Nationwide Building Society has hiked the monthly fee on its FlexPlus current account by £5 a month.

From this month, customers will pay an £18 monthly fee up from £13 a month, representing a jump of 38 per cent.

It means over the course of a year, customers will pay £216 in fees to maintain the current account, up from £156 - a leap of £60 annually. 

Nationwide said the monthly fee hike was due to 'the rising cost of insurance'. All customers were notified that the fee would be rising in September. 

In exchange for the monthly fee, customers receive family travel insurance, family phone insurance, vehicle breakdown cover, fee free spending abroad, exclusive savings rates and a £50 interest-fee arranged overdraft. 

We look at whether the perks offered by the Nationwide FlexPlus account are worth the higher £18 monthly fee.

What does the FlexPlus account offer?

Travel insurance

The FlexPlus account comes with worldwide multi trip travel insurance through Aviva. 

It covers families for trips up to 31 days and includes cover for winter sports and travel disruptions. It covers all FlexPlus current account holders, their partners and their children.

On its own, a plan like this with Aviva would cost around £300 or £460 through a different provider, according to price comparison website Compare the Market.

If you had multiple trips planned in a year, the travel insurance perk alone through the FlexPlus account would make the £216 fee worth it.

Andrew Hagger, founder of website MoneyComms said: 'The worldwide multi trip travel insurance - from Aviva - offers good level of cover. 

'My wife and I had to claim on this earlier this year and it was an excellent service - we had the refund in our account within five days of making the claim.'

Phone insurance

The FlexPlus current account also comes with worldwide family mobile phone insurance from Assurant.

It covers phone accessories, unauthorised network charges – if someone else uses your phone without your permission - and cover for high value phones up to £2,000.

You can make up to four claims per FlexPlus account in any 12-month period. Excesses of between £30 and £100 will apply when you claim.

Vehicle breakdown cover

The FlexPlus account comes with vehicle cover for any eligible vehicle you're travelling (personal cover) in plus any vehicles you own (vehicle cover), even if somebody else is driving. It applies with within the UK and Europe. The cover is provided by the AA.

You don't need to pay any excess when you claim.

Annual vehicle cover costs around £90 while personal cover for one costs £112 when buying it directly through AA.

Hagger added: 'The fully comprehensive car breakdown car recovery from the AA (European cover too) will cover you and your family members for any car you are travelling in.'

Exclusive savings rates

The best savings rates offered through Nationwide's FlexPlus account are a regular saver, paying up to 6.5 per cent on deposits of up to £200 a month and an easy-access account, paying 3.25 per cent. 

While offering a flashy headline rate, the regular saver account comes with some catches. 

Customers can only make three free withdrawals in a 12-month period. On a fourth withdrawal, the rate drops to 2.15 per cent. 

Savers will find a better deal in First Direct's regular saver, offering a 7 per cent on deposits up to £300 a month. 

Customers can find easy-access deals paying as much as 4.85 per cent at the moment, so the FlexPlus easy-access account paying 3.25 per cent is not one of the main draws of the FlexPlus account. 

Also, customers of its free account can also access these loyalty rates.  

Hagger said: 'The FlexPlus price hike is a bit steep but it hasn't been increased for some time.

'The level of cover you get through the account is very comprehensive. Even at £216 per year, I still think this account offers excellent value for money.' 

A Nationwide spokesman said: 'We have held back raising the fee for FlexPlus since 2017. However, the rising cost of insurance means we now need to make changes, taking effect from December. 

'Even after this change, which customers were notified about in September, FlexPlus will continue to be one of the UK's most competitive packaged current accounts, both in price and quality of cover. 

'Nationwide continues to reward current account customers with access to exclusive products, such as Flex Regular Saver which pays 6.5 per cent, and earlier this year returned £385million to eligible members through a £100 Fairer Share payment.'