Nationwide Building Society is at risk of driving its long-standing customers irate again.
On the day that it got approval for its £2.9 billion acquisition of Virgin Money, a deal it said did not need the approval of its members, the building society announced it had whacked up the price of its FlexPlus account by £5 a month or £60 a year.
Coming in from 1 December, customers with a FlexPlus account will pay £18 a month instead £13 ending what MoneySavingExpert has for some years described as one of the best-packaged bank accounts around.
For the fee, customers get travel and mobile phone insurance, breakdown cover and the ability to use the card abroad without any charges.
Nationwide told PA it was rising costs of insurance that were behind the fee increase.
"Even after this change, FlexPlus will continue to be one of the UK's most competitive packaged current accounts, both in price and quality of cover," a spokesperson said.
"Nationwide continues to reward current account customers with access to exclusive products, such as Flex Regular Saver which pays 6.5% AER, and earlier this year returned £385m to eligible members through a £100 Fairer Share payment.
"Together with our leading customer service, we believe there is every reason to bank with Nationwide."
Ironically MoneySavingExpert says that Flex Plus’s main competitor is (yes you’ve guessed it) Virgin Money's Club M account, which offers travel and phone insurance, and breakdown cover for £12.50 a month.
MSE notes that Virgin Money has lower customer service ratings than Nationwide but with the society seemingly determined to act like one of the banks its Dominic West-featuring ads lampoon, that too might change.