Nationwide Fairer Share: Free £100 bonus confirmed for 2026 – here's who will get it

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.

Here's who will get the £100 Nationwide payment

As in previous years, not all Nationwide customers will get the free cash. These are the qualifying criteria for 2026:

1. Firstly, you must have had an open Nationwide current account on 31 March 2026.
   
   AND…

2. Secondly, you must have used your current account in the first three months of this year (January, February, March). The exact criteria depends on which current account you have:

   Account	What you had to do
   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+ 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	Just pay the monthly fee.

   *Payments OUT can include debit card transactions, Direct Debits, bank transfers and standing orders (but not transfers to other Nationwide accounts you have).

   
   

   AND…

3. Finally, 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 31 March 2026.

If you qualify, you'll get the payment automatically – watch out for scams asking you to apply

The money will be paid directly into your Nationwide current account between 10 June 2026 and 30 June 2026 and will appear on your statement as 'Nationwide Fairer Share Payment'.

If you close your account before the £100 is paid, and you don't have another Nationwide current account, you won't be eligible to receive the reward, as Nationwide says it won't make the payment any other way.

Watch out for scams inviting you to claim or apply for the payment or asking you to hand over your personal details.

Any payment will be treated as savings income for tax purposes

The £100 payment is taxable savings income, which will be treated in the same way as any interest you earn on your savings account or current account.

Most people won't have to pay tax on the reward, thanks to the personal savings allowance that allows basic-rate taxpayers to earn up to £1,000 a year from savings tax-free. But if you're a higher-rate taxpayer and/or you have a substantial amount in non-ISA savings, you may have to pay tax on the £100 bonus.

For those who don't file self-assessment returns to pay their taxes each year (which is most people), then you won't need to do anything as Nationwide will report the bonus to HMRC automatically for you. However, if you do pay tax through the self-assessment system, you will need to include any payment in your tax return.

Watch Martin's savings interest video for full details on who pays savings tax, how you pay it if you owe it and, crucially, how to (legally) reduce the amount of tax you pay.

Nationwide is also offering 5% savings for existing customers

In addition to the Fairer Share payment, Nationwide has also launched a fixed-rate savings account paying 5% on up to £10,000 for 15 months. This beats the top fixes elsewhere, which currently pay up to 4.8% for one year or up to 4.76% for two years.

The fixed-rate saver is available to anyone who had a Nationwide or Virgin Money current account, savings account or mortgage account on 20 May 2026 (and still has one when applying for the new fixed savings).