Natwest Step Account

[Pandy]

I have the Step account as well, but living near the city centre it is not really a problem for me.
There are other ways of getting cash than going to the Natwest bank ATM's, you can still use the RBS ATM's in supermarkets and the ones at Tesco/ Morrisons and when using a debit card to pay at any supermarket you can still get cash back. Hope this helps anyone wondering how to get to a NatWest ATM.

[Pauld172]

hi all - i have a step acount and that has just changed to a basic account! i cant fault the account as it's simple, no overdraft, no credit card etc and i can do online banking which makes things a bit easier! i agree that only being able to use natwest or rbs atm's is a pain but i can get cash back at morrisons or asda which there a quite a few of around me!

[wannabedj]

Thanks all. Was worried its just me. I can get cash back thats no problem but all the shops round by me are, errrr dodgy. So its best not to use the cards and the cash points aren't much better. Joys of living in the ghetto

[katikat]

Hi all, we had a step account too, but when we got the letter saying it was changing, we were allowed to upgrade to their select account which you can have for free or for £8 a month (select silver) with travel insurance and other stuff. We said that paying £8 a month for stuff we didn't need would mean that we were paying £8.00 to use other banks cash machines! Anyway, we were upgraded straight away. I told the advisor that we were in IVA's and that we didn't want to be credit checked, and they said as there wasn't any credit facility there wouldn't be a check. It took 5 minutes and our account was changed and we kept the same account and sort number. It was hassle free, and we can use our new debit cards where ever we like. I would recommend calling them to change over.

[Shining]

I migh enquire about this, my daughter wants to change bank already she's fed up walking there x

[Broke of London]

I heard about this on the news...apparently it saves the bank a minuscule amount of money each year. If it becomes inconvenient, Lloyds have been good and they have cash machines all over the show.

[Skippy]

Lloyds have the same policy for their basic account - you can only withdraw money from their own cashpoints. Unless you can open a current account you'll have the same problem.

[Broke of London]

That sucks! I have the current account so didn't realise but expected better of them!! I guess they are all watching the pennies! Co-op seem to be the only friendly bunch!!!

[kallis3]

Having listened to the news yesterday, sounds as though free accounts could be a thing of the past soon.

[Broke of London]

Totally agree with you Jan...unfortunately. They're loss leaders now but for most banks the cost of providing a free service will simply be too high if all these reforms and transaction taxes go through. I think we'll all have to pay as per business account tariffs. Life doesn't get any cheaper does it LOL!!!

[kallis3]

Not looking forward to that - hopefully they will be cheaper than the likes of Thinkbanking.

[Broke of London]

It will be interesting to see how it pans out! It may be an annual or monthly fee which would help for budgeting. Could you imagine trying to got up 20p every time you made a transaction...disaster!

[kallis3]

Not looking forward to it at all. Hopefully we will all have done our IVA's by the time this comes in.

[Skippy]

To be honest even if Thinkbanking was cheaper I would stick with Nationwide as I prefer to manage my own account.

[kallis3]

I'd stick with mine as well I think - like to think I can do my own budgeting as you say Skip.