Nationwide Building Society members may want to check if they are affected by a little-known restriction on certain accounts. The issue came to light after a customer contacted the group with a question about their account settings.

They said that they previously had a credit card and a savings account with the mutual. They had just opened a joint account with their partner, and wanted to know when this would show on their mobile app.

Nationwide told the person: “It can take seven days for the account to show on your account list, if it’s been longer than this please call us on 03457 302011 to look into this further.” You can set up a joint account by stating that you want an account to be a joint account when first applying.

You can also change a sole current account to a joint account by adding another person to your existing account, by calling Nationwide. You need to both be on the call together to arrange this, which you can do either in person or on a conference call.

Having a joint account means any funds in the account belong to both of you, and you can both spend and take money out of the account. If there is an overdraft, you are both jointly responsible, and Nationwide can ask either party to repay the overdraft.

Although you both control the account equally, there is one rule where there is a difference between you. Guidance on the Nationwide website explains: “You’ll both be members of Nationwide, but only the first named account holder will have the right to vote on Nationwide matters.”

What do Nationwide members get to vote on?

Members with a casting vote can have their say on key decisions, such as the appointment of members of the board. As part of the 2025 annual general meeting, members cast a vote for a charitable donation towards various causes that Nationwide supports.

Your vote was worth a £1 donation to your chosen charity, from among four charities that Nationwide supports. The charities supported include Centrepoint, Action for Children, Dementia UK and The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, with £500,000 in donations split between them, in line with where the votes were cast.

Nationwide was asked to clarify what matters members get to vote on.

You can apply for a joint account with any of these four current accounts:

• FlexPlus
• FlexDirect
• FlexAccount
• FlexBasic.

Customers can apply for any of these accounts as joint accounts online. You may also be able to request to open one of these accounts as a joint account over the phone or in branch.