16th Mar 2025
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Nationwide has two upcoming payments to its customers – but do you qualify, and could it net you £150 free in your bank account this year?
The Thank You £50
The first payment is a one-off £50. That’s because Nationwide customers – who are also its shareholders, because it’s a building society – supported the merger of Nationwide and Virgin Money. Now, Virgin customers are part of the Nationwide family. As a ‘thank you’ for supporting the acquisition, Nationwide customers will get the £50.
To be eligible for the payment, you need to have been a Nationwide member on or before 30th September 2004, and still have an account now. You must also have:
- had at least one qualifying transaction on your current or savings account, or
- owed at least £100 on one or more Nationwide residential mortgages, or
- held at least £100 in total in one or more of your Nationwide current or savings accounts.
If you switched to Nationwide before you could make any of these transactions or hold these amounts, you still qualify if you switched accounts using the Current Account Switch Service between 1st July and 30th September 2024.
It is worth noting that this bonus is treated as interest for tax purposes, so while most people won’t need to acknowledge it on a self assessment form, if you pay tax on your interest as a higher rate earner or as you have earned more than £1000 interest in a year, you’ll need to include this payment in your calculations.
The Nationwide Fairer Share £100 Payment
This one hasn’t been guaranteed yet but it has happened in the last two years and looks likely once again. It’s a £100 bonus that is paid to qualifying customers with a Nationwide current or savings account and/or a residential mortgage. If you have any of these, don’t close your account! They usually announce at the end of the tax year whether the Fairer Share payment will be paid, as well as the eligibility requirements – but one of those requirements will definitely be that you must still hold a Nationwide account at the time the payment is made in the spring.