Nationwide's 'Fairer Share' £100 payment for eligible members

2010

I wouldn`t pin much hope on this being a regular yearly "fairer share payment".
This year`s was the first time it was ever done and mainly due to excessive profits.

Catplan

Mum161111 said:

I'm not sure if I would be eligible, that is if the same Fairer Share is available from January, February and March 2024.

I don't have much in my Flex Account but I transfer out £200 every month into Nationwide Regular Saver. and one small Direct Debit goes out  to a non Nationwide Accountevery month.  I also have a Nationwide Savings Account with not much in it.

If it is the same system as last time, and I manage to put £500 in January, February and March would the money being paid out of my Flex Account (two payments in 2 of the 3 months,) have to be to a non Nationwide account, or would transfer from Flex into my Nationwide Savings Account, or would cash withdrawal at ATM be eligible?

By juggling I might manage it, although I would not be able to leave the £500 in every month for three months.  If I became eligible the extra payment would be really handy.

Very difficult to second guess what the eligibility criteria will be, but using it like a bank account, with a pay in of £x, x might be 500, 800, 1200…. Or whatever they decide. As for using it like a bank that could mean they expect to see card usage…. A number of DD’s who knows, what might be required for a deep and meaningful relationship, that’s if such payments are given again.

i got the payment last time, but would prefer they offered higher savings rate better mortgage rates etc (I don’t have a mortgage) but that’s what the profits should be used for to offer better products.

boingy

Catplan said:

, but would prefer they offered higher savings rate better mortgage rates etc (I don’t have a mortgage) but that’s what the profits should be used for to offer better products.

100% this. They are a mutual. They are supposed to reinvest the profits rather than hand them out on a somewhat arbitrary basis. 

I'll be meeting their previous criteria and fully expect to be disappointed because they have tweaked them!

GalacticaActual

Nationwide will be making an announcement on the 23rd May 2024, according to an email I received this afternoon, regarding this year’s potential fairer share payment:

Nationwide’s Board will decide on whether we can make a payment for 2024. That will depend on how well we have performed financially. The Board will make that assessment – and confirm this year’s eligibility criteria - after the financial year ends in April.

Look out for an announcement on 23 May 2024.

refluxer

As a reminder, the criteria for last year's offer was...

• Current account: To be a qualifying current account, your account must have been open on 31 March 2023. Qualifying members must still have a current account in June. 

• Savings: 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 2023. 

• Mortgage: To be a qualifying mortgage, you must owe us at least £100 on your Nationwide residential mortgage on 31 March 2023. 

...but it was this stipulation in the small print that made me ineligible... and many others who don't use their Nationwide current account as their main current account, I suspect.

• Between 1 January and 31 March 2023, did you pay in a minimum of £500 for at least 2 of the months? Transfers in from other Nationwide accounts do not count.

So with that in mind, it may be worth ensuring the current account is used for the next few months in a similar manner. That's presuming that (a) they actually make the payment again and (b) the terms are similar to last year, of course.

Largs

I am sure the other current account stipulation in addition to £500 in, was 2 payments out.  

Section62

I'm guessing they will need to reduce the number of eligible members to make the scheme affordable, hence the criteria will be tougher.

I'm going beyond last year's criteria, and also making sure I do some debit card payments as this would be an easy one for them to use to sort the lucky few from the substantial majority of the membership, who will miss out again.

TheBanker

2010 said:

I wouldn`t pin much hope on this being a regular yearly "fairer share payment".
This year`s was the first time it was ever done and mainly due to excessive profits.

If you look at their interim results (covering the period April - September 2023), they reported a profit after tax of £722m. But looking carefully, that's after a deduction of £344m to cover last year's fairer share payments. So just over £1bn if you add the bonus payout back in.

The previous year, the equivelent figure was £728m. 

All the banks that have announced their results so far have made record profits, mainly because of higher net interest margins. I doubt Nationwide will be massively different, their interest rate margins don't seem out of line with the banks. So I think there will be a surplus profit to share again this year.

I missed out last year because although I met the savings and mortgage criteria, I did not meet the current account criteria (I paid enough money through the account during the period, but didn't pay in £500 in two of the three months). This year, I've made sure to meet last year's criteria but like others I suspect they will change them. Direct Debits could be a requirement, as they're often used to define an 'active' account to qualify for switching bonuses. 

I think the fairer way to deal with excess profit is to pay a dividend based on balances held during the year. Nationwide should not be making a profit, and should not aribterily re-distributing wealth. If they based it on balances, then those who've contributed to the profit would receive some of it back. A bit like how Credit Union dividends work. 

refluxer

Largs said:

I am sure the other current account stipulation in addition to £500 in, was 2 payments out.  

Well remembered - I quickly checked back through the thread and found this quote...

"Plus, you must have made at least two payments out of your account each month, in two of those three months"

I suspect that meant payments either by debit card or a direct debit, rather than transfers to other accounts ?

TheBanker

refluxer said:

Largs said:

I am sure the other current account stipulation in addition to £500 in, was 2 payments out.  

Well remembered - I quickly checked back through the thread and found this quote...

"Plus, you must have made at least two payments out of your account each month, in two of those three months"

I suspect that meant payments either by debit card or a direct debit, rather than transfers to other accounts ?

I thought it was any payments excluding transfers between Nationwide accounts - so transfers out to ther banks would qualify. But the criteria may well change anyway.

I think a lot of people will have qualified through debit card transactions last year, if I remember rightly they ran a supermarket cashback promotion during the qualifying period.