A bank customer says "good old banter" is at risk after he was told a joke payment reference was so "offensive" that it was deleted.
David Soffer received money from a friend with the reference "t***".
Nationwide informed him that his mate's details would be deleted as it "stands by stopping people from using words that could cause offence".
Soffer has compared it to the debanking scandal saying he has been "dehumoured".
The the founder of news site TechRound told GB News: "A friend who I've known for over 20 years sent me a small payment and made a joke we both found funny.
Nationwide said the word might cause 'offence'
PA
"It's crazy that we have been effectively told that we should find a joke offensive.
"We've heard a lot in the news in recent times about people having been debanked and accounts closed for all sorts of reasons.
"Now it seems like we've got to the stage where a joke as part of a transaction between two friends is adjudicated by a bank and determined to be offensive - when no one finds it offensive."
Soffer, whose TechRound.co.uk site has covered the debanking scandal, added: "It's concerning that we seem to be going from debanked to 'dehumoured,' which is sad.
"Now, not only are people's bank accounts at risk but good old banter between friends too."
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Letter from nationwide telling David Soffer his payment reference was offensive
GB News
Soffer's friend, who also banks with Nationwide, sent the £40 after enjoying a meal out.
Days later, he received a letter in the post telling him off about the swear word in the payment reference.
The letter read: "A payment reference you have used could be considered to be offensive.
"Nationwide, along with other building societies and banks, stands by stopping people from using words that could cause offence when they send a payment.
"If you do not change the payment reference by 25 February 2025, we will delete the following payee details and we will no longer keep a record of them."
The payee details deletion has been likened to the debanking scandal broken on GB News by Reform Leader Nigel Farage who had his bank account with Coutts closed down.
It later emerged this was due to his views including on Brexit, US President Donald Trump and an endorsement of a Ricky Gervais joke on trans people.
A spokesman for Nationwide said: "Nationwide, along with other banks and building societies, follows Pay UK’s Faster Payment procedures, which were developed with the industry as a first step in protecting vulnerable customers and victims of abuse.
"Where we identified potentially offensive words and phrases being used in a payment before the Pay.
"UK procedures came into force, we contacted those customers to give them the opportunity to change the reference field to something more appropriate or set up a new payment."
