Nationwide, First Direct and Lloyds paying £175 to £200 into customers’ bank accounts
Bank switching is back and now Nationwide, First Direct and Lloyds are paying up to £175 into customers’ bank accounts just for ditching and switching from your old bank.
Money expert Martin Lewis recently ran a poll on his Twitter (sorry, ‘X’) account where he found that most of his money savvy followers have been with the same bank for decades.
This stubborn customer stickiness is why banks are resorting to cash payments to encourage customers to finally shift to another account provider.
Now, three big banks are handing out cash incentives of up to £175, with a fourth offering about £100 as well.
Club Lloyds will give customers a bumper £200, plus a reward – either 12 months’ Disney Plus (with ads), six cinema tickets or a coffee subscription.
As well as the £200 cash, Club LLoyds will also offer a lined fixed saver for 6.25 percent, which is another £161 a year interest if you max it out.
The offer is only open to customers who haven’t had a Halifax, Bank of Scotland or Lloyds account since 2020.
First Direct is offering £175 cash bonus, with a linked £250 0% overdraft and a linked saver with a 7 percent interest rate.
You can’t ever have had a First Direct account in order to get the bonus, or a HSBC account.
You must pay in at least £1,000 and make five direct debit payments within the first 45 days.
Nationwide is offering £175 as well, plus 5 percent interest on up to £1,500 balances and a handy 1 percent cashback for 12 months.
You must switch your account and two or more direct debits, and the £175 is paid within 10 days of meeting the criteria.
Finally, Co Op is offering £75 to switch plus £25 a month fo three months, making £150 in total.
There are some hoops to jump through: you need to deposit £1,000, have two direct debits and make 10 transactions, and then do the same each month for another three months for each subsequent £25 bonus.
You might be worried about switching and the impact on your day to day life. Each bank is signed up to the automatic switching service, so your account and all your direct debits and payments will automatically be moved, and all companies notified of the new account on a redirect. You might want to make sure you don’t have a mortgage payment going out in that week just to be safe but otherwise it shouldn’t affect anything.
