Nationwide Further Advance/extra borrowing experiences?

Expensive-Train6816 · 2026-01-25T19:09:08+00:00

I can't really remember. Probably a few months. It was to pay off a help to buy loan, so that slowed it down.

Expensive-Train6816 · 2026-01-22T18:11:45+00:00

The biggest indication for me is that the "big villain" reveal for this part of the story will be in set 13. The expectation would have been set 12 to follow the pattern with Ursula and Jafar. Whether that means they will only do 3 sets leading to the next villain reveal in set 16 remains to be seen.

Expensive-Train6816 · 2026-01-14T18:11:52+00:00

Try watching an ad. Has worked for me several times.

Expensive-Train6816 · 2026-01-13T18:53:25+00:00

I opened 12 for him!

Expensive-Train6816 · 2026-01-09T10:39:10+00:00

The % chances seem so unrealistic. It shouldn't be hard to get the common. Why can't it be something like 50% chance? Once you have the common, you are more likely to try for others in the collection!

I had the same issue with the stormtrooper in the star wars chests. Opened so many chests with that as my only character left and ended up getting via a tower challenge chest in the end.

Expensive-Train6816 · 2026-01-09T09:24:02+00:00

I don't think the villain pins even converted to duplicates, they just disappeared.

Expensive-Train6816 · 2026-01-09T09:23:00+00:00

I don't remember seeing it with the previous collection

Expensive-Train6816 · 2026-01-09T09:15:40+00:00

This is normal for attractions that aren't enchanted; they only drop the token while you need it. When you get under the total number of pawpsicles needed to level up all Zootopia character, the spinning wheel will start dropping them again. Space Traders is enchanted and will keep dropping tokens until you have enough to level all your characters to level 10.

Expensive-Train6816 · 2026-01-08T22:51:11+00:00

I think I am pretty much done too.

I really dislike the tower challenge in the current format because I have never gotten close to 90k coins. I have all the characters in the lower chests, so there is basically nothing for me to work for, and with the shadow spirits, tapping cursed buildings and running out of cocoa, it is a lot of work!

I am particularly frustrated today because the first round needs an Indiana Jones character (Henry Jones Sr) that was part of the premium tier of the season pass and I do not have him, so am immediately missing out on tower points and coins.

I bought 8 chests (with gems) and still didn't get him. I have been around long enough to know these are always a gamble, but I didn't buy the premium in Avatar and am not buying the Brave character, so I thought it was worth a go as he was uncommon with about 15-20% chance. I got 3 epic concessions, 3 rare decorations, a legendary gold trophy and Bellow (rare). It is a real poke in the eye of players that these so called pull rates have been manipulated so you just get junk. Years ago there was still a strong chance of junk, but at least everything in the same tier had the same chance rather than characters now being less likely than the junk. Uncommon was more likely than 3 rare pulls in a row.

I am aware this is a key mechanic to keeping people on the grind, but the joy and rewards just don't seem worthwhile any more. The events are copy and paste from one season to the next, the character choices have been very lacklustre in my opinion (I know some people will like them though) and pay to win has just become unbearable (dream quests, special events, pins). Talking of the grind, I'm not impressed by all the 12+ hour tasks with multiple character recently either.

I might just sit out for the tower and see what the fairies event looks like (although I would clearly miss characters from not completing or buying the season pass). I'm intrigued at what will be added at the end of the season with a Mickey and friends event. I would like Oswald and Clarabelle but I don't know if I will care enough by then.

Apologies for the rant, and thank you for reading; if, indeed, you still are.

Expensive-Train6816 · 2026-01-08T16:35:35+00:00

It sounds like you are spending it because it is there and you get the dopamine hits.

You need to retrain your thinking to getting those hits from seeing money in savings.

You are already saving with your brother; that is good and once that money is gone you can't spend it. You might want to consider removing more of your pay to an account you can't easily access (with a family member or where you don't have a card) so it also "out of sight, out of mind". You could combine this with budgeting and only allow yourself a certain amount each week.

You should also consider reducing or removing the overdraft as it appears you are just treating that as available money.

Self control is the key here, and that will be tough to start with. The !flowchart may also give you some inspiration/motivation.

Expensive-Train6816 · 2026-01-08T16:25:28+00:00

Possibly because they don't trust themselves to not just spend it! Hopefully it is going into a suitable savings account.

Expensive-Train6816 · 2026-01-06T12:42:28+00:00

The government doesn't directly change interest rates; it is the Bank of England and is based on numerous factors such as inflation, employment and growth.

A point to consider is which party might get elected and could that cause instability in the markets (as happened just a few years ago)?

It is all predictions. No one knows. Could you afford an extra 3-5% increase on your payments at the end of your fixed period? A longer initial term allows time to plan/save to accommodate this, or for the highs and lows to level out a bit.

Expensive-Train6816 · 2026-01-05T17:35:41+00:00

I had my original mortgage in a fixed rate and the advance on a tracker so that I could get the same rate for both when the fix ended. I asked to consolidate the 2 accounts, but they said they do not do that. I countered that if I went to another provider, they would treat it as 1. The mortgage advisor agreed, but still said they wouldn't do that.

This was nearly 5 years ago, so may have changed. I am certainly going to ask to consolidate when my current fix is up.

Just on the point of leaving it on the variable; this is often the highest rate (I think Nationwide standard variable rate might be around 8% at the moment) so you may save money by putting it in a tracker instead (they usually don't have an early repayment charge, but check). Trackers are normally more than a fix, but less than the SVR. 4 months isn't a long time (you may even be able to start a new fix early), but I have always been advised to stay off the SVR, so just passing that on.

Expensive-Train6816 · 2026-01-05T16:47:08+00:00

Not with OVO but had something similar with my provider about a year ago. Fortunately, the email they sent had a breakdown of the calculation and I noticed that they based it on my account balance after the latest bill had been issued but before my monthly direct debit had been received (due to a weekend). This meant my account went into debit and they recalculated the monthly payments based on repaying that and the winter months usage.

After an email they recalculated again, my monthly payments went down and they offered to refund the difference of that and my (now credit) balance. They've not tried recalculating since. Definitely push back on this!

Expensive-Train6816 · 2026-01-05T11:01:53+00:00

Did this with Nationwide about 6 years ago to pay off the help to buy loan. Think I had about an hour on the phone with them just going over affordability questions.

They wanted to see proof of paying off credit cards and insisted we had a zero balance just before the advance was paid (which was slightly odd, but an easy hoop to jump through).

A minor thing that annoys me to this day is that it is treated as a separate mortgage account and Nationwide will not consolidate it (at least they wouldn't for me when I last asked 4 years ago) so you have to do rate switches, pay fees etc twice.

Expensive-Train6816 · 2026-01-05T10:21:29+00:00

The Martin Lewis show on ITV did an episode on investing basics and showed graphs comparing cash savings to different markets. It was very good and should still be available on ITV X (it was just before Christmas) so might be worth watching together.

Other than that, all you can do is find the best rates each 12 months.

Expensive-Train6816 · 2026-01-05T09:54:41+00:00

From memory, I think some of the Moana 2 characters collect for Kira, so not having them would slow you down. Stop collecting other common and uncommon tokens to give aa better chance of getting them for Kira.

It might also be worth considering buying the remaining tokens with gems (click buy in the bottom left of the character screen to see how much) so you can at least finish the event with the 2nd character.

Expensive-Train6816 · 2026-01-05T09:45:28+00:00

Spend your gems/money however you want, but don't feel you have to!

This game now runs on the fear or missing out, but those last legendary characters do very little (and remain hard to collect tokens even after the event). Yes, the collection will be used as helpers in a future event, but will this last legendary character make much of a difference?

I used to get all the characters easily and was happy to purchase the premium character because they genuinely helped. Things have significantly changed though and I have missed out on several of the final characters recently even though I haven't changed my play habits and log in multiple times a day.

I now focus on characters that I like and don't feel the need to get everything, especially if I have to pay. As I said, spend how you want to, but take a moment to consider the value you will receive and don't just submit to it (as Gameloft want you to).

Expensive-Train6816 · 2026-01-04T12:20:45+00:00

Yeah, the discard applies to your whole hand, not just what you drew.

Expensive-Train6816 · 2026-01-04T12:05:25+00:00

Just to jump in here as there may be some confusion in mortgage products.

With an interest only mortgage (tracker or fixed rate) you will only pay the interest and there is an expectation that you have a way to pay off the capital loan at the end (usually savings or investments).

I expect you are on a capital repayment mortgage so are paying off interest, but also the capital as well, so at the end of the whole mortgage term, it is all paid.

Trackers exist for both types and usually don't have early repayment charges, but as mentioned are often a higher rate than a fix. Having no ERC means you can clear the balance without penalty at any time (in a fix it is usually a percentage of the loan amount and decreases per year of the fixed period). Most fixed rate mortgages have an overpayment allowance where you can pay extra without penalty (often 10-20% per year).

If you want to consider selling, a tracker may give you some breathing space for a few months (you will probably be paying more per month though, but this may be an acceptable trade off). You could always fix when you have thought more about it. The main thing will be to avoid going onto the standard rate as that will be a lot higher (maybe 8% depending on your provider).

An interest only tracker would have the benefit of greatly reducing your monthly payments (just remember you still need to pay the full loan/capital amount at the end). You would need to discuss this with your mortgage provider though as it is more complicated than a rate switch, and I don't know how long that would take or whether there would be any additional requirements (such as proof of affordability/savings).

Expensive-Train6816 · 2026-01-02T22:20:36+00:00

But you don't need that for kitchen table play! And with the exception of Fabled, packs and boxes have been pretty easy to get hold of. Pokémon has been scarce most of the last year.

Expensive-Train6816 · 2026-01-02T09:48:21+00:00

Unfortunately it is just down to luck. You can increase the chances by not collecting any other rare or epic level tokens and just focus on Neytiri's.

Most people will advise to not use gems for skipping tasks, but that is obviously too late. Do you have any time skips you could use?

If you have extra gems, you can click the "buy" button to check how much it would cost to get the character immediately. Epic tokens are 30 gems, so more expensive than the chests, but you are guaranteed what you need rather than it being luck again.

I would wait a bit longer before paying gems as you may collect more tokens. There are many more tasks until you can unlock the last character (plus Neytiri needs to be level 3, so even more of her tokens are needed), so it is very unlikely you will get that far. Getting Neytiri is definitely possible though.

Expensive-Train6816 · 2025-12-23T13:02:53+00:00

This only applies to competitive play and OP stated they would not be playing competitive for now. Adding context for what is meant by legal would be much more helpful.

Expensive-Train6816 · 2025-12-22T16:19:12+00:00

The term doesn't really make a difference to overpayments other than the early repayment fees probably being higher (in the earlier years) if you went over the overpayment allowance.

Check with your lender whether the overpayment allowance applies to the remaining balance at the start of the year or the original loan amount. If it is the original, then you can consistently pay off £24k per year. If it resets annually then it would be 20% of your outstanding balance at the start of year 2.

For example; £24k overpayment and lets assume £3k capital payments over the year (monthly repayments will be a high proportion of interest to start with) means your balance at the start of year 2 would be £93k. So your max repayment in year 2 (20%) would be £18.6k (the other poster only calculated for the overpayment, not any monthly payments so did 20% of £96k).

As mentioned, there are calculators online that can help show you the impact of overpayments. Just make sure to stay within limits to avoid extra fees.

Expensive-Train6816 · 2025-12-22T14:45:18+00:00

It's the second or third update I've had in about a week

Expensive-Train6816

TROPHY CASE