Nationwide is offering a new top of market switching incentive from Wednesday 25 September – paying £175 to those switching their current account.
Britain’s biggest building society will also pay one per cent cashback on debit card spending for those with a FlexDirect current account and will be introducing a £50 interest free overdraft buffer.
It is the latest move from Nationwide that shows the value of being part of a modern mutual that invests profit for the benefit of members. Last year Nationwide returned £385 million to eligible members through a £100 Fairer Share payment earlier this year, while it remained first for customer satisfaction amongst its peer group for the 12th year running.
Tom Riley, Director of Retail at Nationwide Building Society, said: “We want to give people every reason to join Nationwide. Our new incentives are the latest demonstration of how we are making banking more rewarding for customers. We believe this shows the difference of being part of a modern mutual, which reinvests it profits for the benefit of members and customers, not shareholders.”
Switching incentive:
To qualify for the incentive, customers must complete a full switch using the Current Account Switch Service. A minimum of two active Direct Debits must be transferred to the new account as part of the switch. Customers must also deposit £1,000 and make one debit card payment within 31 days.
A new account must be opened via Nationwide’s website, Internet Bank or Mobile Banking App. The switch must be requested as part of the application. Existing customers can also switch a current account they hold with another provider to an existing account they hold with Nationwide via the Internet Bank. The switch must be completed within 28 days of it being requested.
Customers can switch to one of the Society’s three main current accounts:
- FlexPlus: a market-leading packaged account with benefits including worldwide family travel insurance, mobile phone insurance, UK and European breakdown cover and commission-free usage abroad for £13 per month.
- FlexDirect: an online account paying 5% AER credit interest and offering 1% cashback on debit card spend.
- FlexAccount: an everyday bank account where customers can bank online and in branch for no fee.
Cashback:
Customers who open a FlexDirect account and haven’t benefitted from a previous FlexDirect incentive will also receive one per cent cashback (capped at £5 per month) for the first 12 months on debit card spend alongside receiving a market-leading 5 per cent AER credit interest on balances up to £1,500 for the first 12 months.
Research with Nationwide customers highlighted they preferred to be rewarded for their everyday essential spending and that they wanted it to be easy to get the cashback rather than having to opt in with a specific retailer.
Overdrafts
In November, Nationwide is launching a £50 interest free buffer to support new and existing customers who may occasionally dip into their overdraft. The buffer will apply to overdrafts on all the Society’s three main current accounts (FlexPlus, FlexDirect and FlexAccount) and will reduce the representative APR to 38.2 per cent.
The introductory overdraft offer on FlexDirect will be withdrawn for new account openings and replaced by cashback. There will be no change for existing FlexDirect customers already benefiting from an existing offer.
