NATIONWIDE will make a number of changes to its key accounts in a matter of months. On Friday, the bank told customers it has plans to make some changes for its current account and FlexDirect users. It is not uncommon for banks and building societies to make changes to customers' accounts, particularly when it comes to interest fees or overdraft charges. Nationwide has announced a number of changes for current account holders, which are set to come into place by May 2025.
![[Nationwide Building Society branch with ATMs.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/frontage-branch-nationwide-building-society-937808400_a17c8f.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
The update includes new protections to help victims of fraud and changes to how much you can pay into your account. A Nationwide spokesperson told The Sun: “We have reviewed our terms and conditions to ensure they are as clear as possible to our customers.”. Below we have rounded up four major changes for current account holders set to take place over the coming months, which you can check out below.
If you have a current account with Nationwide and it closes, the bank said from May it could pay whatever small amount is left over to a charity. Nationwide can close a current account if it is unused for 15 years, but the bank will try to contact account holders before closing it. Nationwide said the charitable donation would be in very limited circumstances and only if customers don't have another current account with the bank to which they can pay the money.
The changes also only apply if you have a small amount of money in it when it closes, such as a few pounds or pence. Nationwide will contact customers before this happens and you can still ask for the money to be returned. Nationwide has lowered the fee for sending large amounts of money to someone in the UK through CHAPS. CHAPS stands for Clearing House Automated Payment System and it is used by customers who need to send money between banks in the UK.
Nationwide currently charges customers £20 to send large amounts of money between UK bank accounts but it said from May it will lower this to £15. The bank also said it would lower its fees for sending money between bank accounts from outside of the UK from £20 to £15. Nationwide can already apply limits to the amount of money you can pay into your account. These limits can be applied to cash deposits, cheque deposits, and payments made online or in branch.
For example, the amount of cash you can pay in at any Nationwide branch counter is £5,000 per account, per day. This information is usually available for customers on the Nationwide website. But the bank said that come May, it could adjust the amount of cash customers can deposit without letting customers know. The bank said that this is reduce the risk of cash-based money laundering. If you are planning to lodge a significant amount of money in your account it may be worth ringing your local branch ahead of time to make sure the transaction can go ahead.
Nationwide said it is adding new protections so that you can get your. money back if you have been a victim of a scam. It comes as part of new rules launched in October by regulators, which require banks to reimburse people tricked into transferring money to a fraudster; these rules have come into force today. Under the shake-up, banks must reimburse authorised push payment (APP) fraud victims unless the customer has been "grossly negligent".
Customers were initially set to receive reimbursements of up to £415,000. However, the new rules have now implemented a cap of £85,000. Banks can exceed this limit and repay higher amounts if they choose. Nationwide said it will refund customers up to the maximum amount set by regulators if the payment was made in British Pounds. by bank transfer to another UK account. However, the bank warned that in some instances you may not get the money back.
This includes if you ignore a warning from Nationwide, the police or another authority that you might be a fraud victim. You may not also get a refund if you don’t tell Nationwide within 13. months of the final scam payment from your account. If you think you have been a victim of a scam, you can report it on the Nationwide website by visiting www.nationwide.co.uk/help/fraud-and-security/reporting-fraud-or-a-scam/.
Nationwide's current account allows people to manage their daily finances and access their cash quickly. Typically customers use these types of accounts to lodge their wages or pay bills. Meanwhile, Nationwide's FlexDirect account pays customers interest on the money they have lodged in the account. With this offer, customers get a 5% AER for the first 12 months on cash paid into the bank; this then lowers to 1%.
You do not have to pay a monthly fee to have this type of account nor do you face fees for withdrawing money. AER, or Annual Equivalent Rate, is used to show you what you could earn from a savings account over a year. If it is high, it means you will have more money in your savings account over a year because it indicates a higher rate of interest being paid on your savings. THERE are four types of savings accounts fixed, notice, easy access, and regular savers.