41,000 Nationwide members given up to £200 free cash

Thousands of Nationwide members have been paid up to £200 free cash to switch to the bank. The building society has been the clear winner of the lucrative bank switch wars in the past year, luring in more than 41,000 new customers – usually referred to as ‘members’ because the building society shares some of its annual profits with its account holders.

Data released by the Current Account Switching Service (CASS) shows that Nationwide racked up 41,450 switches to its accounts between July and September 2025. During that time, there were two separate bank switching offers made available to customers moving their accounts to Nationwide. From May 29 to July 10 2025, Nationwide offered customers £200 to switch to its FlexDirect, FlexAccount or FlexPlus accounts. Those who transferred at least two direct debits, paid in at least £1,000 within 31 days and made at least one payment with their debit card were eligible for the offer, provided they hadn’t previously received a switch bonus before.

This offer ended on July 10, but then on September 18, 2025, Nationwide launched a new offer, giving customers £175 to switch to its current accounts.

Though the up front cash was slightly lower for this later offer, those who made the switch were also offered 1% cashback on debit card spending on its FlexDirect account and 5% interest on balances up to £1,500 for the first 12 months.

It means that the 41,450 customers who made the switch would have been either paid £175 or £200 during this three month switching period tracked by CASS, assuming they correctly completed their switch.

Right now, another offer is on from Nationwide too. In February 2026, customers can get £175 free cash to switch, plus 5% interest on balances up to £1,500, 1% cashback for a year, a 6.5% regular savings account and 0% overdraft up to £500.

To qualify, you must switch from a different bank (or open one from scratch), with two direct cebits, pay in £1,000 within 31 days of the switch request and make at least one payment on a debit card. The £175 is then paid within 10 days of meeting all the rules.

Pay UK, which owns CASS, said: “End-user data, reported three months in arrears, revealed that Nationwide had the highest net switching gains, recording 41,450 switches between July and September 2025. This was followed by Monzo (9,934) and NatWest (8,731).”

John Dentry, Product Manager at Pay.UK, owner and operator of the Current Account Switch Service, said: “Reaching nearly 12 and a half million switches since launch is a significant milestone, and it’s encouraging to see switching volumes remain strong – with October and Q4 the busiest month and quarter of 2025, respectively.

“That level of activity is a clear sign of a healthy, competitive banking market, where people feel empowered to shop around and move to an account that better meets their needs.”

“What’s equally important is that people continue to rate the experience highly. With satisfaction and recommendation levels remaining consistently high, the Service is proving it can deliver fast, reliable switching at scale.

“At a time when every pound matters, we want consumers to feel confident they can move their money to an account that better suits their needs – quickly, easily, and with the reassurance of a free, guaranteed switch.”