Gone are the days of the basic bank switching deal, where you could simply switch accounts and bag yourself \u00a3200. These days, not only are the cash offers typically lower, but banks have added a whole bunch of extra eligibility criteria \u2013 from x-amount of card transactions, direct debits or cash deposits per month to giving up your first-born child.<\/p>
All is not lost, however, with more current accounts now offering the chance to earn extra money in the form of cashback and good interest on savings when you switch, as long as you jump through the hoops. So to help max your money and keep your sanity in the process, here\u2019s our survival guide to bagging the best bank switching deals<\/a>.<\/p> It can be tempting to see these switching deals as free money. But more often, you gotta spend money to make money. As part of their switch eligibility criteria, TSB, first direct and Co-op all require you to make between 5 and 20 card payments within a specific timeframe to get some or all of the cash.<\/p> TSB\u2019s \u00a3160 switching deal is technically a \u00a3100 switching deal, with the chance to earn up to \u00a360 in cashback over 6 months. As part of the many hoops on your way to getting the first \u00a3100 and the remaining \u00a360, you need to make at least 20 debit card payments a month over 6 months. If each card payment is just \u00a31, you\u2019d be spending \u00a3120 to get this switching deal. <\/p> Of course, if you\u2019re using this account\u2019s debit card for your regular everyday spending then that \u00a3160 might still feel like free money on top. But it\u2019s certainly more of a spending commitment than the \u201cgood old days\u201d where you could typically just switch and cash in. <\/p> Another cost to consider are account fees. Santander\u2019s \u00a3175 switching deal requires you to switch to a Santander Edge or Edge Up account which come with monthly fees of \u00a33 and \u00a35, respectively. Over a year, the Santander Edge account will set you back \u00a336. Subtract this fee from your switching deal and you\u2019re only making \u00a3139. Finder\u2019s full analysis of what you can make with this deal<\/a> accounts for these fees.<\/p> To stop people switching accounts every other Friday, some banks have drawn out the time commitment to get your cash. And, they\u2019re doing this in several ways.<\/p> The first is by having ongoing hoops to jump through to get the money. With Co-op\u2019s \u00a3150 offer, you get \u00a375 for the initial switch, then the remaining \u00a375 in \u00a315 instalments over 5 months \u2013 if you continue to meet the eligibility criteria. TSB\u2019s offer requires a 6-month commitment to bag the extra \u00a360 cashback.<\/p> The second is through dangling additional rewards. With the Santander \u00a3175 switch offer, you get access to a Regular Saver with 7% AER on balances up to \u00a34K, which could earn you up to an extra \u00a3280. That 7% is a 12-month fixed rate, however, so you\u2019d need to keep your savings in that account for a whole year to get the full \u00a3280. A big draw of the TSB account is access to its Partnership Reward programme, which opens the door to extra rewards like cinema tickets, hotel stays and TV streaming packages \u2013 again, as long as you meet the eligibility criteria and stick around until January 2025. <\/p> It\u2019s great to see banks offering these extra rewards and high interest rates for customers. But it\u2019s worth checking the T&Cs in advance to make sure you\u2019re willing to go the distance to get the full package. <\/p> Virgin Money has taken the long-term switch to the next level, doing away with the cash lump sum in exchange for a 10.47% AER interest rate on your first \u00a31,000 for 12 months, when you switch to a M, M Plus or Club M account (and meet the various T&Cs, as per). <\/p> With any switch deal, it\u2019s important to weigh up whether the cash or the commitment is more valuable to you \u2013 and, crucially, do the maths to see which one will bring home the most bacon! The Virgin Money deal, for example, will get you only an extra \u00a3110 a year in interest, and you\u2019ll have to pay a \u00a312.50 monthly fee with the Club M account.<\/p>\n\n \n\n\n\u201cFree money\u201d \u2013 if you spend money<\/h3>
Up to 12 months of small print<\/h3>
High interest instead of cash<\/h3>