Customers of a major bank could get a free £100 deposited into their accounts next month. However, there are specific criteria you need to meet to qualify.
With this in mind, the team at Money Saving Expert (MSE) – the website founded by Martin Lewis – explained more about the deal, sharing exactly how to qualify.
“A total of £440 million will be paid to 4.4 million customers, after the building society announced profits of £2 billion for the year up to 31 March 2026. This is the fourth year in a row that Nationwide has given out the bonus – last year, it paid out a total of £400 million to four million customers.
“Customers of Virgin Money, which was taken over by Nationwide this April, are not eligible for the payment this year. Nationwide says these customers “could be eligible for a Fairer Share payment in 2027, which will include qualifying Virgin Money accounts”.
“As always future payments are dependent on the building society’s financial performance.”
How to qualify
It is important to note that not all Nationwide customers will get the free cash. There are three main qualifying criteria for 2026:
- You must have had an open Nationwide current account on March 31 2026, and
- You must have used your current account in the first three months of this year (January, February, March), and
- You must have had at least £100 in savings with Nationwide at the end of any day in March 2026, or owed at least £100 on a Nationwide mortgage on March 31 2026
The exact criteria for the second point depends on which current account you have.
FlexAccount, FlexBasic or FlexDirect:
- Either in two of the first three months of this year, pay in at least £500 from a non-Nationwide account and make two payments out of your account
- Or in two of the first three months of the year, make 10 or more payments out of your account
- Or between 1 January and 31 March 2026, complete a full current account switch from another provider to Nationwide
FlexOne, FlexGraduate or FlexStudent:
- Either in March 2026, make a payment in from a non-Nationwide account or make a payment out of your account
- Or complete a full current account switch to Nationwide FlexOne or FlexStudent (not FlexGraduate) between 1 January and 31 March 2026
FlexPlus packaged account:
For more information, visit MSE here.