Nationwide - 'Mutual building society'?

Rob5342

[Deleted User] said:

For once a little bit of loyalty was rewarded. The biggest moaners seem to be those who spend time switching bank accounts in order to gain from any potential offer. This time they lost out 🥳.

The very reason I stick with Nationwide is that it is a mutual. I am not alone in that opinion either. 

The ones that switched have probably got far more from the switching offers than the £100 they would have got by staying. I've made about £600 from switching in the last 18 months.

zagfles

TheElectricCow said:

[Deleted User] said:

For once a little bit of loyalty was rewarded. The biggest moaners seem to be those who spend time switching bank accounts in order to gain from any potential offer. This time they lost out 🥳.

The very reason I stick with Nationwide is that it is a mutual. I am not alone in that opinion either. 

Quite the opposite is true in my case - I opened a nationwide account solely for their £200 switching offer and since kept it open for no reason other than the 1 year introductory interest rate on £1500 in the current account. Each month I deposit exactly enough money to meet the conditions of this bonus rate then almost immediately redeposit that money elsewhere.

I also have one of their instant savings accounts that I opened at the same time, which randomly had some money in during the qualifying period while I was looking for somewhere better to leave it due to the poor Nationwide rates. This account has since been emptied and I have no intention to make further use of it for the time being. I do also have a start to save with a very small balance (sub-£100 so not enough to qualify for the payment), used just for convenience of needing a fund of small regular payments separate from my other accounts for a specific purpose later on.

I do not use Nationwide for any other general banking purposes, salary payments, or spending and have no loyalty to them whatsoever, yet because my regular money movements just so happened to coincide with their requirements I have inadvertently qualified for the £100. Naturally, I'm not moaning about it though, it's free money to me after all.

The whole Building Society thing is fine if that's what you're into, but personally I treat them just as I would any other regular bank and I'll likely leave if a more attractive offering elsewhere comes along that I can make better use off. The introductory interest bonus is now quite mediocre in the current market, and once that's over they don't really bring much to the table compared with other financial institutions.

And I've had a mortgage, current account, savings, and credit card with them for over 20 years, all of which I use, yet because I didn't meet their arbitary criteria for paying in/out of their current account in the specific time period, I don't get the bonus.

The whole point of a "building society", something they seem to pretend to want to preserve, is savings and mortgages. Current accounts aren't even offered by any other building society except Cumberland and then only for people in their area. The other 41 building societies in the UK don't offer current accounts, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_society

Yet the eligibity for the NW bonus not only depends having a current account but using it in a particular way.

This is such an own goal from Nationwide. They are excluding members who are actually loyal, who've been with them decades, who have been using them as a proper "building society" should be used, for savings and mortgages.

GhibliFan

Another long standing NW member here (26 years) who doesn't qualify. I'm £20 short of the required £500 p.m. paid in current a/c for 2 out of the 3 months.  And £400 over the requirement in one of those 3 months, but I suppose they have to draw the line somewhere.  

In consolation, I can open yet another savings a/c with them at 4.75% interest, as long as I leave the money in there for 2 years.  Yeah, so they can pay it out to a load of newbs who opened an account 5 minutes ago just to get switching cash. Not that I'm bitter or anything....

WillPS

gsmh said:

WillPS said:

ISTR you opened a thread boasting that you were immediately closing your Co-op Bank account having pocketed the £125 referral/switching incentive not long ago, am I mistaken?

You are correct. I switched all my direct debits and my pension to the new Co-op current account. I had every intention of using it as my everyday account. It's all down to motivation IMO. I have often switched accounts in the past but always to use them as they were intended rather than just to pocket free cash. I have also switched to accounts without an incentive - like Starling, which is now my everyday account. Digging dirt does not nullify an opinion - the right dirt could suggest hypocrisy, but the opinion could still be valid. A murderer could accept murder is wrong, but because they've murdered does not mean murder suddenly becomes acceptable. It's an embarrassing trait to be honest and it makes me cringe and the same people always do it.

Those benefitting from the splendid view of a glasshouse should think carefully before throwing stones.

xylophone

For once a little bit of loyalty was rewarded. The biggest moaners seem to be those who spend time switching bank accounts in order to gain from any potential offer. 

No.

Those with most to moan about are those who have been 

(a)  loyal savers with the society but who are completely disregarded  because they do not have a current account.

(b) those who have a mortgage with the society.

The irony is that the MUTUAL was not set up to offer banking services but a means of  mutual help - saving and borrowing to finance home ownership!

[Deleted User]

pridehappy said:

I personally don’t think Nationwide want to demutualise, as their whole business is made on mutuality and when you take a look at their website, it’s clear to see.

I believe the reason why they have put restrictions on the £100 is to ensure you are investing into the society and ensuring that you aren’t just opening it for the offer. I do agree that it should have been given to savings customers with a minimum balance though. 

The idea with Building Societies is they offer higher saving rates and lower mortgage rates than commercial banks due to no dividend payments. Not bung random members £100 every now and again regardless of minimum balance.

Of course, they don't want to demutualise - the staff will be getting treated better than a PLC and they would likely be a tasty morsel for Virgin Money or TSB as they have zero USP other than their mutuality.

[Deleted User]

p00hsticks said:

I confess I do find all the uproar on these boards  regarding Nationwide's mutual status just now strange, when it has been offering switch bonuses to new customers for a while and no-one here seems to have found that use of customers money either objectionable or discriminatory against its long term existing members...

They offer switching bonus to remain competitive basis with retail banks - something different.

Are the retail banks giving random customers £100 credits?

xylophone

Are the retail banks giving random customers £100 credits?

The retail banks are not mutual organisations.

TheBanker

[Deleted User] said:

p00hsticks said:

I confess I do find all the uproar on these boards  regarding Nationwide's mutual status just now strange, when it has been offering switch bonuses to new customers for a while and no-one here seems to have found that use of customers money either objectionable or discriminatory against its long term existing members...

They offer switching bonus to remain competitive basis with retail banks - something different.

Are the retail banks giving random customers £100 credits?

The retail banks distribute their profits equitably to their owners (shareholders). Whilst we may not be comfortable with the profits banks make, everyone knows how it works and there is nothing unfair about it. Unlike the Mutual Nationwide!

Becles

TheBanker said:

Becles said:

30+ years customer.
Savings criteria met.
Current account income met.
Current account withdrawals met.

Don't qualify because I have two current accounts for budgeting reasons. First one fails criteria as it doesn't have external bill payments coming out of it. Bills current account fails criteria as it's funded by the first current account.

Have you written to Nationwide to make your disappointment known? I think it's important that they understand there criteria have, perhaps accidentally, upset a lot of loyal, longstanding, profitable customers. 

They've had a look at my complaint and I've had an email saying I will be getting the £100.

I'm pleased as I do all my personal banking with Nationwide and I don't have any other current accounts or savings accounts.