Nationwide customers urged to take action for potential free £100 | Personal Finance | Finance

The details of Nationwide’s Fairer Share bonus for this year have not yet been revealed, but in the past two years, the bank has gifted certain existing customers a free £100 bonus.

Last year alone, the high street company distributed a total of £385million to 3.85 million customers, as reported by MSE. To increase their chances of receiving the payment, which is potentially due in the summer, customers may need to take some action in advance.

This includes being existing Nationwide customer and doing some strategic moves with their finances. If the building society applies the same criteria this year as it has previously, customers will need to meet three requirements.

Firstly, they must keep their Nationwide current account open until at least March 31, 2025. Secondly, they must use their current account before this deadline and finally, they must either have at least £100 in savings or owe £100 on a mortgage with Nationwide.

What counts as ‘use’ for the second requirement depends on the type of account you hold. Those with a FlexAccount, FlexBasic or FlexDirect have two options.

The first is depositing £500 and making two payments out of your account. The second option is to make over 10 payments out of the account in two of the first three months of the year.

Customers who hold a FlexPlus packaged account arguably have the simplest path, as previously just paying the account fee was considered usage for the scheme.

However, those with FlexOne, FlexGraduate or FlexStudent accounts must make a payment into and out of their account in March.

Those attempting to qualify for this account may find it beneficial to adhere to these criteria that have been used in the past, although there’s no guarantee they will remain the same this year.

In fact, Money Saving Expert advises people who currently don’t meet the savings or mortgage criteria to stash away £200 in an easy access or regular savings account with Nationwide, just in case the rates increase this summer.

Last year, Nationwide reached out to members who were eligible for the payment by May 31. The £100 bonus was then automatically deposited into their Nationwide accounts between June 13 and June 28.