Nationwide is a building society that keeps making headlines recently – let’s have a look at why…
Fairer Share Bonus
Eligible Nationwide customers can expect to get £100 paid into their accounts over the coming weeks as part of their ‘Fairer Share’ scheme. The building society is paying out to 3.85 million of their customers as a way of sharing some of their profits.
Eligible members can expect to receive this payment between 13th and 28th June, and it will be transferred straight into their account. If you’re eligible for this payment, Nationwide should contact you by 31st May.
Eligibility
The word ‘eligible’ keeps cropping up there, so what actually is the criteria you must meet to get this payment?
You must have a Nationwide current account as well as one of their savings accounts or mortgages. These three things all have to meet certain criteria in order for you to qualify for the £100 payment.
You must:
Have opened a Nationwide current account on or before 31st March
If this is a FlexAccount, FlexBasic or FlexDirect you must:
Have received at least £500 into your account AND have made at least 2 payments out of it in two out of three of the first three months of the year (January, February, March)
OR
Have made at least 10 payments out of this account
If you have a FlexPlus
You must have been paying the monthly account fee
If you have a FlexOne, FlexStudent or FlexGraduate you must:
Have at least one transaction in your account during March 2024
Regardless of your current account, you must also:
Have held at least £100 across one or more of Nationwide’s savings accounts
OR
Have owed at least £100 on a residential mortgage with them on 31st March 2024
Virgin Money Takeover
Although this decision by Nationwide is likely to be met with a positive reaction by customers, they have not been quite so popular with some of them in recent weeks…
The building society has been facing criticism regarding its planned takeover of Virgin Money. They made a formal offer to buy their rival in March and Virgin Money shareholders voted for the acquisition to proceed on 22nd May.
A number of Nationwide customers have decided to sign a petition against this takeover in an attempt to stop it in its tracks.
“it was recently announced that the management of Nationwide want to proceed to buy the Virgin Money Bank for £2.9 billion without giving its members any say in the process. This is an outrageous show of arrogance and there is absolutely no guarantee that the acquisition of Virgin Money will benefit members in any way. The deal would result in a number of high profile managers and shareholders of Virgin Money making large sums of money at the expense of Nationwide members.
One of the justifications given by Nationwide management is that buying Virgin Money would give it a share of the business banking market. It could easily offer business banking service itself if it invested just a small proportion of the £2.9 billion it intends to spend on Virgin Money.” – ‘Give Nationwide Members a Say on the purchase of Virgin Money, Change.org
It seems that there may be some mixed opinions with Nationwide recently, but what can be said for certain is that they certainly know how to make a headline!