If the building society offers the free cash in 2025, here’s how you can be eligible.
For the last two years, Nationwide has given customers a £100 bonus, and will hopefully happen again this year. However, it’s not been given to everyone with an account. So if you don’t want to miss out, here’s what you need to do.
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Nationwide is a building society, meaning it is member-led rather than reporting to shareholders. So when it makes profits, much of this cash goes back to customers, normally in the form of better rates. In 2024 it put £1.8bn to improving interest rates and incentives,
But since 2023, there’s also been another lump sum (£385m in 2024) shared out with eligible customers in the form of a Nationwide Fairer Share payment.
It’s set at £100 per customer, regardless of how many accounts you have. However, you have to meet certain conditions, which meant not all customers received the cash, leaving lots of people angry they missed out.
Assuming it does return this year, and it works in the same way, then you can take action now to hopefully ensure you do get the money.
We can expect to find out if it’s returning in late May 2025, with payments coming in mid-June 2025.
The following is all with the huge caveat that Nationwide could well change the eligibility criteria. Assuming the rules are the same, I’ve just changed the dates below from 2024 to 2025.
Have a Nationwide current account
To get the money your account must’ve been open on 31 March 2025. Though it doesn’t matter which Nationwide account you have, you do need to have been actively using it in the following ways:
| Type of current account | Additional requirements |
|---|---|
| FlexPlus | Pay the monthly fee for maintaining the account. |
| FlexOne, FlexStudent or FlexGraduate | You must have received at least one payment in or made one payment out of your account during March 2025. Any charges or interest, or adjustments made to your account balance do not count. |
| FlexAccount, FlexDirect or FlexBasic | In two of the three months of January 2025, February 2025 and March 2025, you must have received at least £500 into your current account. Transfers in from other Nationwide accounts do not count. Plus, you must have made at least two payments out of your account each month, in two of those three months. Alternatively you may have made 10 payments from the account in two of the same three months. Any charges or interest, or adjustments made to your account balance do not count as payments into your current account or payments out of your current account. You do not need to have met the above requirements if you completed a switch to your FlexAccount, FlexDirect or FlexBasic using the Current Account Switch Service between 1 January 2025 and 31 March 2025. |
Though Nationwide has taken over Virgin Money since the last payment, account from that bank won’t be eligible for the offer if it does return.
Have either savings or a mortgage with Nationwide
You also have to have one of these in addition to the current account
- A personal Nationwide cash savings account with a total of £100 or more in one or more accounts on any day in March 2025. Money held in a current account, even if it pays interest, does not count. Business savings also don’t count, nor to investment accounts.
- A Nationwide mortgage with at least £100 owing on 31 March 2025
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What about joint accounts?
The good news is that those with a joint account will count as individual members, so you’ll both get the £100 – as long as you meet the criteria.
But this does mean you’d need both the current account and the savings/mortgage to be joint. If say the current account is joint but the savings are solo, only the person with the savings account would get the payment.
How to check if you’re eligible
Here’s how it worked in 2024: if you have online banking you’ll get a notification to say you’ll get the money when you next log in. Nationwide didn’t confirm when this would happen but said it should be ‘shortly.’ If you don’t get this you can try the online chat.
Or you can check if you’re eligible on the Nationwide website, though this just takes you through the criteria rather than check your account, so if you answer incorrectly you might get the wrong answer.
Otherwise, Nationwide will contact all eligible members by 31 May to tell them they’ll be receiving a Fairer Share payment.
How and when will you get the money?
As long as you meet the criteria you don’t need to do anything – the money will automatically be paid into your current account.
There’s no set date, with a range given instead. In 2024, the money was paid between 13 and 28 June 2024.
You’ll need to keep your account open to get the money, so don’t switch it away before the end of June.
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Is the payment taxed?
In the terms and conditions Nationwide state that the money is an interest payment. This means it’ll count towards your personal savings allowance, and you might need to pay tax on it if you go over the tax-free thresholds.
Are there other perks?
The following were offered in 2024. Again, there’s no guarantee the same offers will return.
5.5% fixed-rate bond
As part of this Fairer Share initiative, Nationwide launched a Member Exclusive Bond offering an 18-month fixed-rate bond paying 5.5% which was available to all its 16 million existing members. It’s was the highest rate for fixed savings at the time. See the latest best savings accounts here.
The most you could deposit was £10,000 and you could only get it if you’ve held a Nationwide current account, savings account or mortgage account before or on 22 May 2024 and at the time of applying for the new bond. It could be opened in branch, online or via the Nationwide app.
£200 switching bonus
Existing members could also get a £200 switching bonus, if they didn’t already use Nationwide for their everyday banking.
Right now there’s a £175 switch offer for new and existing customers. We’ve got all the details on Nationwide’s new switching deal here.
It’s punishing those with low income who don’t have a savings account because they can’t afford to save.
Those saying they are leaving are shooting themselves in the foot.
They’ve said £1.8bn will go to improving interest rates and incentives. That benefits savers!
Have had Nationwide accounts for decades since it was formed in fact and before when it was CO-OP and Anglia .Although I have a current account and savings and investments thru them , got nothing because my e -savings were less than £50 simply because the interest rates were so low I had put the money elsewhere at a better rate.Really annoyed with Nationwide.Would like to close all my accounts with them , but it’s the only bank left open in my town , so I will have to stick with them.
Richard.Allen
Rothwell NN14.
£1600 every month going in my flex account but because i can’t get mortgage or I dr have savings account I get punished by nationwide..I will be closing the account and putting in a complaint for being punished/persecuted for not being able to have a mortgage or saving’s account…
SHAME ON YOU NATIONWIDE ITS US LESSER MORTALS THAT GIVE YOU YOUR BIG WAFES AND BONUSES…totally unfair
Why didn’t you open the 8% reg saver account when it was offered? If you had saved £100 in there you would get the bonus
You have to spend a little time and work out where the best deals are although limited to 200 a month you can’t beat 8% but no one is going to do it for you,
We have the 8% but you don’t qualify for the £100 unless you actively used their C/A. We have a C/A because we had our travel insurance with them but they cancelled that due to a new medical condition. We pay the regular saver by S/O from our nominated bank. If we had paid the cash into their C/A and then set up a N/Wide S/O then we would have qualified, which is what we originally did but their advisor recommended we change. I complained and got nowhere They claim to be a caring and sharing institution, but they are no better than banks.
Unfair as all people regardless of accounts held are members
I had mortgage for 30 years but as now paid off and I only have saving which I might add are substantial , I get nothing
Will be looking to transfer bulk of savings elsewhere
If it wasn t for savers they would nt be making all that profit. Very disappointed as i have an isa which means no bonus for me
Is this fair? When you save wlTh nationwide and they are using your money ,yet we don’t get the £100 bonus Disgusting
This is excellent news, it is really good to see a mutual reward its members and to improve rates. At last we see loyalty rewarded. For those that have missed out, they had to set the threshold somewhere then maybe you will be rewarded next year if you stay with the Nationwide.
Nationwide discriminates against those Members who have savings accounts, the very people who allow Nationwide the funds to make profits from others. My wife and I have saved with Hastings and Thanet B S then Anglia Building Society who Nationwide took over. Forty years+ struggling to save and then miss out on the £100 payment. Stuff Nationwide.
I have been a member from sxties when it was Anglia BS Hab a morgage, bonds, loans,I now have a flexiacount card that IUse a lot, I am retired and pay in a sum now and then and use it then top up IGet nothing , sleep well people in the know and those that fixed the rip off
I don’t quite understand the at least £500 in 2 of the 3 months. Over those 3months I have paid in £550, more or less evenly spread across the period. Does this make me eligible on the Flex account basis? I gave a qualifying saving accounts
Probably they didn’t mean to pay the £100 to everyone. I’m lucky enough not to have a mortgage but the bit that they shouldn’t have put in was the requirement for savings. In March of 2023 Nationwide had some of the worst savings rates, the best deal was a first direct account. But that’s a current account! Thirty years of membership of the society ruined by someone turning over a new leaf.
A quick look online and this has gone down like a lead balloon with many members, some of which are closing accounts because they don’t seem it fair at all that they had some significant sums deposited with Nationwide yet get nothing because they don’t have a current account, or had to withdraw savings to pay bills recently and lost out. Still, the bosses sleep soundly in their beds at night. Not so different after all.
For those that closed account are just losing out further then, why not transfer to a current account. I don’t qualify but hat people who moan when others get something for nothing but others this they are entitled. Rules are rules and if you have current account you qualify and if you don’t then tough, open one. there will be as many joining the Nationwide because of this so wouldn’t worry about the few entitled that leave.
Typical narrow minded response. I think you’ll find that many take issue with the “Fairer Share” description. When you arfe only giving a fifth of people a payment its not fair. It’s nothing to do with getting something for nothing, and besides I thought the whole point of websites like this was to try and get something for nothing,
At the end of the day absolutely everyone who has an account of some type with them shpuld get it as everyone is a memwber so no its not fair these people getting it writing blunt comments im sure would say the same if they wernt recieving
Cheesed off with Nationwide
Had Saving account for over 23 years but don’t qualify. Surely all accounts should be entitled for this bonus☹️
Do you qualify if you hold a fix rate bond with Nationwide?