News

• Parents could expect to spend more than £15,500 on a child's school years from reception to GCSE, with school clubs accounting for the biggest share of the bill, according to new Nationwide research.
• Back-to-school costs are squeezing budgets, with 49% stressed and families cutting back
• Nearly a quarter use clubs for childcare, with 22% of parents relying on them to cover childcare gaps
• Families confess kids have lost or worn out around 325 items during their time at school
• Nationwide and Finder launch new back to school calculator to find out how clubs, uniform and trips costs compare and money personalities– https://www.finder.com/uk/budgeting/cost-of-the-school-year
• Jordan Banjo talks about the value of clubs to him growing up
• Finder’s parent consumer expert Kate Steere shares her experience and tips on kids clubs

• Free credit score service provides easy access to customers’ credit information.
• Forms part of wider commitment to improving financial confidence and wellbeing.
• FCA research finds that 39% of people who checked their credit report or score say they understood it very well.
• Around one in ten (9%) don’t understand it very well or at all.

• Free ‘Better Off Indicator’ available online, by phone, and in branch as people struggle with cost of summer holidays
• Nationwide identifies £115m of additional annual support since June 2025, with households discovering £555 per month on average
• Half of low-income parents may delay rent or mortgage payments to cover essential summer holiday costs
• 56% expect to delay household bills over school holidays; 63% likely to rely on Buy Now Pay Later to cover summer break
• Free benefits service available to Nationwide and Virgin Money customers and non-customers alike

• Reductions of up to 0.15 percentage points for new and existing customers across first-time buyer, home mover and remortgage ranges
• Nationwide’s lowest fixed rate now 4.48% for new and existing customers looking to move home

• Towns across the UK are being invited to enter the 'Let's Celebrate Towns' competition, the UK wide showcase delivered by Visa in partnership with Nationwide, now in its fourth year.
• Winning towns will each receive a £20,000 grant towards community-led projects or new initiatives that give small businesses a boost.
• This year, towns can enter across five categories: High Street Revival, Backing Local Business, Protecting Valued Places, Connected Places and Community Pride.
• The launch comes amid a renewed national focus on local pride, as the Government invests up to £5.8 billion in nearly 300 communities through its Pride in Place Programme, an ambition Let's Celebrate Towns shares by helping the best local ideas spread across the country.
• Entries will be judged by an independent panel spanning business and industry bodies, with winners announced at an awards ceremony in Parliament on 14th December 2026.

• Money mistakes dominate students’ biggest regrets, Nationwide FlexStudent research reveals
• Noise, stolen food and mess spark the most house-share fallouts
• Students spend up to £300 a week on food & drink; mini fridges, air-fryers and microwaves top shopping lists
• Nationwide’s FlexStudent offers £100 cash, £120 Just Eat vouchers; interest-free, fee-free overdrafts up to £3k and commission-free purchases & withdrawals abroad, plus new limited-edition card designs[1]
• Student case studies available:
  • o Second-year Nottingham student Erin (saved money with Oasis ticket 'hack', selling on Vinted and Just Eat ‘floor picnics’ with friends)
  • o Glasgow graduate Georgina (whose laptop broke first term and who started part-time work sooner than planned to cover socialising)

Nationwide has today (Friday 14 August) launched new Fixed Rate Cash ISAs and Fixed Rate Bonds with increased rates.

• Free accessibility tool - Speak Easy communication cards now available to all financial services providers on the high street
• One in five people in the UK will experience communication difficulties at some point in their lives¹
• Brands already onboard include Virgin Money, NatWest, Santander, AIB Group (UK) p.l.c., Bank of Ireland and Skipton Building Society
• Cards and participating organisations can be found at Signing Banks’ Speak Easy website, with plans to update as new brands join
• Nationwide is developing guidance to help organisations beyond banking implement the free Speak Easy cards, with the aim of creating a recognised and consistent accessibility tool for customer-facing sectors

• Reductions of up to 0.19 percentage points for new and existing customers across first-time buyer, home mover and remortgage ranges
• Nationwide’s lowest fixed rate now 4.52% for new and existing customers looking to move home

• Nationwide’s FlexStudent’s offer is back - 12 months of Just Eat vouchers worth £120, and £100 cash payment, available on accounts opened from 15 July
• FlexStudent also offers interest-free, fee-free overdrafts up to £3k and commission-free purchases & withdrawals abroad
• Nationwide won 48% of UK’s student accounts and served up over half a million (528,000) takeaways to freshers
• New Limited edition card designs – three colours, issued at random (images available)

• Proposed capital reforms would provide over £40bn of potential new lending for mortgages and businesses
• Review of leverage ratio framework would support economic growth while maintaining resilience
• More proportionate rules would better reflect the low-risk nature of building society lending