Unfair to those that had a Nationwide Account since 1985

peteholland

Hello

I've had a Flex Account since 1985, and because they have moved the the eligibility requirements? 

MorningcoffeeIV

And because they have moved the eligibility requirements what?

peteholland

I've had a Flex Account since 1985, and because they have moved the eligibility requirements? 
I won't BE GETTING THE 100 POUNDS UNDER THE FAIR SAVER SCHEME Because I won't be fit the eligibility requirement and yet I ve had an account since 1985 and all those profits years that there have made and I lose Out, unfair and I shall close my account as soon as possible.
It's unfair and I am sure there are thousands of customers in my position that have to lose out due to Nationwide's narrow-minded view on who gets the share of the pot and who does not ..

MorningcoffeeIV

That seems fair enough. Criteria move on and they're allowed to give notice of changes.

You'll find the same with whatever provider you move to.

TheBanker

There are many threads about this already. To summarise:
Some people think it is unfair that people who don't hold a vurrent account, or do but don't meet the deposit criteria, have not been given a share of the profits irrespective of how much they hold in savings or how long they've been a member.

Other people think the distribution was perfectly fair.

The existing threads run to many pages but I think that's a fair summery!

Section62

MorningcoffeeIV said:

That seems fair enough. Criteria move on and they're allowed to give notice of changes.

You'll find the same with whatever provider you move to.

The thing is..... they didn't "give notice of changes".

This is one of many things people find unfair about Nationwide's approach to this "fairer share".

Rob5342

They act in their own best interests and everyone else should too. I've had at least 7 current accounts in the last 10 and have made far more than £100 by switching them.

EarthBoy

peteholland said:

I've had a Flex Account since 1985, and because they have moved the eligibility requirements? 
I won't BE GETTING THE 100 POUNDS UNDER THE FAIR SAVER SCHEME 

They haven't moved any eligibility requirements.   The Fairer Share scheme is brand new, they've never run it before, so there were no eligibility requirements for it previously, Nationwide have created them from scratch.

They could have give advance notice of the requirements, e.g. they could have told everybody in January that by some date in March, or whenever, they would need a current account with £X paid into it regularly, and a savings account with £X in it etc., but if they'd done that they would have been swamped with people trying to game the system and opening new accounts just to get the free £100. 

freesha

It is FREE MONEY (technically) that they are giving away. Of course they're allowed to set whatever criteria they like.

Section62

EarthBoy said:

peteholland said:

I've had a Flex Account since 1985, and because they have moved the eligibility requirements? 
I won't BE GETTING THE 100 POUNDS UNDER THE FAIR SAVER SCHEME 

They haven't moved any eligibility requirements.   The Fairer Share scheme is brand new, they've never run it before, so there were no eligibility requirements for it previously, Nationwide have created them from scratch.

They could have give advance notice of the requirements, e.g. they could have told everybody in January that by some date in March, or whenever, they would need a current account with £X paid into it regularly, and a savings account with £X in it etc., but if they'd done that they would have been swamped with people trying to game the system and opening new accounts just to get the free £100. 

You think nobody at Nationwide has the sense to avoid that obvious problem by making eligibility for the payout conditional on having the necessary account(s) open the day before the scheme was announced?

In exactly the same as the "Fairer Share" bond is only available to savers who were already Nationwide members on 18 May 2023.

Section62

freesha said:

It is FREE MONEY (technically) that they are giving away. Of course they're allowed to set whatever criteria they like.

It isn't "FREE MONEY".

It is (for the time being) money owned by the membership of Nationwide as a whole.  Soon it will belong to ~20% of the membership.

I don't think - as a mutual building society - they are allowed to set whatever criteria they like when distributing profits.  There are constraints on how things like this are done.  An obvious one being not discriminating in terms of the statutory protected characteristics. Decisions taken also have to be in the interests of members.

Nationwide have (apparently, I've not seen it) said that they consulted members over this distribution - which at least implies they think the way in which the criteria were set is something the membership should have had a say on.