Nationwide small cash counter withdrawal ban comes into force

From today, the Nationwide Building Society will attempt to reduce its queues by making customers with cash cards withdrawing less than £100 to use the branch cash machine.

The Nationwide said the change, which was announced in April, is essential and the move is aimed at speeding up transactions and freeing up staff time to deal with other transactions.

The building society said the move will not apply to people with debit cards, or those who still use a passbook.

The move brings Nationwide in line with a number of other major banks, such as Santander, which has a minimum withdrawal of £300 across many of its outlets.

Furthermore, HSBC‘s basic bank account holders are unable to do any banking over the counter.

While the move has been defended by the UK’s Payments Council, which said the banks are simply responding to changes in customer behaviour, Michelle Mitchell of charity, Age UK, said the move would not suit elderly people.

Ms Mitchell said: “Banks imposing minimum over-the-counter withdrawals to drive people to ATMs could be causing problems to some older people who find the chip and Pin system difficult to use or who have security concerns about using a cash point in the street.”

Nationwide said customers have had a couple of months to become used to the idea of using the ATM and staff will be available to help.

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