Nationwide & Portman to Merge!!!

woohoo

So do you think mortgage holders with Portman will get a payout then? I was with the Staffordshire also before they were taken over by Portman, but didn't get any cash then? I think I took my mortgage with the Staffordshire about 3 years ago??

diana11

I had a staffordshire account and got £80. The payout was £100 less £20 tax. It was a nice bonus but I hope nationwide will be more generous!

lolly5648

I've got £150 in Portman which has been untouched for over 10 years. I suspect they will treat this as a dormant account. Will they still notify or should I go to a branch and do something. (My local branch closed and I never got round to doing anything with the money)

edda

Milarky wrote:

Have you tried getting service in a Nationwide Branch recently? The bank account is great - would recommend it to anyone - but for online use. In other words customers looking for something better out of the branch network are going to be disappointed (assuming they aren't already.) It's customer base they will get. The customers will be lucky to notice any difference there.

Totally agree about the in-branch service at the Nationwide. In fact, I only filled in a customer feedback form about the same earlier this week... :exclamati

ReportInvestor

To Schiff
Demutualisation share windfalls e.g. Standard Life's recent conversion, are treated as capital gains - for which we all have an annual £8.8K allowance - so effectively these are tax free for the ordinary Jo(sephine).

Windfall merger bonuses, paid in cash, are treated as income by HM Revenue and therefore taxed at your top rate of income tax [20% savings tax for basic rate taxpayers (deducted at source) - 40% for higher rate taxpayers.]

Coincidentally / ironically Gordon Brown is the Patron on the Building Societies Association, but I doubt he sheds any tears when another bites the dust - especially one the size of the Portman - as the Treasury will be rolling in it as a result.

To lolly
I would wait to see if they notify you re that "dormant" account & keep an eye out here for when people receive communications from the Portman. My hunch is that you will be fine.

Do you still receive AGM voting papers and other documents? Better still, have you voted at AGMs by post? As long as they know you're there you should get the necessary bumph.

One advantage of this whole excercise is that it should flush out all the genuine dormant accounts - given that people usually perk up at the mention of free
money .

To woohoo

woohoo wrote:

So do you think mortgage holders with Portman will get a payout then? I was with the Staffordshire also before they were taken over by Portman, but didn't get any cash then? I think I took my mortgage with the Staffordshire about 3 years ago??

Portman mortgage holders will get a flat rate £200 payment regardless of the size of their mortgage. This will be in addition to any payment they qualify for as savers (assuming they are first named account holders with £100+ in their account).

Exactly the same rules applied when the Staffordshire was taken over & the basic flat rate for morgage holders was also £200 (although in this case the minimum windfall for savers was just £100).

You had to have held a Staffordshire mortgage or account on 23rd June 2003 to quality.

This IA link gives you all the terms of that Portman / Staffordshire merger

Points for other Portman savers:

ISA investments (although tax free) do not produce tax free windfalls.

Where other non-taxpayers, e.g. children, get their interest tax free because an R85 form has been submitted, they will have to submit a second R85 form in due course to get their windfall tax free in order to satisfy HM Revenue regulations. There is no rush here. Wait for communication from the Portman in early 2007, but don't forget or its £40 down the drain .

ReportInvestor

Latest news on the merger

Including:

Average windfall for Portman savers may be close to £500 .
Nationwide / Portman have not yet decided whether children will definitely qualify for a windfall

Speculator

ReportInvestor wrote:

Windfall merger bonuses, paid in cash, are treated as income by HM Revenue and therefore taxed at your top rate of income tax [20% savings tax for basic rate taxpayers (deducted at source) - 40% for higher rate taxpayers.

Therefore, if you're are a non-taxpayer, make sure your a/c is registered for gross interest via R85 to get the payout tax free.

Does anyone know how to register if you are a non-taxpayer and only have a cash ISA with the Portman?

ReportInvestor

Await Portman's instructions in due course. It'll be the same as for any other non-taxpayers - but no action will be needed before around April next year.

nearlyrich

My £100 will be more than doubled then, good news for me,:j have to laugh at the irony, the ads on tv "for new customers only" might come back and bite NW's a***! LOL:rolleyes:

I still have a few carpetbag accounts in my portfolio;)

cheggers

edda wrote:

Call me a pessimist - but look at what happened to the Halifax.
Short term windfalls will be wiped out by lower rates of interest very quickly.

I prefer long term commitment to dedicated savers - now there's an old fashioned concept in the financial sector :rolleyes2

When was the last time you looked at Halifax products, the rates are competitive.

Cash back current account 1% cash back
High Interest bank account 5.12%
Web Saver 4.75%
Regular Saver 7%
Childrens Regular Saver 10%
Save 4it (kids account) 5%

Halifax are getting more competitve in the market place, out of all the building society accounts I have not many can beat Halifax's products & rates.