Nationwide launches new FlexPlus packaged current account

Nationwide's new paid-for account comes with all the trimmings, including paying a decent rate of interest. But is it worth the monthly fee?

Nationwide has launched a new packaged current account called FlexPlus.

It will cost £10 a month to use and comes with a range of benefits you would expect from a paid-for account, plus a few you might not.

So let’s take a look at what you can get from FlexPlus and whether it’s worth going for.

Robust insurances

With the FlexPlus account you will get ID theft assistance, worldwide card emergency assistance, travel and mobile phone insurance as well as breakdown cover.

As far as insurance policies that come with your bank account go, these are pretty decent, offering a high level of cover and each independently rated five stars by Defaqto.

The travel insurance offers protection on worldwide trips and includes cover for winter sports, golf, business and weddings. You also get protection if your holiday is impacted by severe weather and the policy isn’t restricted by age, although there will be an extra £50 a year to pay if you’re over 74.

The worldwide mobile phone insurance covers family members living in the same house up to £1,000 per handset, including smartphones. Mobile phone accessories are also protected up to the value of £250, but you can only make a maximum of two claims in 12 months.

The breakdown policy covers you both in the UK and Europe and includes home assistance, home transfer and relay. The policy comes with personal cover which means you’re protected as the driver or a passenger in any vehicle. Plus it comes with vehicle cover which provides protection for whoever drives your car.

The extras

FlexPlus also offers an additional 12-months extended warranty on selected products. This enables you to add an extra year onto the original manufacturer’s warranty on products like washing machines, laptops and blu-ray players.

There is also the chance to get a planned fee-free overdraft with the FlexPlus account for three months. Thereafter you can get an arranged £100 fee-free buffer.

But the feature that really got my attention was the 3% credit interest on balances up to £2,500 that comes with the account.

With a dismal savings market where easy access rates aren’t much better than 2%, Nationwide’s offer is an attractive alternative. Santander and Lloyds have different thresholds to earn this top in-credit rate.

That said you can get the market-leading credit interest rate of 5% for free with Nationwide’s FlexDirect account.

With FlexDirect you can earn 5% on balances up to £2,500. However, this rate drops away after 12 months. Read more in: Nationwide current account pays market-leading 5% interest.

How it compares

So what else could you get for paying a tenner a month for your bank account?

I have taken a look at three other similarly priced accounts and compared the three main insurances plus the credit interest to find out.

As you can see Nationwide offers a high level of cover as standard instead of requiring customers to upgrade at an additional cost especially in terms of breakdown and travel cover.

Lloyds Silver is the only other account at this price range to offer credit interest, but you can only access the top rate of 3% on balances between £3,000 and £5,000. It's worth noting you can get this same credit interest rate on a free Lloyds current account. 

With the Halifax Ultimate Reward Account new customers can get a six month fee-free overdraft plus a £50 bonus for switching but those looking to upgrade won’t get such a warm welcome. You don’t get any credit interest with this account but if you chose the Halifax Reward Account – which is free - you could earn up to £60 a year.

The NatWest Select Silver Account doesn’t offer breakdown cover like other similarly priced deals instead there are some entertainment incentives thrown in. You can choose three DVDs a month with Lovefilm and download five digital tracks a month.

All of these accounts come with exclusive banking benefits. With FlexPlus you get access to all the Flexclusives in savings, mortgages, personal loans, credit cards and car insurance as well as the Simply Rewards scheme which has discounts on shopping.

For more read: Exclusive deals banks and building societies offer existing customers.

Right for you?

All of the accounts I have looked at have their perks, but the right choice for you will depend on how much you think you can get out of it.

Around one in five UK adults has a packaged account. Yet these deals have been criticised for being poor value for most people. That’s because some customers can end up paying for policies they don’t need, pay more than they have to or end up with policies they can't even use.

Last year the OFT announced new rules to stop packaged accounts being mis-sold and introduced measures to make the eligible benefits clearer to customers.

Remember you can get decent current accounts for free. But if you like the sound of the added benefits you should pick an account that is good value and matches your needs.

More on packaged accounts:

New rules make packaged accounts clearer

The best and worst packaged current accounts

Packaged accounts: is your current account worth paying for?