Nationwide Flex Plus

[VinZ]

Has anybody else got an email saying the fee is going up to £18 p/m? I’m going to look into alternatives but I don’t think there’s any better deal out there in terms of travel insurance package, right?

[Candor]

Not sure how the exact details compare, but I use Virgin’s Club M Account which is £12.50/month, includes Travel Insurance Worldwide, Gadget/Mobile Insurance, Breakdown Cover

[JDB]

@VinZ – I don’t think there is a better overall package on the market but one regular poster said the extra £60/year was a deal breaker so clearly it depends on your personal needs. From our personal perspective the new higher annual price of £216 is justified by the AA (UK & Europe) cover alone. On top of that you get the travel cover that enables you to buyout some pre-existing conditions and add extensions and mobile phone cover.

Also, if you have the FlexPlus account + a savings account with at least £100 in it, you get an annual £100 member dividend/fairer share. If there are two of you and the other person has a free current account + the savings account they too can get the £100. So for us, with one medical condition buyout, a £30 extension (one of for unthinkingly going just over 31 days) a net annual cost of £86 for all the above seems a good deal.

[JDB]

The VM packaged account referenced above is a very good one and still includes Avios/miles cover which few others do, maybe because it’s underwritten/managed by someone other than Axa or Aviva who seem determined to dumb down travel policies. Whether the monthly price will remain the same after the Nationwide takeover of Virgin Money is questionable.

[TGLoyalty]

@JDB that was probably be me because I have full breakdown cover (for my company car) and travel insurance (underwritten by AXA) via work and HSBC premier

I was effectively using it for AA incase I broke down in another car and phone insurance.

I haven’t cancelled yet but I need to think if £200 a year just in case is worth it when I can cover my next iPhone via Apple for £9 pcm.

[FatherOfFour]

I also said we need to think about it now. We have always had AA via getting our cars serviced at the main dealer, but they are now ageing (aren’t we all) and we were considering using a local garage and using the Nationwide Flex to cover.
Another poster mentioned the price hasnt gone up for quite some time. As relatively new customers, we weren’t aware of that. Will give it some thought but will also look at the alternatives.

[OhOneTwoFour]

With the increased fee now in play, what’s the HfP view on this account?

[JDB]

OhOneTwoFour wrote:

With the increased fee now in play, what’s the HfP view on this account?

It’s problematic from a regulatory point of view for HfP to give a view on insurance products (which are at the core of the NW FlexPlus packaged bank account) and any assessment of the account depends on the individual customer/family needs. It also depends on whether you are eligible to receive the single or even joint member dividend.

The comments above, which post date the price increase, cover some of the pros and cons.

[Matt]

If, like us this year, you get the fairer share x2 but wouldn’t without paying for this account, then I think it’s a very good deal if you have use for most of the cover.

The fairer share is certainly not guaranteed though, and I’m not sure I’d say it’s a slam dunk for us after the price rise without that payment factored it. On balance we would probably keep it though.

[VinZ]

I’ve kept it for now, in spite of the fee increase. Will reassess next year 🙂

[Timerichmoneypoor]

For us the insurance has always been far cheaper than elsewhere with a small additional premium for a pre-existing condition. The trip length for wintersports is better than I can find elsewhere with or without paying for more days (which was always at a reasonable cost).
It might all change given the move to Aviva from January – need to get a proper quote from them for the pre-existing condition – fairly sure it will increase significantly compared to UK Insurance Ltd.

[points_worrier]

I’ve switched to flexdirect. This gets 5% interest and 1% cash back on debit card spending (which includes HMRC, topping up Revolut, so is easy to do, up to £5/month). My travel insurance is left to HSBC premier.
Instead of paying £18/montb, they are giving me £10/month. I have net lost AA (which I didn’t use), and mobile insurance, and fee-free foreign transactions.

[Sudz74]

Timerichmoneypoor wrote:

For us the insurance has always been far cheaper than elsewhere with a small additional premium for a pre-existing condition. The trip length for wintersports is better than I can find elsewhere with or without paying for more days (which was always at a reasonable cost).
It might all change given the move to Aviva from January – need to get a proper quote from them for the pre-existing condition – fairly sure it will increase significantly compared to UK Insurance Ltd.

January change to Aviva? I thought it was in the summer (with pre-existings). Though as an aside I had wondered how cover works if you want to book a trip now for say Autumn 2025 when I believe Aviva will have taken over all policies including those with pre-existing medical conditions.

[JDB]

@Sudz74 – anyone on the NW FlexPlus travel policy without any buyouts (not limited to pre-existing conditions, but also other things like age) moved to Aviva on 1 May. Those with buyouts are effectively on annual policies (rather than the account’s standard rolling policy) that will move to Aviva if they are renewed at the renewal date or automatically if no buyouts are required at that date.

Some people will still have the UKI insurance for a few more months and if you book now for travel after that policy finally moves to Aviva the cover will depend on the timing and the section of the policy you need to claim for.

[Timerichmoneypoor]

Sudz74 wrote:

Timerichmoneypoor wrote:

For us the insurance has always been far cheaper than elsewhere with a small additional premium for a pre-existing condition. The trip length for wintersports is better than I can find elsewhere with or without paying for more days (which was always at a reasonable cost).
It might all change given the move to Aviva from January – need to get a proper quote from them for the pre-existing condition – fairly sure it will increase significantly compared to UK Insurance Ltd.

January change to Aviva? I thought it was in the summer (with pre-existings). Though as an aside I had wondered how cover works if you want to book a trip now for say Autumn 2025 when I believe Aviva will have taken over all policies including those with pre-existing medical conditions.

For us it was when our upgrades expired – 12 months after we bought them in January 24.

[Toaster]

Do you need the Plus account to be eligible for the fairer share payment? I think you can change to one of the no fee Nationwide current accounts and still qualify.

[Timerichmoneypoor]

Toaster wrote:

Do you need the Plus account to be eligible for the fairer share payment? I think you can change to one of the no fee Nationwide current accounts and still qualify.

think it was any active current account plus either a savings account with at least £100 in it or a mortgage

[runnerbean]

Toaster wrote:

Do you need the Plus account to be eligible for the fairer share payment? I think you can change to one of the no fee Nationwide current accounts and still qualify.

I’ve got free current account and our mortgage is with them and I got the payment.

[Cranzle]

Can anyone help / unofficially advise please:

I administer this travel policy for a close family member, they age trip extension & pre declared prexisting conditions

Th policy expires mid trip in January
Aviva won’t talk to us until we receive a letter from them, approx 30 days before expiry (which is Christmas). They will be away at this point, so they can’t authorise me with Aviva easily beforehand.

So the cover at the time of booking is with UKI, and at the time of return should be Aviva.

I’m confused as to the best way forward. It seems getting a new policy cover elsewhere might be easier, which puts the return leg cover at risk.

[JDB]

@Cranzle – the renewal, even with the switch from UKI to Aviva is all done online. Aviva asks re pre-existing conditions via a series of questions/drop downs rather than free form text (this has barely changed). You then pay the extensions. For peace of mind, as the policies change mid trip, you could call UKI, but essentially the old policy rolls into the new one but because of the various extensions this doesn’t happen automatically. Your relative will have continuous cover. The renewal is probably simpler and cheaper than taking out a new policy, as long as the new Aviva terms are suitable for your relative.

[Cranzle]

JDB wrote:

@Cranzle – the renewal, even with the switch from UKI to Aviva is all done online. Aviva asks re pre-existing conditions via a series of questions/drop downs rather than free form text (this has barely changed). You then pay the extensions. For peace of mind, as the policies change mid trip, you could call UKI, but essentially the old policy rolls into the new one but because of the various extensions this doesn’t happen automatically. Your relative will have continuous cover. The renewal is probably simpler and cheaper than taking out a new policy, as long as the new Aviva terms are suitable for your relative.

Thanks.

Unfortunately the Aviva Portal isn’t allowing her to log in just yet.
“Aviva will write to you 30 days prior to the expiry of your upgrade with UKI – until this point you cannot yet register with Aviva”
So we will try and deal with this over Christmas & whilst she is away!