End of the passbook at Nationwide as building society plans to replace them with cards

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Nationwide members won’t be able to use their passbooks from tomorrow – as part of the building society’s plan to ‘modernise’ them.

It says fewer than 2 pc of its 16 million members use the physical notebooks in which deposits and withdrawals are recorded when made at a counter.

They are often used by those who choose to carry out their banking in a branch, including those who are elderly or vulnerable.

Customers will instead be offered a ‘savings wallet’ containing a physical card which can be used only in a Nationwide branch.

Savers lodging or withdrawing money with the wallet will be offered printed mini statements.

A Nationwide spokesman said: ‘Customers will still be able to manage their existing accounts in branch.’

End of an era: Nationwide says fewer than 2% of its 16 million members use the physical notebooks in which deposits and withdrawals are recorded when made at a counter