Nationwide Building Society has provided an update over who exactly is eligible for a 175 payment. The mutual is paying £175 if you will switch from a non-Nationwide bank account to a new or existing FlexDirect, FlexAccount or FlexPlus account with them. The qualifying rules include a restriction that at first glance excludes many people – but you may want to double check.

At the time of writing, the information page about the offer on the Nationwide website includes this restriction below the three-step summary of how to qualify for the cash: “This must be the first time you’ve had one of our current account switch offers since 2021.”

But if you scroll further down, you will find there are two notable exceptions to this. Under the frequently asked questions is the question: “I’ve had a Nationwide switch offer before. Can I get this one?”

The initial answer there is: “You can’t get this offer if you’ve had one of our current account online switch offers since 2021.” However, the information also states that there are two cases “where you can get it again”.

Customers are advised that if you previously had a switch offer for switching to an account in a sole name, you can still get the current £175 payment if you switch to a joint account this time. Likewise, if you previously had some bonus cash from Nationwide for moving to an account in a joint name, you will still qualify this time round if you switch to a sole account.

Asked to confirm the rules, Nationwide said that these two groups of cusomers may indeed qualify for the £175 on this occasion. If you want to check your banking history to see if you previously had a switch offer, Nationwide confirmed that it has had six previous Current Account Switch Service  (CASS) switch offers since 2021.

These ran from:

August 18, 2021 to October 2, 2022October 3, 2022 to November 30, 2022September 21 to December 22, 2023May 23 to July 4, 2024September 25, 2024 to March 31, 2025May 29, 2025 to July 10, 2025

If you are looking for either of the two offers which were available earlier this year, the September 2024 to March 2025 switch offer was for £175 while the May 2025 to July 2025 amount was for £200. So if you received the May to July payment as well as the current £175 one, you could get a total of £375 in bonus switch payments.

If you cashed in one of these payments and are looking for it on your account statement, it may have arrived some time after the final date for the offer. With bank switch offers, there are often conditions you have to meet that with time limits that stretch beyond the end date to qualify for the offer.

For example, for the current £175 offer, you have 31 days to complete certain account actions with your new account. Nationwide will then pay you the £175 within 10 days of meeting all the requirements, so this could be over a month after when you first requested your switch.

One curious customer asked Nationwide to confirm when exactly the “since 2021” restriction works, as they had previously had a switch offer that year, in September 2021. Nationwide confirmed this means since August 18, 2021, when the first of its CASS switch offers launched.

Who qualifies for the Nationwide £175 switch offer?

To get the £175, you need to switch from a non-Nationwide bank account to a new or existing FlexDirect, FlexAccount or FlexPlus account. You will need to request a full switch using the Current Account Switch Service.

A full switch includes closing your old account. This has to be completed within 28 days. You also have to pay in at least £1,000 into your new account and make at least one debit card payment from your new account.

These two steps have to be completed within 31 days of either opening your new account or applying for the switch into an existing account.

You will get the £175 paid into the Nationwide account you have switched to, within 10 days of you meeting all the requirements. The funds will appear on your statement as ‘Switching Offer’.

If you are switching to a joint account, you will only get one £175 payment. Nationwide can close the offer at any time, but if you’ve already requested your switch when they do, you can still get the cash.