Nationwide launches savings accounts with £100 prizes

The building society's new account will pay customers 1% in interest and offer £100 in cash prizes

Savers seeking a new home for their cash can open a Nationwide account that rewards frequent saving with regular prize draws.

The building society’s ‘Start to Save’ account is available online only and can be opened with as little as 1p. It pays interest of 1% a year, and provides instant access.

Savers can tuck away a maximum of £100 per month, and those who pay in at least £50 every three months will be entered into a prize draw to win £100.

There will be four prize draws beginning on 21 July 2020, then on 21 October 2020, 22 January 2021 and 23 April 2021.

The more customers save into their accounts, the higher the prize pot and the more prizes on offer.

For each draw the total prize fund will be 1% of the total balance increase across all qualifying Start to Save accounts in the three months leading up to the draw.

Savers can withdraw their money at any time. However, some or all of it may need to be paid back into the account to be entered into the prize draw.

Tom Riley, Nationwide’s director of savings, said: “By launching Start to Save, we are offering an account for savers to build their nest egg while rewarding those people who are either discovering or rediscovering a savings habit with a prize draw.

"Our experience tells us that rates are not the primary reason why young people and families aren’t saving, so Start to Save is aimed at those struggling to build a savings buffer of any sort.

“Even without a prize draw win, £50 per month saved over the two-year period would certainly be a good financial buffer to fall back on.”

More than 11 million people across the UK have less than £100 in savings, according to the Money and Pensions Service (Maps). Its recently launched UK strategy for Financial Wellbeing includes the goal to get two million more people to save regularly.