Martin Lewis says £846 bank bonuses on offer from four high street ban | Personal Finance | Finance
Money expert Martin Lewis is raising awareness of £846 of bank switch bonuses and cash which is currently available from four major high street banks right now.
Martin returned on the latest episode of The Martin Lewis Podcast on Thursday, May 22, in which he took his BBC Sounds, Spotify and Apple Music listeners through the collective £846 of bank switch bonuses currently on offer across the market from major banks TSB, Co-op, First Direct and Natwest. Speaking to co-host Adrian Chiles, Martin said that unless your bank ‘makes you smile’, most people probably want the money that comes with switching banks.
Martin Lewis said: “The question is, does your bank make you smile?
“Does your bank make you happy enough that you’re willing to forego the opportunity cost of losing the money that you would be paid to switch in order to stay there?
“If the answer is yes, great, do it. If the answer is actually I’d prefer a couple of hundred quid than sticking with my existing bank, then move. And some of the banks that are offering to pay you include the top rated service bank in the country, if you exclude the digital only banks.
“Arguably, and I think I’m pushing it a bit, the top bank bribery is £310. So the question is quite simple: if I walked up to you today and said, I’ll give you £310 if you switch away from your bank account, would you do it?”
Switching is easy and hassle free for 90% of people, Martin said, and takes about 10 days.
Martin added: “To get the free cash you need to use their switching services, this is called a 7-day switching service. Technically it’s a 7 working day service so it’s a 10 day switch, that’s the best way to think of it.
“When you do the switch all of your standing orders and direct debits are automatically moved across for you, they do all of that for you. And from that point any payments made to your old bank account are automatically forwarded to your new bank account although gradually over the next year or so I would make sure and tell your employer your new bank details although that shouldn’t be a problem.”
Martin added that 90% of his X followers he surveyed said it was hassle-free. The only thing that they don’t transfer over is that recurring payments on debit cards, like subscriptions, don’t get moved over automatically.
Martin said that the TSB Spend & Save Account will give you £100 up front cash, then it will give you 6 months of £15 per month cashback as long as you make 20 debit card payments in a month.
That’s £190, then you have incentives to stick with it. In December, if you make 20 debit card payments you have a choice of a £120 hotel voucher or activity voucher.
Martin added: “It’s £190 in cash and £120 in hotel bookings or rewards if you want.
“To get that, there’s no minimum monthly pay-in.”
Martin added that those who don’t want TSB can also go to First Direct, which gives £175 cash up front if you switch over two or more direct debits and put £1,000 in.
Finally, Natwest Rewards gives £150 if you switch to it and gives you £5 a month cashback, but charges £2 a month, so you’re £36 a year up, and Co-op gives a free £175 cash.
Martin added: “So you can see, there’s money available, there’s a lot of up front cash available for switching.”
There is nothing to stop you switching multiple accounts and getting all the bank switch bonuses, of course. Martin previously heard from a man on his ITV show who had made more than £1,000 from switching banks with what’s known as a ‘mule account’.
Martin asked his audience who has used bank switching to make money multiple times, and heard from one man in the studio who had earned £1,700 from bank switches.
He then explained how the ‘mule’ account works: “So. Lots of people are doing it, you have to be careful, you have to do it right, but yeah it’s worth doing.
“If you are going to do it, one of the ways they do it is they have a ‘mule’ account. Which is where they set up a separate account just for switching bank accounts, make sure you have a couple of direct debits going to it, make sure you’ve got some money going into it, and then you use that, and you keep your normal account and you have a mule account for switching.”
The Martin Lewis Podcast from May 22 is still available to listen to via BBC Sounds, Spotify and Apple Music.
