Make sure you get possible Nationwide Fairer Share bonus 2025

TheBanker

Westy77 said:

Many thanks for bringing this to my attention guys ! Really appreciate the wealth of knowledge on this forum.

I just did my first Bank Account Switch to First Direct and was paid the bonus last week. :-) I was just about to use this Nationwide Current Account for my next adventure in switching when I discoved this thread! EEEK ! I nearly made a big error !!

Unfortunately, I missed out on this last year (as I didn't know anything about it, and had transferred the savings account qualifying amount to pay a bill a few weeks before the qualifying month !!). Given that I'd had the Easy Access Savings Account for 13 years, and a Flex Account for 3 years, I was certainly annoyed by my lack of knowledge. This is going to change for this year.

I have read the 2024 NW link that someone kindly posted, but, I have a couple of questions just to ensure I have understood the requirements correctly... (and yes, I am aware nobody knows for sure what the future qualifying requirements might be, but let's use 2024 as a framework).

Do my two above accounts meet the requirements? If yes, do my actions below sound right?

I have just transferred £500 into the current account to cover January income, and will do same for Feb and March.

I have set up two standing orders (per month) from the current account. (As it's money that was destined to overpay a credit card, they are all payments to the same credit card, so I hope that's ok?)

Should I also do a couple of debit card spends, just in case?

Anything else I should do to cover my back?

Many thanks

Based on last year's criteria, you would qualify. £500 into the current account and two payments out in two of the three months, and you would need at least £100 in your savings account at close of business on any day in March.

They could, of course, change the criteria. I don't think they will (unless they add more ways to qualify, which I think they did in 2024 compared to 2023). They already get quite a few complaints from people who missed out, I don't think they'd want to generate more complaints by changing the rules even though they are entitiled to do so. Having said that they may need to change the rules or amount if there's not enough profit to go around.

It is worth highlighting that the £100 payment is treated as savings interest by HMRC, so if you have already used your PSA you will need to pay tax on it. This means it's actually worth £80 to a basic rate tax payer and £60 to a higher rate tax payer. 

Westy77

Thanks for your detailed reply The Banker.
I see your reasoning on possible changes, so all I can do is cover the 2024 requirements (plus a little over and above were I can), and keep my fingers crossed.

Kat78MFW

Thank you so much for posting this. I have been making sure both my sole and joint NW account have been meeting the pay-in criteria since November but didn't realise about the two payments out. Shuffled some money around and now hoping to qualify on both accounts this year. 

In 2023, we still had a NW mortgage so my normal account activity qualified us for one payment. In 2024, I was paying £250 a month into the current account to fund two NW regular savers and by complete fluke, one month I'd paid in early so there was £500 total pay-in and another month I'd accidentally transferred 2 x £250 on the same day. So qualified on one account by chance.

This year I am pro-actively trying to meet the criteria on both accounts and hoping for a double payout.

PRAISETHESUN

Kat78MFW said:

Thank you so much for posting this. I have been making sure both my sole and joint NW account have been meeting the pay-in criteria since November but didn't realise about the two payments out. Shuffled some money around and now hoping to qualify on both accounts this year. 

In 2023, we still had a NW mortgage so my normal account activity qualified us for one payment. In 2024, I was paying £250 a month into the current account to fund two NW regular savers and by complete fluke, one month I'd paid in early so there was £500 total pay-in and another month I'd accidentally transferred 2 x £250 on the same day. So qualified on one account by chance.

This year I am pro-actively trying to meet the criteria on both accounts and hoping for a double payout.

The reward is per person, not per account. But meeting the current account criteria on a joint account means it will qualify both account holders for the current account side of things. To make sure both of you will qualify on the savings side of things, you either need to meet the criteria on a joint savings account, or both of you need to also hold a sole savings account that meets the criteria.

General_Grant

Westy77 said:

. . .

I have just transferred £500 into the current account to cover January income, and will do same for Feb and March.

. . .

Does "transferred" refer to a transfer from within Nationwide or from an account outside Nationwide.  The latter should qualify but not an internal transfer.

where_are_we

Westy77 said:

wiseonesomeofthetime said:

Have at least £100 in a qualifying savings account was also criteria last year I believe 

Yes, I have that covered . Thanks 

You mentioned having a Nationwide easy access savings account for 13 years. You would get a much higher return of interest with a Flex Regular Saver @6.5% - not easy access but allows 3 withdrawals a year. Maximum £200 a month but you don`t have to pay in every month. Open it before the end of January and you can deposit £200 this month and then £200 on the 1st February.

Westy77

where_are_we said:

Westy77 said:

wiseonesomeofthetime said:

Have at least £100 in a qualifying savings account was also criteria last year I believe 

Yes, I have that covered . Thanks 

You mentioned having a Nationwide easy access savings account for 13 years. You would get a much higher return of interest with a Flex Regular Saver @6.5% - not easy access but allows 3 withdrawals a year. Maximum £200 a month but you don`t have to pay in every month. Open it before the end of January and you can deposit £200 this month and then £200 on the 1st February.

Thanks for that, I will check it out 

Westy77

General_Grant said:

Westy77 said:

. . .

I have just transferred £500 into the current account to cover January income, and will do same for Feb and March.

. . .

Does "transferred" refer to a transfer from within Nationwide or from an account outside Nationwide.  The latter should qualify but not an internal transfer.

From outside Nationwide. Thankfully :-:smile:

anoukis

This bonus was a complete surprise for me last year. I don't remember what were the criteria in 2024, but I'm pretty sure I haven't made multiple payments of £500+ into my current account in 2024, yet I received the bonus/fair share payment. I only use my Nationwide FlexPlus account for the insurance benefits, paying £18 into it each month - and nothing else. I also have a regular saver with them. When do they publish t&cs for this fair share payment? Thanks. 

PRAISETHESUN

anoukis said:

This bonus was a complete surprise for me last year. I don't remember what were the criteria in 2024, but I'm pretty sure I haven't made multiple payments of £500+ into my current account in 2024, yet I received the bonus/fair share payment. I only use my Nationwide FlexPlus account for the insurance benefits, paying £18 into it each month - and nothing else. I also have a regular saver with them. When do they publish t&cs for this fair share payment? Thanks. 

The only requirement for FlexPlus account holders was that you had to pay the monthly fee. There was no need to meet account transaction criteria like there was for other types of accounts. Your RS would have taken care of the savings requirement.

The last few years they've published the criteria in May/June, but this is well after the qualification window so people are trying to guess what they will be this year and set up their accounts accordingly.