Going back quite a few years, I recall opening a current account with the Nationwide Building Society. The account came with a Visa debit card that was fee free for transactions overseas, whether in store purchases or cash withdrawal at an automated cash dispenser. The Nationwide withdrew this perk sometime ago, leaving customers stuck with paying charges or looking elsewhere in the market place. In recent times, Nationwide have relaunched a current account featuring a fee free debit card. However, this is a perk within a packaged account costing £10.00 per month.

Norwich & Peterborough Building Society fee free debit card

Thankfully, there is another option to “putting up with it” – and a fee free debit card is available from the Norwich & Peterborough Building Society. Although a regional society, the N&P is now a trading name of the larger Yorkshire Building Society. However, at present, the account is only available at the N&P branches. The N&P current account comes with a fee free debit card and also a cheque book if required.

There are some terms and conditions attached to the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society’s current account with the fee free debit card but all the details are on the N&P website.

I applied for the account through the N&P’s branch at Diss, telephone 01379 644778 and the whole process took less than a week. On line banking is available if required.

Are there any other fee free debit cards available?

At present I could only find a few other fee free debit cards. One is offered by another building society, this time the “Cumberland Building Society”. Unfortunately, the account is only available to those local to its’ offices. Another fee free debit card is offered by Metro Bank. The Nationwide Building Society offers a fee free debit card as part of one of its packaged accounts.

What is the point of a fee free debit card?

Well the answer is simple – to save money. Transactions are converted at commercial rates, rather than cash/tourist rates so this immediately is better for the customer. The fee free debit cards are just that – free of fees – so you could save £3 – £5 per £100 spent/withdrawn using the card.

On our last trip away, just a fortnight overseas, I estimated my fee free credit card saved us about £50 in total and so I expect similar savings from a fee free debit card when compared to cards that charge for overseas usage.

The N&P website is here