With a nationwide flexaccount can i withdraw cash from ATMs In Japan?

Question:

I have a debit card and flexaccount with Nationwide. Will i be able to withdraw money from cash machines in Japan?

Answer:

You can but you will be heavily charged (interest rates and all). If you have not informed your bank of your visit to Japan, they will assume your card was stolen (which seems fair) and block it automatically causing lots of inconvenience to you (happened to me). To avoid this, get a card that has fair interest rates, or even better get a specialist loadable credit/debit card from Fairfx (which i have) or Caxton. There you can load the card with any amount and they have the best interest rates of any debit cards or credit card out there. And if the card gets stolen, call their helpline and it will get cancelled with a new card mailed to your home address with the same amount of money you had before.

Add to this, you can always exchange money at specialists shops before you leave (never do so at the airport - they are rip off merchants) or take travelers cheques (don't know how these work in Japan) For travels i have the Fairfx card and local currency - i use the currency first and if it runs out, i use the card.