Banking society Nationwide has announced which of its members will be eligible to be sent a free £100, but there are set criteria people and customers must meet.
Nationwide has announced exactly which of their accounts are eligible for a new £100 bonus, but there are certain conditions. As people continue to straddle with increasing prices and the cost-of-living crisis, any extra money is a welcome gift. And now, the banking society is offering exactly that for people who have accounts with them. It said: “As a modern mutual we are able to share some of our profits with members who bank and borrow or who bank and save with us. We will do this by making a one-off payment of £100 to those who qualify. We have called this the Nationwide Fairer Share Payment.”
To be eligible, people must own one of a qualifying current account and qualifying savings or a qualifying account and qualifying mortgage. To be a qualifying current account, your account must have been open on March 31 and any additional requirements depend on the type of current account you had on that date.
The qualifying accounts which have the possibility of being sent the £100 bonus are: FlexPlus when the monthly fee is paid, the FlexOne, FlexStudent or FlexGraduate but you must have received or made one payment in or out of your account in March. However, those requirements don’t apply if you have switched your account between January 1 and March 31.
The FlexAccount, FlexDirect or FlexBasic are also eligible under the follow conditions. One of these requirements must be met. Either in two of of the three months of January, February and March 2024 you received at least £500 in your current account or made at least two payments out of your current account. Or, in two of those three months you have made at least 10 payments out of the account.
Nationwide says you will have had qualifying savings if you had at least £100 in total in one or more personal savings accounts or cash ISAs with Nationwide at the end of any day in March 2024. These do not include money held in your savings accounts, money or other assets in an investment accounts such as stocks and shares, or money in an account in the name of someone else.
A qualifying mortgage means you must have owed the baking society at least £100 on your residential mortgage on March 31. It does not include a mortgage with one of the bank’s subsidiaries such as The Mortgage Works (UK) plc, UCB Home Loans Corporation Limited, Derbyshire Home Loans Limited, or E-Mex Home Funding Limited. A mortgage which was applied for but wasn’t completed by March 31, as well as Nationwide commericial mortgages are not eligible.
For those who have a joint account, Nationwide says the terms and conditions apply to each person individually. The bank explained: “This means that if a qualifying current account, or qualifying mortgage is in joint names, the product and the whole of any balance will count towards each individual’s eligibility for the payment. For example, if you hold both a qualifying current account and a qualifying mortgage jointly with someone else, you will both be eligible to receive the payment. Similarly, qualifying savings will take account of the whole of any savings and cash ISA balances you hold in your sole name and those you hold jointly.”
People who are running an account for others that in someone else’s name – under a power of attorney, third-party mandate or court order for example – won’t be counted as a qualifying current account of mortgage. As a result, the money and any savings won’t qualify towards savings for you, but will for the person whose name the account is in.
When will the payment be made?
Nationwide has said it plans to make payments to members between June 13 and June 28 next year. The bank says: “We will pay the money into your Nationwide current account. If you hold more than one current account with us, we may pay the money into any of those accounts. We will pay the money into an account in your sole name if you have one and will pay it into a joint account if you do not. The payment will appear on your current account statement as Nationwide Fairer Share Payment.”
A spokesman added: “We always do our best to ensure that the information is accurate and complete, but incomplete, inaccurate, or out of date information may mean we wrongly exclude you from the payment. We will make the payment if we find out you were wrongly excluded, but we will not be liable for any other loss you may incur if this happens.
“We also cannot guarantee how quickly an application for a qualifying product might be completed and therefore will not be responsible if you miss out on the payment because of a delay in opening a relevant product. If, after checking your eligibility, you think you have been wrongly excluded, please get in touch and if we have got it wrong, we will take steps to put it right.”
