Before you start to apply

Make sure you read the following information.

Overdrafts: things you need to know

When you apply for a FlexAccount, you can ask for an arranged overdraft and agree a limit with us. Arranged overdrafts are a way you can borrow money in the short term.

Unarranged overdrafts are borrowing that’s not agreed with us in advance. They can be bad for your credit score. If you try to spend more than your account balance or arranged overdraft limit, we'll try to stop the payment. And we won't charge you. But you won't be able to take out or send money until you’re in credit or within your arranged overdraft limit.

Interest on your arranged overdraft

Our arranged overdraft rate is 39.9% a year compounded (variable). We'll give you 14 days' notice before we charge you anything. You can find out more about the cost of borrowing with our overdraft calculator.

As an example, the interest cost of borrowing £500 is:

Example of the interest cost of borrowing £500. After 7 days, this is £3.26. After 30 days, this is £13.99. After 60 days, this is £28.37.
7 days 30 days 60 days
£3.26 £13.99 £28.37

For the 60-day example, we’ve applied the charges for the first 30 days, on day 31. This means the charge in the second month is higher. That’s because we charge interest on the interest you’ve incurred up to that point.

Changing your arranged overdraft limit

You can remove, decrease or apply to increase your arranged overdraft at any time. You can do this in our Banking app, our Internet Bank or over the phone. But increasing your limit often can be bad for your credit score.

How much can you borrow?

You can find out how much you can borrow with our eligibility tool. You'll find this in the FlexAccount online application. We’ll need some information about you. Things like your name, address history, employment and income. We’ll run a soft credit check to see what we can offer you. This won’t affect your credit score. If you choose to continue with your application, we’ll run a hard credit check too.


Text alerts to help manage your borrowing

We want to give you time to pay in money and avoid any charges. That's why we'll send you text alerts to help you manage your borrowing on the go. You can find out how to customise which alerts you receive on our text alerts page.

We'll automatically send you:

  • arranged overdraft alerts – these will let you know when you enter (or are about to enter) your arranged overdraft
  • unarranged overdraft alerts – these will let you know when you spend more than your account balance or arranged overdraft limit
  • payment failure alerts – if a scheduled payment fails, we'll text you to let you know we'll try to send the payment again later that day.

You can opt in to more text alerts, such as for when your balance is below or above a certain amount as well as a mini statement, on our Banking app or Internet Bank.


Summary Financial Statement

When you open an account with us, we need to let you know about our most recent summary financial statement and auditors' report. Our summary financial statement is published in our Review of the Year document - PDF 3.1MB (opens in a new window). You can find our latest annual report and accounts, including our auditors' report, on our Results and Accounts page.

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Protecting your money

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (opens in a new window) (FSCS) is a free, independent service that protects up to £85,000 of your eligible money at Nationwide.