Nationwide due not charge their additional (1.5%) permission to let fee to serving military personnel.
I happen to know this as I currently have a case with the FS Ombudsman against their charging me said fee.
Many other financial insitutions do this as well. Many do other charitable acts.
I in no way resent this, not just because I am ex military, but because I can see and agree the special circumstances. Good luck to anybody that cuts a good deal anyway they can.
Please do not however be so gullible to think this is motivated by public duty. It effects no more than a fraction of 1 percent of their mortgage base and they do it out of an opportunistic need to use any means to rehabilitate their trashed public image.
There are quite literally millions of complaints pending about retail banking in the UK (my complaint was raised last May and is no where near the top of the pile yet) and a large majority are about excessive and additional small print charges that are being used to fleece customers as their traditional income streams (ie the ability to loan money) have dried up.