Nationwide pays out £50 bonus to 12 million members: will you get it?

Over £600m is being paid to customers

Nationwide is dishing out more than £600m to customers in one-off £50 payments in what it calls a ‘big thank you’, following the purchase of Virgin Money. 

As a result of the buy-out, Nationwide has now become the second biggest mortgage lender and savings provider in the UK – so it’s got a lot to be thankful for!

But who gets the £50 payment and when will it be paid? Here’s everything you should know.

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Will I get the £50 ‘big thank you’?

To get the cash you must’ve had a savings, current account or mortgage at the end of last September.

On top of this, you need to have made at least one transaction on your current account OR had a balance of at least £100 in your current account, savings or mortgage in the last 12 months to the end of September 2024.

You must also still have your savings, current account or mortgage at the time the £50 payment is made. 

How do I know if I’m eligible for the payment?

You should get a letter or email from Nationwide very soon if you haven’t already. This will let you know when and how the money is going to be paid. It says it is writing to customers from today.

You can also check if you’re eligible online or login to banking app to see if you’ve qualified for the payment.

When will I get the cash?

Nationwide says it will start making the payments from 9 April. 

But when you get the money will depend on how you qualify.

Customers with a Nationwide current account or instant or limited access savings will be paid directly into their accounts by the end of April.

If you’re an eligible mortgage customer, you’ll get the £50 bonus by the end of April too. This will be paid into your current account that’s linked to your mortgage and where the payments are taken from. Nationwide says if it can’t pay you this way for some reason, you’ll get a cheque sent to you by 14 May instead.

All other eligible members, such as those with ISAs or Bonds, can expect a cheque by 14 May too.

What about Virgin Money customers?

Sadly, Virgin Money customers won’t get the £50 payment. Nationwide told me this is a ‘retrospective payment’ being made to Nationwide members who were eligible at the end of September last year, before the deal was completed. The idea is that the payment acknowledges the role Nationwide members played in the purchase of Virgin Money.

Is this £50 replacing Nationwide’s Fairer Share payments?

You’ll be pleased to know it’s not. The £100 Fairer Share payment is separate and Nationwide says it wants to repeat it this year. However, it also says it’ll depend on the mutual’s financial performance and a decision will be made on the Fairer Share payment in May. 

But if it does go ahead, you’ll also only be eligible if you’ve met certain criteria. 

While the rules might change this year, we’ve seen that for the last two years eligible customers must’ve had one of its current accounts open by 31 March (one of the Flex accounts) and have to show that they’ve been using it. This includes receiving or making recent payments into the account or paying the monthly account fee.

What you actually need to do depends on the account you have, which we’ve outlined in our Nationwide Fairer Share explainer. You also need to have a Nationwide savings account with £100 in it any day in March or a mortgage. 

With this in mind (and if the criteria stays the same) you need to act quickly to be in with a chance of getting the Fairer Share payment!

Get £175 for switching to Nationwide

You’ll also need to be swift if you want to take advantage of Nationwide’s £175 current account switching offer as it ends on March 31.

There’s potentially three £175 payments up for grabs if you’re in a couple and switch your personal current accounts plus a joint account to Nationwide. 

As with any switching deal, you’ll need to meet a few criteria but it’s fairly straight forward with this one. And if you’re not sure about switching your main current account, we always think it’s a good idea to have more than one, so hopefully you’ve got a spare account to use specifically to get these switching bonuses.