Nationwide forced to defend £50 takeover reward
Nationwide has been forced to defend a surprise £50 bonus to its 12million members after a leading campaigner said the cash could be better spent elsewhere.
Britain’s biggest building society, led by Debbie Crosbie, is making the £600million payout following its takeover of Virgin Money – the biggest in banking since the financial crisis of 2008.
Nationwide has claimed the deal makes it ‘a stronger mutual’. However, it has proven controversial after its members had no say on the £2.9billion deal – despite owning the firm.
James Sherwin-Smith, who led the push for a vote, said: ‘Nationwide has a habit of doing something first and then asking or ignoring members.’
Cash in hand: Britain’s biggest building society, led by Debbie Crosbie (pictured), is making the £600m payout following its takeover of Virgin Money
How to qualify for Nationwide’s £50 bonus
The ‘Big Thank You’ payments will be doled out to more than 12million members who had a savings or current account, or mortgage, at the end of September 2024.
To be eligible, members must have also made at least one transaction on their current account or savings account or had at a balance of at least £100 in their current account, savings or mortgage in the 12 months to the end of September 2024.
Nationwide added: ‘They must also still have their accounts or mortgage at the time the payment is made.’
According to Nationwide, 19.4 per cent of the payouts will be made to eligible members in the south east of England.
Around 11.6 per cent will go to people in London, while just 2.3 per cent of the £12million will go to people in the North East, Nationwide said.
Nationwide said acquiring Virgin Money had made it ‘even stronger and able to deliver the benefits of mutuality to even more people in the UK.’
What about Fairer Share Payments?
Nationwide has offered a £100 Fairer Share bonus to eligible customers for two consecutive years.
This remains separate from the £50 payouts linked to the Virgin Money deal announced this week.
Today, the lender said it hoped to announced a new Fairer Share Payment in May, but added that this was dependent on the group’s financial performance.
Since the scheme was launched in 2023, the building society has paid more than £700million to customers.
The building society has around 16million existing members, but less than four million qualified for the Fairer Share scheme payout in 2024.
To qualify for the Fairer Share payout, members typically need a qualifying active Nationwide current account, plus either a qualifying Nationwide savings account, or cash Isa – or a Nationwide mortgage.
In the last two years, to qualify for Nationwide Fairer Share payouts, customers needed to have had at least £100 in a savings account or a cash Isa ‘at the end of any day in March’.
So, customers with a Nationwide current account should act now to ensure they have at least £100 in their savings account or cash Isa at some point this month. For a mortgage, there needs to be at least £100 owed on it.
The building society previously confirmed that Virgin Money’s customers will not be eligible for any payment.
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