Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Here’s a few facts to help you decide if Nationwide is the right place for your Business Savings.

• Choice of instant access, notice period and fixed term Business Savings accounts
• UK based telephone team dedicated to the needs of Nationwide Business Savers
• Security - we have strong credit rating grades to give you the reassurance that your business savings are safe and secure.

You can also find out more by downloading our About our Business Savings accounts guide which tells you more about the different accounts we offer.

If you open a new Business Savings account or you have existing account(s) these Business Savings account(s) will be covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) providing you meet the eligibility criteria.

To qualify for a business savings account, your business or organisation must:

• have annual turnover of less than £10 million.

Nationwide Business Savings accounts are for businesses and organisations established and operating in the UK, for example:

• Limited companies
• Charities
• Partnerships
• Sole Traders
• Housing Associations
• Clubs & Societies
• Parish Councils

The following types of businesses and organisations are ineligible for a business savings account:

• Banks/Building Societies
• Insurance Companies
• Corporate Trust
• Borough Council
• Cash/Liquidity Fund
• Company Pension
• Friendly Society
• Life Policy
• Investment and Unit Trusts

If you’d like to check if your business or organisation is eligible, please contact us. 

Businesses and organisations with an annual turnover of £10 million or more may be eligible to benefit from our Corporate Savings accounts.

All of our accounts are for your short and long term business savings needs. They're not suitable for use as a business current account or the day to day transactions of running a business.

Choose from one of our Business Savings accounts and fill in our online application form.

To qualify for a corporate savings account, your business or organisation must the following criteria:

• have an annual turnover of £10 million or more.

Nationwide Corporate Saver accounts are for businesses and organisations established and operating in the UK, for example:

• Limited companies
• Charities
• Partnerships
• Sole Traders
• Housing Associations
• Clubs & Societies
• Parish Councils

The following types of businesses and organisations are ineligible for a Corporate Saver account:

• Banks/Building Societies
• Insurance Companies
• Corporate Trust
• Borough Council
• Cash/Liquidity Fund
• Company Pension
• Friendly Society
• Life Policy
• Investment and Unit Trusts

If you’d like to check if your business or organisation is eligible, please contact us.

Business and organisations with an annual turnover of up to £10 million may be eligible to benefit from our Business Savings accounts.

All of our accounts are for your short and long term business savings needs. They're not suitable for use as a business current account or the day to day transactions of running a business. 

Contact us through one of our Relationship Managers who can tell you about rates and accounts for our Corporate Savings accounts. They can also help you to choose and open an account or combination of accounts to meet your needs.

Find out more about our Corporate Savings accounts.

Our Business Savings accounts can only be opened by applying online or you can contact us.

Nationwide branches can’t open a Business Savings account for you, however, if we’ve asked to see copies of ID after you’ve applied for a Business Savings account, you can take your ID in to your local branch to get it checked.

Please visit our Opening an account page to find all information you'll need to open a Business Savings account.

We may carry out electronic searches through credit agencies in line with UK Money Laundering Regulations, to help us identify you and confirm that the information you’ve provided is correct. These searches won’t affect your credit score and won’t be used by lenders to assess any credit applications.

For more details, please read our Use of information statement.

In most cases we’ll be able to verify your identity via the electronic checks we perform whilst we’re processing your application. However, if we’re unable to verify your identity, we’ll need to see original copies of your ID before we can open your account. This is to help us to protect your money and for us to meet UK Money Laundering regulations.

There’s a list of the original identification we can accept in any Nationwide branch or by post in our Proof of ID guide.

To open an account with us, your company must be incorporated in the UK.

If you live overseas but your company is incorporated in the UK, then our usual opening requirements apply. Please refer to the Opening an account section of these FAQs to find out more about this process.

To find out the progress of a new Business Savings application please contact us.

For Corporate Savings applications please contact us to get in touch with one of our Relationship Managers, who can update you.

Our Business Saver accounts are for businesses and organisations that:

• have an annual turnover of up to £10 million

Our Corporate Saver accounts are for businesses and organisations that:

• have a turnover of £10 million or more

You can find out more in our About our Business Savings accounts guide. Or if you need further support please email BusinessSavings@nationwide.co.uk.

We don't give advice on which account best suits your financial needs however we are available to help you open and manage your accounts.

If you’re a Business Saver, you can contact us.

If you’re a Corporate Saver, you can contact us to speak to one of our Relationship Managers. As well as helping you open and manage your Corporate Savings account, they can also tell you about our interest rates for Corporate Savings.

You can also download our guide About our Business Savings accounts to find out more.

We don't currently offer Business Current Accounts, our Business Savings accounts aren't suitable for everyday business banking purposes.

Depending on whether you’re a Business or Corporate Saver, you’ll find all the information you need to help you pay money into your Business Savings account by downloading one of the following guides:

Using your Business Saver account

Using your Corporate Saver account

As Nationwide aren’t a direct member of the Clearing House Automated Payment System (CHAPS), we use HSBC as our intermediary bank to route your funds into your business savings account. The above details can also be viewed on Nationwide.co.uk

Depending on whether you’re a Business or Corporate saver, you’ll find all the information you need to help you withdraw funds from your Business Savings account in the following guides:

Using your Business Saver account

Using your Corporate Saver account

Interest is calculated on the amount of cleared funds in your Business Savings account on a daily basis.

Unless you’re on one of our Fixed Rate accounts, you can choose the frequency of when your interest is paid (either monthly or annually) when completing the application form to open your Business Savings account(s).

Monthly interest is paid on the first working day of each calendar month and annual interest is paid on 31 March. If you have one of our Fixed Rate accounts, your interest will be paid upon maturity for a 1 Year saver, depending on the period of your fixed term. For 3 or 5 year saver, your interest will be paid on the anniversary date.

If you have a Business or Corporate Instant Access Account and the interest rate decreases, we’ll provide you with at least 14 days’ written notice before we make the change.

If you have a Business or Corporate Notice Account and the interest rate decreases we’ll provide you with at least 14 days’ written notice before we make the change. You'll have up to 30 days from the date we notify you to close your account without any loss of interest.

If the interest rate change is favourable, we’ll make the change immediately, and within 30 days of us making the change, we’ll provide and/or make available the information about the change.

If you have a Business or Corporate Fixed Rate Account, your interest rate will stay the same for the period of your fixed term.

If your balance is below the advised minimum required balance, you won’t receive interest on your account.

We’ve produced some helpful guides with hints and tips. Please click the link below to download the guide:

Using your Business Saver account

Using your Corporate Saver account

We’ll keep you informed about how your savings are performing in the following ways:

Monthly statement
We’ll send you a statement when you open your account. If you have an Instant or notice account, we’ll send you a monthly statement if there have been any deposits on the account, and a statement as soon as any withdrawals are made (see your account terms and conditions for deposit and withdrawal limits). If no deposit or withdrawal is made, and you’re receiving monthly interest, a statement will be sent on the 1st of the following month.

Annual statement
We’ll send you an annual statement every April.

If you want to receive any more regular statements, simply contact us.

If the entire balance of the account is withdrawn, the account will be closed.

Once the account has been closed, further deposits would require a new account to be opened.

If you have one of our Business or Corporate Fixed Rate Savings accounts we’ll contact you before your account matures to help you arrange the next step for your savings.

If you’re unable to decide what you’d like to do next by the time your account matures, we’ll transfer your closing balance into a Maturity Reserve account which has a variable interest rate.

We know we don’t always get it right, so if something goes wrong, please let us know, and we’ll do all we can reasonably do to put it right.

Please only call us if it is essential, as we need to support those who really need it urgently. If you have a question, please check our FAQs as they may have the answer.

Call us on: 0800 66 55 11

Write to us at:

Business Savings
Nationwide Building Society
Kings Park Road
Moulton Park
Northampton
NN3 6NW

If you’re not satisfied with the way we have dealt with your complaint and you're one of the following:

• A business with an annual turnover of up to £6.5 million and either employ less than 50 people or have a balance sheet of up to £5 million.
• Charity with an annual income of less than £6.5million.
• Trust with a net value of less than £5million.

You can refer your complaint to FOS first without giving us the opportunity to resolve it, but if you do this, they will only consider your complaint with our consent. FOS provides a free, independent, complaint resolution service. Details about their service and how to refer a complaint to them can be found on their website at www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk