Nationwide relaunches £200 current account switching bonus – and it comes with a bumper 8% savings rate

Nationwide Building Society’s £200 switching deal for new customers is back.

Britain’s biggest building society reeled in a record number of current account switchers in the final three months of 2022, largely due to paying £200 to new joiners.

The deal is open to customers who move to a Nationwide Building Society from another bank via the current account switching service.

This is the top-paying switching incentive since NatWest recently pulled its £200 switching deal.

Bumper deal: Britain’s biggest building society is offering a juicy switching incentive and an 8% regular saver

Alongside this, Nationwide has also launched a new regular saver account with a rate of 8 per cent. You can tuck away a maximum of £200 a month in this account.

This is the highest regular saver rate available, but is only available to Nationwide customers with a FlexAccount, FlexDirect or FlexPlus account – both ones who switch to it, and existing ones.

Regular savers are only worth having if you want to start the savings habit. On the maximum allowed with the Nationwide regular saver, you’d get £104 interest over the year – that’s the equivalent of 4.25 per cent interest on a £2,400 lump sum. 

See our round up of the best regular saver rates here.

Nationwide claims that the combination of the switching deal and interest could earn customers £377 in the first year.

But there are some hoops to jump through to earn this amount. 

Customers would first need to qualify for the £200 switching bonus. Then you would need to open a FlexDirect account, qualify for the introductory offer and maintain a minimum of £1,500 in the account, which pays 5 per cent for 12 months, giving £73. 

If you were to deposit £200 on the first day of each calendar month into the Flex Regular Saver, you would get £104 after a year – amounting to a total of £377. 

Nationwide’s regular saver allows up to three withdrawals within the 12 months after the account opening.

To qualify for the £200 switching offer, customers must complete a full switch using the current account switch service. 

At least two active direct debits must be transferred to the new account.

An account can be opened on Nationwide’s website, online or in its app and the switch can be requested as part of the application.

If you already have a Nationwide account but hold your main account with another provider, you can switch your main account to a new Nationwide account (and have two Nationwide accounts), or you can switch your main account into your existing Nationwide account – as long as it is a FlexPlus, FlexDirect or FlexAccount. 

You can do this via Nationwide’s online banking system.

Lloyds Bank and TSB launched new switching deals for new Club Lloyds and TSB customers earlier this week.

Customers switching to a Club Lloyds current account from another account will be paid £175 within three days of switching.

While customers switching to a TSB Spend and Save or Spend and Save Plus current account will receive £150 for switching from another account.

Meanwhile First Direct currently has a £175 switching offer. It has also launched a limited-time prize draw for current account switchers, with new customers in with a chance of winning one of five £12,500 sums.

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk