Online Member TalkBack
On 12 March 2008 Stuart Bernau (Retail Director) and Marlene Mason (Divisional Director Member Account Administration) hosted a member TalkBack with a phenomenal response from members. Over 820 people submitted questions on a variety of issues.
Stuart and Marlene say: Stuart and Marlene say: Thanks for joining our eleventh Online TalkBack. These events are a fantastic opportunity for us to hear your views. We'll try to answer your questions as best we can and get through as many as possible in the hour.
Alun Marc Henry: Have recent World events made competing in the financial world harder in the past few years? If so, how has Nationwide been able to cope with this and keep competitive?
Stuart replies: Life has certainly become more difficult for all banks and building societies, ourselves included. There are essentially two sources of funding open to lenders; loans from other banks, often referred to as wholesale funding, and customer deposits, referred to as retail funding. It has become increasingly difficult to raise money in the wholesale markets as banks have declared increasing losses due to problem assets they hold related to the US housing market. Although we're not immune from these difficulties, we're extremely well placed due to our long term commitment to raising the vast majority of our funds from retail savers. We'll continue to use retail funds as our main method of funding our mortgage lending and, although others will also be competing in this market, we are confident that our size, experience and market leading rates will continue to prove popular.
Peter Morton Campbell: Do you think Nationwide could ever provide a student based account to provide to the needs of lifelong customers, such as my self, who are looking for a trusted building society to help though university?
Marlene replies: Thanks for your question Peter, at this moment in time we've no plans to introduce a specific student account. By introducing a student account with features such as an interest free overdraft, we would be less able to maintain the other benefits that we offer to all of our members. The market for student accounts is already well served by the banks, many of whom have an established presence on campus.
David Barham: Nationwide's ongoing advertising, created by Leagas Delaney, prides itself on the strapline "Proud to be different" and leverages its marketing on how it does things better than banks. Campaigns starring comic actor Mark Benton as a hapless bank manager have illustrated such differences as free cash machine use abroad and new products being available to existing - as well as "brand new" - customers
As regards the Mark Benton campaign, isn't it the case that Nationwide are actually fostering an association with the negative image portrayed?
Mark Benton's character just makes me think; Nationwide.
Stuart replies: Our television advertising campaign featuring Mark Benton has received some of the most positive recall and recognition ever recorded for a financial institution. We believe it is a highly successful way to illustrate the difference between Nationwide and its plc competitors in a clear but humerous way. We believe it associates Mark Benton's character with our competitors rather than Nationwide.
Mamallan Masilamani: While leading lenders like Halifax provide 5 times the annual income, why Nationwide sticks to 4 times ? Natiowide can atleast consider the credit scoring of the applicant and the relationship with Natiowide and make exceptions to lend upto 5 times the annual income.
Marlene replies: We look at affordability and people's ability to pay their mortgage. We also take into account their existing regular commitments. We do this because we are a responsible lender and be as sure as possible that they can afford the repayments.
Simon King: Nationwide seem to be going through a restructuring process under Graham Beale - It has been noted in the press about the sale of Nationwide Life, the restructuring of mortgage business to Bournemouth, along with the outsourcing of various functions. What further plans does Graham and the board have for 2008?
Stuart replies: When Graham took over as Chief Executive he looked at the structure of the business, how each part was performing and whether the whole Group was adding sufficient value for our members. Taken together with the merger with Portman, this led to a number of decisions over what we should be doing, each of which was aimed primarily at offering you the best possible service as efficiently as possible. The Board will continue to review all operations on a regular basis to ensure that we are getting the very best deal and that we keep tight control of our costs. Please be assured, however, that we remain firmly committed to providing excellent products and service to our customers.
Vicky Larmour: Why has your overall customer service gone so far downhill in the last couple of years? I used to have exemplary service from every contact I had with you, but in the last couple of years I have felt increasingly like a customer of any other large organisation whose individual employees could not really care less about my needs as a customer. My parents and some friends who I have mentioned this to have also had the same experience.
Marlene replies: I am sorry to hear that you feel you have received a poor customer experience in the last couple of years. We take customer service very seriously at Nationwide and ask over 1,500 members every month, what they think about the service we provide. This feedback is reviewed and action plans developed to address the issues identified. Our benchmarking suggests to us that we are an upper quartile service provider within our sector and we have won a number of external awards which support this. We are however not complacent and I would be keen to hear why you feel this way and what you think we need to improve on going forward.
Seth Dickens: Does Nationwide plan to launch a Euro /Dollar / Pound international account like many of it's rivals in the banking sector? (Abbey, HSBC, etc)
I have been living abroad for 6 years now and would love to conduct my banking affairs with good old Nationwide!
Stuart replies: Nationwide are pleased to say that we already offer this service via Nationwide International.com. On there you will see that what we offer three different types of accounts. There is a Sterling account paying up to 6.10% aer, a US Dollar account which pays up to 3.10% and a Euro account which pays up to 4.35%. You will need a minumun of £5000, $5000 or 5000 Euros depending on the account.
Minos Tsaussis: Are there any plans for nationwide to offer a credit card where all transactions (and payments) appear in Euros, for those of us who go overseas a lot, so that we don't have to worry about what the exchange rate is every time the card is used? Some merchants (notably Ryanair) reserve an amount when the transaction is made, then increase it if next day's rates are worse for consumers and charge more than what was originally reserved!
Marlene replies: We have no plans to issue a credit card which is billed in euros. However, unlike most other credit card issuers, Nationwide do not charge commission on transactions made abroad. Other card issuers charge commission of around 2.75%, so you will benefit by around £1 for every £35 spent.
Nicole Hastie: Will you be bringing out any ethical investment products? We would like to invest our money in fairtrade products but stay with Nationwide.
Stuart replies: I'm glad you've asked that question because through our new strategic partner Legal & General we can now offer an ethical investment fund that can be opened with just £20. The Ethical Trust enables you to invest in a portfolio of companies in the FTSE 350 index that meet a range of ethical and environmental guidelines. For more information, please contact your local branch and ask to speak to one of our Senior Financial Consultants.
Robert Turner: Is there any chance of you offsetting interest from savings against mortgage interest?
Stuart replies: We currently try to offer a flexible Mortgage product, which allows customers even on fixed rates the ability to overpay up to £500 per month and where appropriate to seek payment holidays in case of need. We currently have no plans for an off setting account, but do not rule it out in our development plans.
M HARRIS: why do nationwide have premium telephone numbers on their letter heads when you have a free number which is not displayed. this is a diservice to you members.
Marlene replies: 0800 302010 is our Sales line and is free. 08457 302010 is a local rate number that applies to BT lines, other providers may charge different rates of which we have no control over. We can also be contacted via the internet. Nationwide has no intention to use premium rate numbers to raise revenue.
Mustafa Arif: If customers are the shareholders why don't you give us an explicit and transparent dividend? I'm not convinced about the "better rates" argument - any comparison service shows plenty of plcs (including former Building Societies) beating what Nationwide offers on all products.
Stuart replies: Unlike some other societies, we reward our members through better deals on our products and services. We believe this is more cost effective than administering a dividend scheme, and therefore more beneficial to members. Of course, other providers may have better rates than ours from time to time but it's important to look at the value we offer over the long-term. But don't take my word for it - for evidence of the long-terms good value we provide, have a look at the 'most competitive scheme over the last three years' tables in The Sunday Times.
Kenny Greig: When will be able to transfer money out of ISA's (or other pass book accounts) to other accounts using the online banking service?
Marlene replies: Thank you for your question. Our Internet Banking has proved so convenient for our customers with card accounts that we are currently working on allowing customers with some of our passbook accounts to carry out the same transactions online. We hope to have this service available by the end of this year.
ken chilton: Why dont you offer accounts for small businesses or self employment? Many loyal members have had to open business accounts at other banks and thus learn different interfaces or use different branches. Are you not missing a trick here?
Stuart replies: Nationwide is predominatly a provider of financial services to personal customers, we have no current plans to extend our franchise to business accounts. This would require levels of expertise that we do not currently possess in our retail network.
Caroline Reid: If an existing customer were to find a better mortgage deal elsewhere, would Nationwide match it?
Marlene replies: We'd match it if we had a deal that's openly available to anyone else in the same circumstances as yourself. But we're not in the business of doing under-the-counter deals. Our approach is all about fairness and transparency. For details of our current deals available to existing customers, visit this web page http://www.nationwide.co.uk/mortgage/existingcustomers/intro.htm. I hope you'll find a deal that's right for you and that you'll stay with us.
richard mahomed: Does Nationwide intend to expand into the USA as a high street building society?
Stuart replies: Our key objective is to remain the UK's pre-eminent mutual organisation and a provider of outstanding value retail products and services. While moving into US markets is an interesting idea, there is a lot we still want to do to for the benefit of new and existing customers here, and therefore I feel it's unlikely that we'll venture into foreign markets in the near future.
sarah halpin: what is nationwide doing to help the environment?
Marlene replies: I'm pleased to be able to tell you that we've made huge strides in the management of our impact on the environment. Overall, we have reduced our carbon footprint by 85% since 2005 largely due to the procurement of renewable electricity and improvements to our IT equipment; last year alone we cut our CO2 emissions by 45%. We aim to reduce our waste by lowering consumption of materials, and last year we became the first organisation in the financial service industry to recycle 100% of our waste paper.
Mark Leggate: Are there any plans to extend branch opening hours on Saturdays, like many of your competitors, to reflect your customers' working lives? My local branch (Brixton) has a queue out the front door on Saturday mornings, as it's the only time many people can go.
Stuart replies: We are constantly monitoring our services and Saturday at the branches is something currently being monitored. Many service transactions are also available via our ATM and FAST machines. We plan to improve the reliability and extend the availability of these machines over the coming year which should help ease the queues on a Saturday morning. You can, of course, access our services 24x7 on the telephone and Internet Bank.
Howard Bretman: Why can I not download a monthly statement exactly as you used to send me before I went to the paperless option. I have tried many times to do it and asked your technical people but no joy. Strangely the credit card statement works in this manner but not the flexaccount.
Stuart replies: You should be able to download your FlexAccount statement in the same way you download your Credit Card statement.
If you let me have your e-mail address I will ask someone to contact you to investigate further.
Anishwar Subedi: Is there any other way to make investment in share more easy??
Marlene replies: We offer a very simple, execution-only, sharedealing service. For more information, paste this link into your browser - http://www.nationwide.co.uk/investments/share_dealing/default.htm
Fizz Khan: As one of the remaining building societies in the UK - and the largest one by far. Are you fully committed to staying mutual for the foreseeable future - or will there come a time where you convert to a PLC?
And if the society was to convert to a PLC - would all of the account holders become shareholders in the new company - as happened with Bradford & Bingley?
Thanks
Stuart replies: I can assure you that Nationwide's Board is firmly of the opinion that it's in our members' best interests for us to remain a mutual building society. With no shareholders to satisfy, we can continue to put our members first by delivering long-term good value. In fact, since 1996, we've returned well over £5 billion to our members in the form of better deals on our products and services.
In the hypothetical situation of conversion, the allocation of conversion benefits would depend on the decisions taken at the time.
Chris Sutton: In these days of increasing concern by customers of all financial institutions, will you consider putting to the AGM a motion that the society will set up a member's Council to act as a forum for challenging the senior management about how the society is operated and the policy it follows in key areas. Such a forum is operated by the Britannia BS and I think that it is an excellent way of meeting the requirement to have good corporate governance.
Stuart replies: I agree it's important that we have a regular and structured dialogue with our members. That's why I, and other directors, meet members around the country at Member TalkBack events. These 'no holds barred' discussions allow members to challenge us on the way we run Nationwide. In fact, the purpose of this Online TalkBack is to extend the same opportunity to members who prefer to do business with us online. While we have no immediate plans to create a Members' Council, this is something we review regularly and we definitely haven't ruled out the idea.
Charles Allen: Why, if the Nationwide is "Proud to be different" does it have a policy of no refunds of charges? I asked for my charges to be refunded and the lady behind the counter said all other banks do the same, this is not different at all.
Stuart replies: We have always believed our current account fees and charges are fair and lower than the majority of our competitors. They are only charged to customers who have gone overdrawn without arrangement or exceeded an agreed limit. Where customers are charged for the first time or in cases of genuine financial hardship we will refund.
This whole issue is currently being examined in the Courts and no doubt a decision will be made in due course.
You might like to know that over 90% of our customers enjoy free banking and free use of their debit card abroad. We do everything we can to offer a fair and good excellent value current account to our customers.
Ron Short: How long do you think that Nationwide can sustain itself as a mutual Building Society ?
Stuart replies: The short answer is 'indefinitely'. With no shareholders to satisfy, we can continue to return value to our members in the form of better rates and services well into the future.
We continue to believe that its in our members' best interests for us to remain a modern, mutual building society. I hope you'd agree!
Melanie Thomas: There has been much reporting of the backlog in ISA application processing in 07/08 - what steps have been put in place to avoid this for the 08/09 ISA season?
Marlene replies: During summer 2007 there was huge demand for our ISA products. I am pleased to say that we are now back within our service standards by ensuring we have adequate resource in place to meet the demand. We have also introduced additional Helpdesk support to meet customer enquiries.
Tara Foster: Why can't both account holders get internet access to our joint account credit card? We were abroad for a couple of months and found this most unhelpful, as only one of us had internet banking codes set up. If you could look into fixing this it would be great.
Marlene replies: You can only open a Nationwide credit card in your sole name but we will allow additional cards on the account. The additional card holder will not have access to the account details when they sign on as it is not their account.
Alexander Wilson: Are there any plans to improve customer relations aspect of the Glasgow branches - they are currently almost non existent!
Stuart replies: At Nationwide we pride ourselves on the level of service we provide to our members.
I am sorry that the team in the Glasgow branches have fallen short of your expectations at this time.
We want to make it as easy as possible for customers to do business with us, in the way that suits them best.
We regulary appraise and review the service we offer across the entire branch network and we use this feedback to enhance the service to our members.
Your local Branch Manager will be pleased to address any specific concerns you have about any of the Glasgow branches.
Simon Peck: I have noticed that the best bonds are offered to adults accounts ! However i think it would be a good idea to encourage a bond for the childrens accounts as often children can have a large amount that would maybe be better in a bond with nationwide asking them to commit from a mininium of £500 or £1000 for a period of 1 year for say 6% intrest, 3 years for 7% or maybe even 5 a great 8% .
This would encourage more savers to invest ther savings for longer with nationwide .
Stuart replies: We are committed to offering competitive rates to all our customers. I'm delighted to let you know that children can open our bonds, we just ask that, for children under 8 years of age, the account is opened and held in trust for them by an adult. This is no different to the opening requirement on our range of children's accounts
nigel: Has any consideration been given to being able to transfer money overseas on line. I ask this because at present the only way is to send a form with all bank details signature etc via the post - from some countries thiis a little bit dodgy (unsecure)
Marlene replies: Thank you for this feedback. I am pleased to confirm that we are looking into improving this process for our customers to address the concern you have raised. I am unable to quote any time scales at present; we will, however, inform you via the Internet Banking facility as and when the change is implemented.
David Edge: Why are the savings products offered by Nationwide BS not as competitve as a lot of Banks. I have savings in both and can usually get better rates with Banks.
Also when voting for the Directors I am not offered a choice of people ( ie say 3 votes for say 5 directors) this means that the directors recommended by the chair always get voted in. Not very democratic!!!!
Stuart replies: We've answered your first question already during this TalkBack, so I'd like to move straight to your second question. When the number of candidates standing for election is equal to the number of vacancies on the Board, members can vote either For or Against each one. Obviously candidates need to get more For than Against votes to be elected. When there are more candidates standing than vacancies, voters simply vote For each candidate they wish to elect. Those candidates will most votes get elected. You can't get much more democratic than that!
Charlie Stannett: I'm not a fan of soccer. Why does the society spend so much of our money on supporting soccer? Is there a proven cost-benefit to our members?
Marlene replies: It's difficult to quantify the precise financial benefit to Nationwide (and therefore our members) of our football sponsorships. However, since we became involved in football in 1996, our assets have more than doubled. Although this is clearly not down to football sponsorship entirely, we believe that it has clearly played its part in our success. Our football sponsorship is all about raising awareness of our brand in the public's eye. For example, when they start to think about where to go for a mortgage or somewhere to invest their savings, we want Nationwide to be on their list of financial services providers to speak to. As a vehicle for promoting our brand and attracting new business, which ultimately benefits all members, our sponsorship packages represent excellent value for money.
Harji Sachania: Since Nationwide is owned by its members, why dont the members get more benefits like reduced priced tickets to football matches; reduced bank charges especially when overdrawn or when a cheque returned unpaid; or better returns on savings. The present rates are on par with high street and should be more beneficial to the members
Stuart replies: Since 1996 we have delivered over £5billion in benefits to our customers in higher savings rates, lower borrowing costs, lower fees and charges and free use of ATM's abroad. With regard to our football sponsorship, we make our allocation of stand tickets directly available to our members through our 'Sponsored by You' campaign - please visit http://www.sponsoredbyyou.co.uk for details.
Ken Round: As Nationwide is a building society and not a bank am I only protected up to the first £35K of my savings if we go belly up ?
Stuart replies: The maximum level of compensation under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme is currently £35,000 per person (per firm and type of claim). For more details of the scheme and its limits, visit its website at http://www.fscs.org.uk/consumer/key_facts/Limitations_of_the_scheme/
ken chilton: Have you any plans to improve security when logging into a nationwide online account eg personal card readers?
Marlene replies: Thank you for your question. We are in the process of rolling out these devices to all of our online customers who hold the Visa debit card. This roll-out should be complete by the end of June.
Peter Cumming: I am about to go travelling for a year and I would like to ask, how is it that Nationwide offer free cash withdrawls internationally yet all other banks seem to charge? Are Nationwide subsidising the withdrawls of it's members or are the other banks just cashing in?
Stuart replies: Not only do we offer free withdrawals, but we charge no currency loading fee on debit card withdrawals. We believe this is a fair customer service and not a money making scheme. However, I would greatly prefer people use our excellent current account as their principal account and not just when they go on holiday.
Ken Round: Why can't branches and branch managers be given the authority to give answers and financial decisions on the spot without always having to go through a senior branch or person ?
Stuart replies: In line with other financial institutions Nationwide has defined lending policies.
Our lending policies, coupled with our use of credit scoring and credit referencing, allow our employees to make quick lending decisions whilst the member is present.
In the event of a member's application falling outside our normal lending policies a referal can be made to an underwriter. By doing this we ensure that customers whose circumstances may be slightly unusual can have their application considered by one of our experts.
The vast majority of our members benefit from immediate decisions.
Steve Edwards: Can you tell me more about the changes being made to internet banking and the new device that will be attached to my computer please?
Stuart replies: Recent changes to the Internet Bank are being made to improve security and make it safer for our customers to transact online.
Following receipt of your new device you will be prompted to use it when carrying out certain online transactions.
When prompted by our Internet Bank you will need to:
- insert your FlexAccount debit card into the device
- enter your cards pin and key transaction details
- enter the information displayed on the devices screen into your pc
Our Internet Banking service will then verify the details are correct, and if all is okay allow the transaction to proceed as normal.
You will not need to physically connect the device to your pc.
Further instructions are available online in our security centre. Please feel free to give us your feedback once you have had a go.
Bob Randall: When your technical staff are doing a major upgrade to your online banking that prevents customers from accessing their accounts (Wkend 7-10 March) why do you not put a note on your home web page to advise the customers that access is restricted due to an upgrade.
By not doing this, you are not only wasting the customers time but your own staff's time....and causing a lot of frustation.
Thank you.
Marlene replies: Over the weekend of the 7-10th March we were upgrading our credit cards systems. We posted warnings on the credit card sections of the internet bank a couple of weeks beforehand and normally post a message on the homepage but we accept in this instance we didn't use the homepage during the event. We will in future and apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Bob Cunningham: I have over th epast few years had several problems with my accounts (Nationwide's fault). Each and evert time I try to resolve them, I go around in circles with your staff. How do I get someone to actually listen to me and help resolve my problems? The internet does not work! The phone in does not work! Then nobody answers your letters! Therefore it can take months, so please tell me why?
Stuart replies: Please accept my unreserved apologies for any inconvenience you have experienced attempting to contact us. Nationwide prides itself on its fair and considerate treatment of its members. We constantly strive to meet, and then exceed, our member's expectations with regard to both service and products. We are sincerely sorry if we have fallen short of this objective. We value all of our members very highly and are concerned to learn of any instances where a member feels let down, or disappointed in our levels of services.
Our Internet Services department will respond to secure messages sent via the Internet bank within 5 working days (currently they are responding to most messages in less than 24 hours). I acknowledge that there are times when our call centres are not able to respond as quickly as we would like, but we have now reduced our call abandonment rate to less than 5% and answer 80% of our calls in less than 25 seconds.
We are continually striving to improve our services and hope your experiences with Nationwide will improve.
Seth Dickens: Dear Stuart,
Thanks for your reply about http://www.nationwideinternational.com
Would opening an account with this branch of your business allow me to receive payments as well as save money in Euro etc? I would like to completely close my accounts in Italy (as there are high banking chargers) and stick with my Nationwide account.
Would this be possible with Nationwide International?
Thanks :-)
Stuart replies: Hello Seth,
If you have a Nationwide International account, you can use Telebanking to request transfers to pre-designated destinations in a range of currencies (conversions are at the prevailing rate of exchange), request internal transfers to your other accounts, request a cheque to the registered address of the first named account holder, use our Direct Deposit Service when set up, view all pre-designated bank/building society accounts and cheque payees. Thanks for your question,
Stuart.
adrian: Well I have never heard of a Member Talkback Event - so perhaps you should notify all memebers when they take place
Stuart replies: We have now held over 100 Member TalkBack events in towns and cities across the UK, where Directors answer questions face-to-face in front of up to 120 members. These are advertised in local branches and on our website. We also send out local postal invitations. The next face-to-face event is in Torquay on 23 April at 6.30pm for 7.00pm. We also hold these online events, this is the 11th event held to date. We believe this is an ideal way to hear direct from our members.
Helen Evans: We have an e-savings account with you.
Since we have no recent paperwork relating to this account, how would an executor know that the account exists and how much it holds?
Marlene replies: All our e-Savings accounts are linked to a FlexAccount, and all customers have a card. Once an executor has registered a death with us, our systems identify that there is a linked e-Savings account. We issue separate statements to the executor, which would provide the executor with the balance and any other relevant information.
David Love: In view of the current economic turmoil around credit availability and rising costs within the banking sector, what assurances can Nationwide give that members will continue to be offered competitive rates for mortgages and savings?
Stuart and Marlene reply: As a building society, we are not driven to achieve excessive profits to feed shareholder dividends. We can therefore take a prudent approach to lending, which has served us well in light of the recent turmoil in the financial markets. This means we are in good shape to continue to provide long-term good value to our members in the form of better rates and fewer fees and charges for day-to-day services.
derek bryant: Why is your call centre such a lousy service, why don't you employ more staff the telephone costs are not acceptable if you are a pensioner
DEREK
Marlene replies: Nationwide prides itself on its fair and considerate treatment of our members. As we mentioned earlier, we constantly strive to meet, and then exceed our member's expectations with regard to both our service and products. We are aware that at times the response times offered do meet our member's expectations. To address this we are in the process of moving our Swindon call centre to a new purpose built facility allowing for the recruitment of a further 200 staff in addition to more than 800 call centre advisors currently based at Swindon, Sheffield and Wakefield.
Nationwide is also investing in new technology that will help improve our response rates in line with your expectations.
David Frost: Would you consider introducing a Gold style FlexAccount?
Stuart replies: We believe our FlexAccount already is a gold star account and we have won many awards for its flexibility, value and features. But we are aware many Banks offer 'Premium' accounts often for a monthly charge which can exceed £10. These accounts offer a package of benefits, which may or may not be of value to customers.
Although we believe our FlexAccount offers excellent value we will consider our options and if we believe sufficient demand exists will develop a packaged account of our own.
kevin kavanagh: Hello,could you please tell me if you have any plans to introduce a current account charge, as there has brrn speculation in the press lately that banks are about to introduce a charge, many thanks k kavanagh
Marlene replies: The ongoing investigation into the current account market by the Office of Fair Trading has created a good deal of speculation about how the industry might react to any ruling. Until the ruling is known, it is very difficult to predict how (or if) each individual provider may have to alter any pricing or product structures. At this moment in time we are not looking to introduce a fee for operating your account.
Mrs Huxter: Whenever I visit my local branch, it is always busy, which I agree is good, however, why is it when there are 3 customer windows are there only ever 2 open to deal with a queue thats going out the door, there is always someone sat at the unopen one with the blind down, why does'nt that person help out to bring the queue down.
thanks
Stuart replies: I'm sorry that you have had to wait to be served when you visit your local branch.
I know how frustrating it can be if there is a queue but we do make every effort to keep waiting times to a minumum.
As we have very good rates on all our accounts we are becoming busier.
Occasionally it is necessary to temporarily withdraw a till from service but we do keep those occasions to a minimum. If a queue starts to build up we open as many tills as possible but at very busy times queues do still occur.
Ken Round: Ken Round for Stuart,
Seth seems to know about a Nationwide international account. I live 50 / 50 UK and Spain, Ive had problems but never been told there is an international account. How do I join ?
Stuart replies: Register @ http://www.nationwideinternational.com
Stuart and Marlene say: Thanks for all your questions. We would like to specifically thank Ken Round who has asked eleven separate questions. As we need to be fair to everyone, we have not been able to answer them all, but thank you for your support. Goodnight.