Nationwide cuts rates on 16 popular savings accounts

Nationwide is cutting the interest rates it pays on more than a dozen popular accounts, in what it says is a response to the Bank of England lowering the Base Rate in February.

From 1 June, Nationwide will lower rates by between 0.10 to 0.25 percentage points on specific savings products.

The majority will reduce by less than the change in Bank Rate, which was cut by 0.25 percentage points to 4.5% on 5 February.

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However the interest rate on Nationwide’s Flex Instant Saver will be cut by the full 0.25 percentage points to 2.75%.

In an announcement on 2 May, Tom Riley, Nationwide’s director of retail products, said: “We have worked hard to limit the impact of the recent rate cut on our savers and have taken the decision to hold off from making changes for as long as possible.”

Rates on the Flex ISA / Flex Saver and other instant access savings accounts – for example Instant Access Saver, Easy Access ISA, and CashBuilder – will be cut by between 0.20 and 0.25 percentage points. Instant Access Saver 10 will see its interest rate dropped by 0.20 percentage points to 1.85%.

Most fixed access savings accounts customers are having their interest rates cut by 0.20 percentage points.

This includes the Reward Single Access ISA, Single Access Saver / Single Access ISA, Limited Access Saver / Limited Access Online Saver, e-Savings Plus and the Triple Access Saver / Triple Access ISA.

There will be no changes to Nationwide’s Children’s FlexOne Saver, Flex Regular Saver and Start to Save products.

Moves to cut savings rates will be less welcome than news Nationwide is paying millions of customers a £50 "Thank You" bonus to celebrate its takeover of Virgin Money.

Nationwide acquired Virgin Money in a £2.9 billion deal in October 2024, in the biggest UK bank takeover since the 2008 financial crisis, creating the UK's second-largest mortgage and savings group.

Nationwide is also hoping to pay millions of customers another Fairer Share payment this year, expected to be £100.

Which Nationwide’s savings accounts are changing?

Fixed rate savings accounts launched

Nationwide has been known for having some of the best savings accounts on the market, such as its former 8% regular saver.

Adding to its range, at the end of April, Nationwide launched a new Fixed Rate Cash ISA, Fixed Rate Bond and Fixed Rate Branch Bonds.

The new rates – which are unaffected by the latest announcement on cuts – are:

• Fixed Rate Cash ISA, 1 year fix, 4.00%
• Fixed Rate Cash ISA, 2 year fix, 3.80%
• Fixed Rate Bond, 1 year fix, 4.00%
• Fixed Rate Bond, 2 year fix, 3.80%
• Fixed Rate Branch Bond, 1 year fix, 4.00%
• Fixed Rate Branch Bond, 2 year fix, 3.80%

Savers can open the fixed rate accounts with as little as £1.

The online bonds can be opened via Nationwide’s website, internet bank and banking app while the fixed rate branch bonds can only be opened in a branch.

Nationwide’s fixed rate cash ISAs accept transfers in and can be opened via internet banking, the banking app or in a branch.