Students lured to current accounts with cash and takeaways, says Nationwide

Students want perks like cashback and takeaways from their bank, with 125,000 Just Eat vouchers snapped up since July, Nationwide has revealed.

The building society said it had taken almost half of the overall market with its FlexStudent current account.

More than 80,000 students have opened an account which, from July to October, offered an immediate £100 cash plus £10 of Just Eat vouchers every month for a year.

So far, 62,000 students have registered with its Just Eat portal, downloading 125,000 takeaway vouchers worth £1.25 million, data from the building society shows.

Nationwide said it expects the number to climb rapidly in the lead-up to Christmas.

The data suggests that younger people are increasingly picking their bank accounts based on the incentives on offer.

It comes as average savings rates on easy access accounts have fallen throughout the year with the Bank of England cutting interest rates, encouraging many consumers to shop around for good deals.

Nationwide handed out a payment of £100 each to about four million of its members earlier this year under its “fairer share” scheme – which distributes profits depending on the group’s financial performance.

A quarter of those payments went to members under the age of 35, with 12% going to those under 25, its data also revealed.

“Students want great food and even greater value,” Tom Riley, Nationwide’s director of group retail products said.

He added that it was “encouraging to see students opening accounts in person, as well as online”, with 11% of all FlexStudent accounts opened in a branch.