Helen de bretton's community profile page

Write a review

Go to business site

Viewing profile for,

Helen de bretton

Total reviews written

Helpful marks given to their reviews

Times reviews seen

All reviews (1)

Review of the Nationwide, Credit card:

View on product page

Astonished at the level of failure in a regulated bank

I am genuinely astonished that this level of operational failure is occurring within a regulated bank. Nationwide repeatedly denied a customer access to funds despite four separate branch attendances with valid ID. On one occasion, the branch manager personally verified the ID and phoned Nationwide’s security team while holding it. Even then, access to funds was still refused. The solution offered afterwards was simply to “go back into the branch with ID again”, as though none of the previous visits had happened. What makes this deeply concerning is the complete absence of records. Nationwide has stated there were: no notes of calls no notes of branch visits no notes of ID verification no notes of DSAR requests Yet security decisions continued to be enforced regardless. Alongside this, multiple Nationwide staff — including on a security line — demonstrated a basic misunderstanding of data protection law, repeatedly referring to a Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) as a Freedom of Information request. FOI legislation does not apply to Nationwide at all. The fact that this error was repeated suggests a training and governance issue, not an isolated mistake. This case involved a disabled, vulnerable single mother, and Nationwide was explicitly told that denying access to funds was placing her at risk. Despite that, no proportionate safeguarding response was applied. The real-world consequences included missed medical appointments, disruption to a child’s education, damaged relationships, and credible safety concerns. This was not robust fraud prevention. It was process without memory, judgement, or accountability. For an organisation already fined heavily by the regulator for systemic control failures, this experience raises serious questions about whether governance and training issues have genuinely been resolved. Based on this experience, I would have real concerns about Nationwide’s ability to manage complex or vulnerable customer situations safely. Reviewed on: 19th February 2026

We are helping 1000s to make smarter financial decisions

We use the power of consumer reviews to help increase trust and transparency in financial services and to deliver industry leading insight and events.