How to make money from bank switching
Over the years, I have made well in excess of £1,000 from bank switching without switching my main bank account once and I’m going to show you how you can do this too.
Disclaimer: using bank switching to make extra cash can negatively impact your credit score and if you are planning to take out any form of credit (mortgage, car loan, credit cards) within the near future, please avoid it’s not worth the risk of paying higher interest or getting an application declined (unlikely but possible).
How it all works
Banks make a lot of money and they want as many customers as possible, and to grow their customer base they need to attract people who are already banking with their competitors.
The best way to do this is to basically bribe us with cash (or other benefits) to switch banks.
Switching banks is only possible thanks to the Current Accounts Switch Service which enables you to move a current account from one bank to another seamlessly.
Direct debits move across, your contacts move across and any payments will be forwarded automatically for a number of months.
However, recurring card payments are a pain as your card details will obviously change.
Bank Switching offers tend to look like this:
Open a current account with us and switch your old one across
You must move across 2+ direct debits
You must pay in £1,000 within 30 days
Doesn’t seem like a problem if you were to move over your main bank account, but what if you don’t want to…
How to switch without switching
There may be a point where this doesn’t work, but I know that I’ve helped hundreds of people make a fortune from the following:
Open a new current account with a bank that doesn’t do a credit check (Starling Bank is always my top pick)
Put some cash into this account (doesn’t need to be a lot, maybe £10-£20)
Set up some direct debits (if required for the first switch you are going to do)
For direct debits, people often get panicky but I have used https://www.onepounddd.com/ for years; does what it says on the tin and takes a £1 direct debit to be taken on dates of your choice and 50% of the amount goes to charity.
Wait until these direct debit payments have been taken before you start the switch!
Find the bank switching offer you want to do and make sure you’re getting the most money possible…
For example, right now First Direct are paying £175 to switch but you could get an extra £36.75 if you go through TopCashback
I always keep this page up-to-date with the current bank switching offers and the best places to go through!
Follow their instructions on switching your Starling account into this bank account and meet the requirements
Top tip: If it says “Pay in £1,000” you could actually pay in £100, withdraw it and then repeat that until £1,000 has gone into the account. The £1,000 does not need to be in one go and does not need to stay in the account. You could pay in £1 a thousand times if you desperately wanted to.
Wait until you get your bonus from the bank and any cashback sites
Locate your next bank switching move and now you can use the new account you just opened (e.g: FirstDirect) to switch across to the next bank
Rinse and repeat
In 2023 we saw a lot of bank switching offers, and I expect to see many of them return again in 2024, ones we saw last year included:
FirstDirect (still available)
Lloyds Bank
Santander
HSBC
NatWest
RBS
Nationwide
Co-Op Bank (now available again)
Halifax
TSB (now available again)
Other points worth noting
It’s important to know which banks belong to the same groups as you will only (usually) be able to get the bonus from one of the banks within X amount of years.
The main banking groups to note are:
HSBC & FirstDirect
NatWest & RBS & Ulster Bank
You can also get a bank switching bonus for switching into your existing account if your bank are currently offering a bonus.
For example, a few years ago I switched a bank account into my main Nationwide account and got paid £200 for doing so - an absolute no-brainer!
The only downside to this one is that you lose your “switching account” as it will have merged with your main bank account, so maybe do this last!