It took a while for them to investigate the issue, but they’ve finally managed to get the names changed on my account, which is a huge relief to me. This is what they had to say about Misc:

“In a subsequent conversation you had with my branch colleague, [Awesome and Professional], you explained your personal circumstances and the reasons for requesting this title.  I have a copy of your letter dated 27 April 2011 and the information sheet you kindly provided on the subject of gender neutral pronouns & titles.

Although our current database of titles provides us with a multitude of prefixes,  unfortunately it does not yet include the title of Misc as you have requested,  or Mx which is another title that is becoming used more commonly as a gender neutral alternative.  Our systems also do not allow us to omit a title from a name on an account.

I have thoroughly investigated this issue for you,  trying to find out whether any simple solutions could be implemented by our technology services.  This has taken time and partly explains the delay in writing to you.

I’m afraid there is no immediate fix that can be put in place on our existing systems.  I have however raised this issue at a high level within Nationwide,  and provision for new titles will be considered when technology developments are planned in the future.”

They’ve left my title as Miss, so I will still see that on all of my correspondence. But it’s been raised as an issue, which is very pleasing. I think if more Nationwide customers wrote to them they’d change it more quickly; things along the lines of, “I’m more likely to switch to your bank if you accept gender-neutral titles” and the like. If you would like to support the whole issue and you’d like a modifiable form letter, this might help.

I guess you could hand a letter in to your local branch addressed to “The Manager”, but here’s their head office address for sending supporting letters:

Nationwide Building Society,
Nationwide House, 
Pipers Way,
Swindon, 
SN38 1NW