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The Federal Trade Commission issued its biennial report to Congress on the National Do Not Call (DNC) Registry that shows consumers placed more than 258 million telephone numbers on the Registry as of the end of fiscal year 2025, an increase of more than 4.8 million from the previous fiscal year.

The report also notes the FTC received more than 2.6 million Do Not Call complaints in fiscal year (FY) 2025 — an increase from the previous fiscal year — with consumers mostly reporting these violations came via robocalls, as opposed to live telemarketing.

Debt reduction schemes, imposters (calls pretending to be government, business, or family and friends), and medical and prescription inquiries led the list of commonly reported unwanted telemarketing calls in FY 2025, followed by calls related to energy, solar, and utilities, as well as home improvement and cleaning services.

The FTC continues to track how technology affects the Registry and the consumers and telemarketers who access it. For many years, telemarketers have used automated dialing technology to make pre-recorded calls, commonly known as robocalls. Such calls can be made in large numbers with little expense, leading to a significant increase in telemarketing robocalls, including illegal robocalls. While the number of consumer complaints about illegal telemarketing robocalls steadily decreased from FY 2017 through FY 2024.

While the number of complaints about robocalls ticked up in FY 2025, reports remain substantially lower than their peak in FY 2017. This is due to a range of FTC law enforcement strategies, including the pursuit of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers that facilitate illegal calls, according to the report. The FTC also sued dialing platforms and soundboard technology providers that helped provide the software used to blast consumers with illegal robocalls.

Since the Registry was established in 2003, the FTC has filed 173 lawsuits against 570 companies and 449 individuals alleged to be responsible for making billions of unwanted telemarketing calls to consumers, collecting nearly $400 million from these violators.

The report also discusses the FTC and FCC’s work to help end caller ID spoofing, the implementation of strategies to combat the technologies that telemarketers use to make illegal calls, and several initiatives designed to spur the development and availability of technology to protect consumers from illegal calls.

Finally, the report discusses the FTC’s support of new technologies, particularly call-blocking and call-filtering products. All major voice service providers now offer call-blocking and call-filtering products to all or some of their consumers. The FTC has taken measures to support analytics companies and voice service providers with their call-blocking and call-filtering technologies by releasing a daily list of Do Not Call and robocall complaints, including caller ID numbers, the dates and times of the unwanted calls, and other relevant information. Several firms have reported that this daily data has improved their ability to identify abusive and fraudulent calls.

The Commission also publishes an annual Do Not Call Registry Data Book that provides substantial detail on registration numbers and other statistical information about the Registry.

The Commission vote approving the report and its submission to Congress was 2-0.

The lead staffer on this matter is Ami Dziekan of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

Petar Lekarski

Assistant Editor – News & Investigations

6 January 2026

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For the past three years Nationwide has given some existing customers a £100 ‘Fairer Share’ bonus. It’s likely, though not guaranteed, to do the same again this year. In previous years, the scheme has been announced in May and paid in June, though whether you got it depended on if you met the qualifying criteria in the first three months of the year – so now’s the perfect time to maximise your chances.

Last year, a total of £400 million was paid to four million Nationwide members; the year before that it was £385 million to 3.85 million people.

We don’t yet know if Fairer Share payments will definitely happen again in 2026 – Nationwide told us that, as in previous years, the final decision “will be announced as part of [its] full year results in May”.

See below for what you’ll need to do to get the payment if you’re an existing customer. If you’re not an existing customer, we’ve got full details on how to get it by switching.

Nationwide customer? What to do depends on your account

Assuming the building society keeps the same criteria as last year (there are no guarantees, but it’s a decent bet):

1. Firstly, don’t close your Nationwide current account. Well, at least not until 31 March 2026.

   AND…

2. Secondly, use your current account in the first three months of this year. For this step, what you’ll need to do to qualify depends on which current account you have…

   Account	What to do
   FlexAccount, FlexBasic or FlexDirect	EITHER… In two of the first three months of this year, pay IN at least £500 (this could be your salary, for example) AND make two payments OUT of your account; OR… In two of the first three months of the year, make 10+ payments OUT of your account; OR (if you can’t do the above)… Between 1 January and 31 March 2026, complete a full current account switch from another provider to Nationwide.
   FlexOne, FlexGraduate or FlexStudent	EITHER… Make a payment IN or OUT of your account in March 2026; OR… Complete a full current account switch to Nationwide FlexOne or FlexStudent (not FlexGraduate) between 1 January and 31 March 2026.
   FlexPlus packaged account	Just pay the monthly fee.

   AND…

3. Finally, ensure you have at least £100 in savings OR owe at least £100 on a mortgage with Nationwide in March 2026. If you don’t have either of those, stick £100 (or maybe £200 to be safe in case it changes its terms) into one of its savings accounts.

   A good option could be Nationwide’s Flex Regular Saver – this is one of our top picks for regular savings and pays 6.5%, more than standard easy-access accounts. It’s designed for you to pay in up to £200 a month for a year, but you don’t have to – you could just make one deposit and withdraw it later (the account allows up to three penalty-free withdrawals a year).

Not with Nationwide? Get £175 to switch to it

If you’re not already a Nationwide customer, here’s what you can try:

1. Firstly, switch your current account to Nationwide by 31 March 2026. Nationwide currently pays new switchers to its FlexDirect account a FREE £175, plus 5% interest on up to £1,500 held in the account and up to £5 a month cashback on debit card spending for a year. Other banks also pay from £175 up to £250 to switch, but Nationwide’s strong combo of perks makes it a good all-rounder.

   Plus, if Nationwide keeps the same eligibility criteria as previously, it’s easier to get the Fairer Share payment by switching than it is being an existing customer, as fewer rules apply.

   You must use the official Current Account Switch Service (CASS) by requesting the switch through Nationwide. You’ll see the option to do this when applying. For more info, see our bank switching need-to-knows.

   (Alternatively, if you have a young person’s or student bank account elsewhere, you could switch using the CASS to a Nationwide FlexOne account (for those aged 11 to 17), or to a Nationwide FlexStudent account – but neither of these currently pay any switch bonuses, and you should check the accounts are suitable for you before making the move.)

   AND…

2. Secondly, stick £100 (or £200 to be even safer) into a Nationwide savings account OR owe at least £100 on a Nationwide mortgage in March 2026. As set out above, a good option could be its Flex Regular Saver – this is one of our top picks for regular savings and pays 6.5%, more than standard easy-access accounts. It’s designed for you to pay in up to £200 a month for a year, but you don’t have to – you could just make one deposit and withdraw it later (the account allows up to three penalty-free withdrawals a year).

For alternative bank switches, including a free £250 plus fee-free spending overseas from Lloyds, see our Best bank accounts guide.

Any payment will likely be treated as savings income for tax purposes

In 2023, 2024 and 2025, the £100 Fairer Share payment was taxable savings income, so it was treated in the same way as any interest you earned on your savings account or current account.

If this happens again, most people won’t have to pay tax on the reward, thanks to the personal savings allowance that allows basic-rate taxpayers to earn up to £1,000 a year from savings tax-free. But if you’re a higher-rate taxpayer and/or you have a substantial amount in non-ISA savings, you may have to pay tax on the £100 bonus.

For those who don’t file self-assessment returns to pay their taxes each year (which is most people), then you won’t need to do anything as Nationwide will report the bonus to HMRC automatically for you. However, if you’re in the self-assessment system, you will need to include any payment in your tax return.

Watch Martin’s savings interest video for full details on who pays savings tax, how you pay it if you owe it and, crucially, how to (legally) reduce the amount of tax you pay.