the UK and abroad without hitch. I did have slight difficulties recently in setting up their app (I had previously used the card reader method, which is simple to use) but during a short visit to my local branch a most helpful member of staff sorted it all out in a few minutes. I also enquired about acquiring a credit card: because the branch was busy: I was able to make an appointment at a time concenient to me. Some banks (eg Metro) would not offer an appointment but would require you to wait in a queue, perhaps for up to two hours! All in all, pretty good: by to-day's declining standards out of this world!
written by Fedupoldfart on 13/11/2016
I joined this bank about two years ago. I have had no bad experiences, and a few good ones. I have transferred money to accounts both in the UK and abroad without hitch. I did have slight difficulties recently in setting up their app (I had previously used the card reader method, which is simple to use) but during a short visit to my local branch a most helpful member of staff sorted it all out in a few minutes. I also enquired about acquiring a credit card: because the branch was busy: I was able to make an appointment at a time concenient to me. Some banks (eg Metro) would not offer an appointment but would require you to wait in a queue, perhaps for up to two hours! All in all, pretty good: by to-day's declining standards out of this world!
written by on 22/03/2015
Having just registered the death of my husband I visited our local Nationwide branch where he held his account. Queued ages and while finally talking to the adviser she said she was surprised I did not seem too upset. There is loads of admin to do following a partner's death and holding everything together is the only way to make it doable. How would she have felt if I had openly wept in her open front lobby. There was no private room available, apparently. I do plenty of grieving in the privacy of my own home. I had been wondering whether to move my own accounts from Smile to Nationwide but having read the reviews of Nationwide internet banking it seems better to forgo a bit of interest and stay with the amazing, easy to use and incredibly fast Smile internet system. It is straightforward and has never let me down. Once probate is through I can't wait to move everything from the Nationwide to another bank.
written by LaurenAustin148 on 20/07/2014
Every time I need to use my E-savings the web banking has let me down every time! Their planned online maintinence times always run by far longer than stated, so Nationwide have quite literally 'Stiched me up' on several occasions. As its the only way to acess te E-savings account they should simply not offer services that they can't provide sufficiently. Extremely annoyed with Nationwide!
written by markmountain on 13/07/2014
There are so many different bits of paper with bits of data on, none of which are clearly marked and explained. For the once a year I use my ISA account, I inevitably forget the difference between; a pin number, passnumber, memorable data (with no hints given online, such as mothers maiden name), the customer number, the account number. It's so user unfriendly. So after failing on-line, you ring them up. You rightly give your name, DOB and address but because you can't remember the exact balance and the date you opened the account (sometime in 12 years ago!), you fail the security and have to spend a Saturday queuing in the branch. Nightmare! Nationwide sucks and is a small time member of the banking community, run by yocals from the countryside. Try someone better known.
written by AshlyHackett324 on 24/06/2014
I have a number of accounts with Nationwide and its always a pain trying to go though all the security procedures and codes that they use, . I was trying to make a payment from a CashBuilder account to an external bank and it automatically selects another card because the Cashbuilder cannot do external bank transfers! There is no error message about this or anything it just selects another account. The design of the interface is crep you cannot find things in a logical way. Only by selecting a card then the main menu again can you access the features for that card. The card reader is another additional hindrance if you do not use the account very often because you have to write in each accounts PIN.
written by on 14/02/2014
This app works fine on my iPhone but is extremely slow on my wife's iPad Air. They are both running ios7. Please fix.
written by on 06/11/2013
u cant sign up for online banking it just says "We're sorry, there has been a technical error. Please try again." no matter how many times i try it just gives me that error i wated a week tryed again nothing.... its hopeless
written by Carlydog on 04/10/2013
The app was very good b4 the new update on ipad ios7 NOW UCANT even use the app as main screen has increased in size and u can't shrink to see whole page I have removed several time and put back on again over last few weeks but same happens I use on line but app was quick and easy to use wi out havin to use ur card reader thing each time Pls when r u going 2 sort it I want it w Back
written by on 21/08/2013
I have online banking with other banks which are fine - but Nationwide online banking is a total nightmare. I haven't been able to access my Nationwide account online for months and am caught in an endless cycle of letters, phone calls, new passnumbers, locked cards, account re-registering etc... I really don't trust Nationwide anyway, particularly as they have a hole in their accounts. Will probably move all money elsewhere if I can ever get access to it...
written by on 06/08/2013
So complicated to login, if you get the login wrong you then have to wait a week or two for them to send you a letter to reopen it and my account has just been disabled for no reason now I'm gonna have to waste time and try sort this out one way or another. It's an absolute joke
written by on 06/08/2013
I have had four different online bank accounts. I have never found them difficult or taxing to operate. However I am totally unable to access my account. I have received multiple letters, and made several phone calls, had to ask for additional pieces of information and recurrently sent information, and yet i am still non the wiser. I have never encountered issues like this previously, and wouldn't consider myself internet illiterate. I think much of the difficulty comes from the multiple numbers you are provided with, which are all termed differently, so i end up with two accounts, two different options to log in, and different terminology for all of them, which are not clearly related when comparing the letters to the website. Terrible.
written by DBNemesis on 15/07/2013
I've been with Nationwide for over 10 years and have used internet backing since it became available. I've had a few minor problems over that time and they have ALWAYS been sorted quickly and efficiently. While the multiple 'phrase-codes' are annoying, the card reader method & mobile access (even on a rooted device) make it much easier now. About the only downside was that I couldn't move my mortgage online, despite it implying I could. This was easy to do over the phone, but I did have to wait for the paperwork to be posted to me.
written by ukpostbox on 02/06/2013
I have quite few different bank accounts and use various different online service (e.g. Gas Electricity Etc.) but none are so frustrating as the Nationwide service. Endless 'Pass codes' and phrases that mean nothing - and zero help when everything go wrong- Unable to transfer money, pay bills etc until another set of 'Passcodes' come through the post and then you have to go through it all again. Re-register , more banal phrases etc. Ive lost count of how many times Ive re-registered . No other bank has such a tortious service! Not recommended at all !.
written by on 21/05/2013
What a nightmare! I recently applied for a cash ISA to transfer into from my existing provider. You cannot have this type of product without opening a current account? OK, so this was not a problem! When the current account card arrived it had my name misspelled so i contacted helpline to be told they would have to send out a new card. This arrived a week later and so I then tried in vain to register online to access my account. This constantly failed with a technical error message. I then called the helpline again to be told I need to go into a branch to register - WHAT! I will probably now go elsewhere.
Written on: 31/05/2013
I've had a very similar problem. I signed up for the cashbuilder and ISA accounts together. I can't register the cashbuilder account online and had the same message as you. The information they sent though the post seemed incomplete to me. I wasn't sent any account details for the ISA. I was confused that I'd been told in one letter that I have successfully opened up an ISA account but at the same time they sent me forms through the post to fill out to open an ISA. I wasn't sure if I had an account or not. In the end I rang up and the guy on the phone said I did and was able to give me full account details over the phone. This seemed quite insecure to me. I'm reluctant to fill in the forms to apply for the ISA and transfer my existing funds because of how rubbish the information has been. Nationwide need to sort this out.
written by gonarcher on 06/05/2013
6th May 2013 02:55 BST Online banking unavailable. Yet again. I'm losing count of how many times this has happened and a banal and oft-repeated "We're sorry to have to tell you that our Website and Online Bank are unavailable. We are making every effort to restore service as quickly as possible." is not at all helpful. Neither is the suggestion of "Visiting a branch during opening hours", I haven't seen a single Nationwide branch in Asia where I happen to be on holiday. Okay, what about "Telephone banking"? From Asia? Get serious. Well there is always "Using a fast cash machine or ATM"? I don't want to draw cash, I want to know what is happening to my accounts, standing orders, direct debits, transfers etc.etc. Since the last century we have had multiple redundant components, resilient systems, active/active services, instant fail-over, multiple database instances and multi-site, distributed services, surely in the 21st century it would not be an unreasonable expectation to have a reliable and available service. Maybe therein lies the issue. Maybe this is not even a 20th century online banking service at all but is smoke and mirrors. A web interface to an archaic, unmanageable or non-scalable system. Possibly even to a 19th century guy with a quill pen whose nib has broken, so they are waiting for a passing goose or swan to lose a flight feather so that they can make a new one Who is responsible for this rubbish they call an online banking system?
written by torili on 05/05/2013
Unlike other reviewers, I've never had any trouble with my login details and pass number / password. I have accounts with nationwide as it offers good rates. I have online accounts with 3 other banks but Nationwide web access is the only 1 which is frequently unavailable due to maintenance of some sort, i have noticed it will always be over the weekend though. It's a shame how often the service is down as the website is pretty straight forward and easy to use.
written by Alan43 on 23/04/2013
The only on line banking service that I have known that spends more time unavailable and offline than actually working.. My recomendation keep 2500 in the 5% account and transfer everything else out..
written by on 19/04/2013
i registerd 2 years ago but never had any paper work through the post ie pass words data etc, spoke to them on the phone by verifacation process they said every thing should work but it did not, they had a block on my account for 2 years dont know , they did not give a reason, after loads of calls and going in to nationwide branches, people at nationwide branches can not help much its the internet banking people at swindon you need to talk to, and you may have to reregister to get started again speak to new registrations at swindon not branch offices staff, the person i spoke to was very good they knew what to do, and reset my registation for internet banking, just bear in mind if internet banking plays up get yourselfe reregisterd its the easiest way you will not beat the computer system lock outs, but saying that i am still waiting for my sign on info by post 3 to 5 days good luck
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As rated by our community of reviewers
Fedupoldfart's Response to markmountain's Review
Written on: 13/11/2016
The proliferation of passwords, PINs, memorable names etc has become ridiculous. We are advised (1) not to write down this information. (2) To use different names and numbers for different organisations. Given that one may need to set up this nonsense for a number of uses, the amount of data one needs to memorise becomes impossible. The computer nerds who devise all this garbage need to get out more: by doing so they may even find girlfriends for the first time in their miserable lives!