Nationwide Fairer Share

Nasqueron

WillPS said:

clairec666 said:

WillPS said:

£500 in and 2 payments of £250 out was perfectly sufficient, ensuring the payments are from and to non-Nationwide accounts.

As always, no guarantee of stability with these terms or indeed if there even will be a Fairer Share next year.

True. The conditions were near enough identical for the past two years, but Nationwide might try to mix it up a bit so that they are rewarding genuine members and not just people who try to second guess the conditions based on the previous year.

I think they'd probably have a bit of a PR disaster in their hands if they tried to tighten eligibility personally, more likely they'd just say it's not happening and do something else.

But either way nothing is for certain with it going forward.

The PR they get for giving people free money would be more than enough to outweigh a few easily ignored complaints of someone who doesn't use them as a main bank and gambles on getting free money by doing the bare minimum and loses because the criteria changes. I did £1000 in every month (for flex direct bonus but it's simple to do on payday!), used the regular saver and bought a few carrots every month from September to be over the requirements, can see how it goes next year

Exodi

WillPS said:

clairec666 said:

WillPS said:

£500 in and 2 payments of £250 out was perfectly sufficient, ensuring the payments are from and to non-Nationwide accounts.

As always, no guarantee of stability with these terms or indeed if there even will be a Fairer Share next year.

True. The conditions were near enough identical for the past two years, but Nationwide might try to mix it up a bit so that they are rewarding genuine members and not just people who try to second guess the conditions based on the previous year.

I think they'd probably have a bit of a PR disaster in their hands if they tried to tighten eligibility personally, more likely they'd just say it's not happening and do something else.

But either way nothing is for certain with it going forward.

I'm not so sure, the Fairer Share Payment is still fantastic publicity.

Despite that, introducing the Fairer Share Payment was a storm in a tea cup on here, with some people arguing they shouldn't make such significant profits to warrant a payment and should instead focus on improving their rates (I can somewhat agree with this), but to be honest it was mainly people furious they were not eligible for the payment, despite technically being a member. I remember countless 30+ page threads on it, I think this forum can be in a bit of a vacuum to public opinion sometimes.

If they did decide to tighten up the rules (for example even a slight adjustment to 'pay in over £500, make over 2 payments and hold over £100 in a savings account) targeting the people who only bank with Nationwide specifically for the Fairer Share payment, I'd expect they'd simultaneously garner some support from the customers who might be 'genuinely' banking with Nationwide, especially if the payment were to increase as a consequence for the majority.

Personally I'm surprised the savings limit has been so low in the past.

dcs34

I'm still not sure why they've paid money to advertise it on podcasts and radio well into the Summer (i.e. after anyone who'd have got it was already eligible and likely already spotted the payment. So it can only be they see it as an attractive offer for new customers who think they'll get the same next year whilst Nationwide aren't actually obligated to do so.

WillPS

Entirely agree that it is likely to continue in its present form, I'm just qualifying that it isn't guaranteed and opining that dropping it altogether would possibly be easier from a PR perspective than tightening eligibility (not suggesting this is likely tho).

Also agree that the groaning on here at the time was not at all proportionate. Same for VM takeover fury, same again for all the calls every year to try and whip up a rebellion at AGM. The membership are largely disengaged and the numbers who are engaged and broadly happy dwarf those who are not.

Worth noting that each subsequent year has slightly widened eligibility - no doubt to help them hit some record payout level. Be interesting to see what happens when tougher times eventually come, but until then it's a lovely yearly bonus.

Middle_of_the_Road

SevenOfNine said:

clairec666 said:

SevenOfNine said:

clairec666 said:

Nationwide's fairer share payment for 2025 has already been paid out. Are you talking about the 2026 payment instead?

Sorry, yes 2026, my brain is a bit frazzled! Thanks.

Can't be sure about your original question about payments out - this year I did two debit card payments and I qualified for the bonus.

Main thing to note is that the 2025 criteria were based on your account activity in January, February and March. Assuming they use similar criteria for 2026, you don't need to worry about it for a few months yet!

Also if they're using the same criteria again, you need to have at least £100 in a Nationwide savings account or ISA at some point in March, as well as holding one of the relevant current accounts.

Thanks, we have a FlexPlus so the criteria was different (just savings & pay £18pm account fee). I need to dump FlexPlus with the monthly fee now.

You've clarified the paying out requirement can be a couple of debit card spends if I switch to a FlexAccount, so I think switching is better than just dumping FlexPlus.

Cheers.

If you're not had one before, a Flex Direct account pays 5% interest on the first 1.5k

Hattie627

Just reading this thread has reminded me of the possibility of the Nationwide Fairer Share payment in 2026.

I'm going to start paying in £1K per month to my flex current account from October. If they are going to tighten things in 2026, I could see the monthly current account deposit requirement going up from £500 to £1000 and also making it 6 months (October to March) instead of January to March as in 2024 and 2025. Just my musings.

PRAISETHESUN

You could also preempt it by setting up a CASS switch with a dummy account at the start of next year. The last few years that has been an alternative to the pay in requirements, and I know it has qualified a few people on the forums who would have otherwise missed out on the payment. Could be a good hedge against any changes to the requirements next year.

Hattie627

PRAISETHESUN said:

You could also preempt it by setting up a CASS switch with a dummy account at the start of next year. The last few years that has been an alternative to the pay in requirements, and I know it has qualified a few people on the forums who would have otherwise missed out on the payment. Could be a good hedge against any changes to the requirements next year.

Great idea. I am going to switch one of my 3 redundant Halifax Reward current accounts to Nationwide. Need to check the timing: was it Jan to March last year to complete the switch or just March?

PRAISETHESUN

In previous years 01Jan to 31Mar was the timeframe to switch

Nasqueron

Middle_of_the_Road said:

SevenOfNine said:

clairec666 said:

SevenOfNine said:

clairec666 said:

Nationwide's fairer share payment for 2025 has already been paid out. Are you talking about the 2026 payment instead?

Sorry, yes 2026, my brain is a bit frazzled! Thanks.

Can't be sure about your original question about payments out - this year I did two debit card payments and I qualified for the bonus.

Main thing to note is that the 2025 criteria were based on your account activity in January, February and March. Assuming they use similar criteria for 2026, you don't need to worry about it for a few months yet!

Also if they're using the same criteria again, you need to have at least £100 in a Nationwide savings account or ISA at some point in March, as well as holding one of the relevant current accounts.

Thanks, we have a FlexPlus so the criteria was different (just savings & pay £18pm account fee). I need to dump FlexPlus with the monthly fee now.

You've clarified the paying out requirement can be a couple of debit card spends if I switch to a FlexAccount, so I think switching is better than just dumping FlexPlus.

Cheers.

If you're not had one before, a Flex Direct account pays 5% interest on the first 1.5k

For a year just to add - after a year it drops to 1% or something which is when I am using another holding location. Keep the account open of course for the regular saver, it's not terrible and qualified for the Fair Share criteria in previous years