£100 payment - Nationwide Fairer Share

Searcher2

wiseonesomeofthetime said:

I wonder how many of the posters who have said that they will leave Nationwide,due to this scheme, actually will 🤔

After all, to still be with them in the first place suggests an affinity to the society imo 🤝

I won't leave Nationwide.  Instead I will move all of my money out of my "Loyalty Saver" account and leave minimal money in my Flex account.  I should have done it anyway and would have probably made more than the £100 in extra interest elsewhere.... So this has given me the incentive I needed to go elsewhere. 

I opened a Chase account (current and savings) a while back and am finding that I use that a lot more than I thought I would.  The FlexPlus that Nationwide offer is geared to families and not single people like myself for whom there is no benefit and the standard Flex account offers nothing (apart from the recent supermarket cashback).

HonestJohn

I will move anything above the mininum savings needed to qualify next year. Current account will be empty. When the time comes I will move the necessary funds in and out. I will make one transaction on my credit card to keep it active.

Contador38

People should ensure they leave enough in their accounts to be eligible to vote at the next AGM.
Last year AGM was in July 22.
If a large proportion of the unhappy members vote against all the Board's proposals, it would be a 'first' in the Societuy's history.

SpanishBlue

HonestJohn said:

I will move anything above the mininum savings needed to qualify next year. Current account will be empty. When the time comes I will move the necessary funds in and out. I will make one transaction on my credit card to keep it active.

But they might have different criteria next year.

In fact after the bad publicity they have had over this, I'll be surprised if they don't.

GaleSF63

@kaMelo - that sounds good. Whatever I'm thinking of vaguely was something to do with opening/closing  accounts. They probably  won't change anything while  I'm still around though.
I will get the £100 but it's more to do with laziness than loyalty where savings are concerned as I've never put any effort into chasing round after interest rates.

HonestJohn

SpanishBlue said:

HonestJohn said:

I will move anything above the mininum savings needed to qualify next year. Current account will be empty. When the time comes I will move the necessary funds in and out. I will make one transaction on my credit card to keep it active.

But they might have different criteria next year.

In fact after the bad publicity they have had over this, I'll be surprised if they don't.

Yes, I agree. I will have to take that into account.

King_Of_Fools

SpanishBlue said:

HonestJohn said:

I will move anything above the mininum savings needed to qualify next year. Current account will be empty. When the time comes I will move the necessary funds in and out. I will make one transaction on my credit card to keep it active.

But they might have different criteria next year.

That is the biggest thing that makes this a lottery. You only find out the criteria after it is too late to do anything.
If they published the criteria beforehand then people can choose whether they want to earn the £100 or not. But as it is, there is an element of luck as to whether you will qualify next year.
In fact, if they actually marketed it as a "Loyalty Lottery" then it might not be taxable!

Personally, I would rather they just gave everybody 0.1% more interest on their savings but that would not get them all the free press headlines!  

Sarahspangles

There was a bit in the Guardian which suggests they are planning to do this annually.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/may/19/nationwide-to-pay-340m-of-profits-directly-into-customers-accounts

To be eligible, members must use Nationwide as their main current account and have one other product – either a savings account or a mortgage – with a minimum £100 balance.

I understand not everyone thinks the criteria are fair but I haven’t seen any bad press so far and people who have their current account with another bank can get a similar dividend by becoming a shareholder.

WillPS

castle96 said:

Roll on demutualisation. I am still a carpetbagger on NW

Highly unlikely to succeed. Mandatory charitable assignment since 1997 means that for every day that goes by, as pre-1997 members leave the society (either through death or account closure) and new members join the proportion of people who would gain anything from it gets smaller and smaller. I wouldn't be surprised if there is already a majority of members who are already subject to charitable assignment.

It was something of a masterstroke on the part of the society to ensure they remain a mutual as long as they remain viable.

PegasusPJ

Bridlington1 said:

allison445 said:

General_Grant said:

14wishy said:

I find the qualifying criteria for this payment very unfair. I have been a Nationwide customer for 25yrs. Held numerous savings accounts, ISAs, credit cards and current accounts over those years. So as a long term loyal customer member who, in March and currently has no savings account with them due to very poor rates, I will not qualify along with all their other members for this fairer fund.

Not very fair. Time to leave me thinks! 

Really?  5.25% "very poor"?

This rate is for saving between 25 and 50 a month its not for lump sum amounts the Nationwide interest rates have been stagnant for a while at the end of last year even TSB were paying more on there fixed term accounts

That hardly makes it a poor rate though. It is a very good rate with restrictions on the amount you can deposit, just like many other regular savers on offer. It's currently my 5th highest paying regular saver out of my 29-strong collection which isn't bad going when you consider that 2 of those accounts I have that beat it are now NLA.

Whilst I would of course like to be able to put more in it each month or for the rate to increase further (who wouldn't), I for one am happy with this 5.25% regular saver.

This is why I opened one in March, but because of the very low amount you can put in (almost didn't bother.. I've had several ones with them over the years, but this is so paltry), I'm missing the qualifying £100 by 6 days (like the other poster, had current account for 25 years, many savers accounts over the years, still have a CC, though don't use it anymore)