Martin's guide to switching bank accounts
Earn free money from a bank account prices war, Amazon Music trick, ‘Free’ 500 Clubcard points and Boots sale boost. These are our Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis’ Deals of the Week.
Remember, deals can change quickly, even while I’m on the programme. So always double-check the terms and conditions before spending. Plus, while I hope these deals will save you cash, don’t spend if you can’t afford it, don’t need it, or won’t use it.
Bank price war – get up to £200 free
Switching bank accounts is easy these days. With seven-day switching, they shift all direct debits and standing orders for you, close the old account, and redirect payments to the old bank for 3 years. Last time I did a twitter poll, the huge majority of people, who’ve tried switching since the ‘switch guarantee’ was launched three years ago, said it was easy and hassle free.
So if you whinge about your bank, stop bitching, start switching. And even if the service you get is decent, do check out whether you could be rewarded elsewhere. Especially as there’s a price war going on with banks offering bigger and bigger incentives to get you to switch.
For full help, eligibility info and a rundown of all the top deals, see ‘Martin’s Top Pick Bank Accounts’ guide. Yet here’s the brief headlines…
- HSBC – £200. New switchers to the HSBC Advance account get £150. Plus, register for online/mobile banking and if you're still with it after a year, you get another £50. You can also save up to £250 a month in its linked 5% fixed regular savings account.
- Co-op – £110 and up to £5.50/mth (max £66/yr). Switchers to Co-op get £110. And sign up to its Everyday Rewards scheme (which involves jumping a few minor hoops) to get £4/mth, plus 5p per debit card use, up to £1.50/mth – max £216 in year one.
- Halifax – free £100 and £3/mth. Switch to Halifax and it’ll give you £100. Plus if you pay in at least £750, stay in credit and pay out two direct debits a month, it’ll pay you an extra £3/month on top.
- First Direct – free £100. First Direct’s won every service poll I’ve ever done. And 91% rated it ‘great’ in our Aug poll. Switchers get £100 (though higher via some comparison sites), a £250 0% overdraft and can put up to £300/mth in its 6% fixed regular saver.
All these accounts will credit-score you, and require direct debits to be set up (in varying number). Plus, for some you’ll need to pay in a set amount in each month, effectively a way of saying ‘pay your income in here’. HSBC’s is quite high, though, at £1,750 a month, equivalent to £26,000 pre-tax salary, while First Direct is £1,000. Both Halifax and Co-op don’t require a minimum pay in for the switch bonus but to get the extra rewards you need to pay in £750 (Halifax) and £800 (Co-op).
Trick to slash Amazon music streaming costs
Of course if you’re willing to listen to ads, you can listen to music for free. Yet many pay to get rid of those ads. If so Amazon’s music streaming service Amazon Music Unlimited – rivalled to Spotify and Apple music –usually costs £9.99/month. Though there’s a trick to clash the cost.
Amazon Prime subscribers (including Students) can get Music Unlimited for £79/year which is equivalent to £6.58/month. And this even applies if you sign up while on the Amazon’s free 30 day prime trial. So you can grab that, sign up to the music service for a year and it’s far cheaper. Though do remember to ensure you cancel the Prime element at the end of the full month or you will be charged £79.
Martin’s Quickies
Boots sale boost, up to 70% off: Currently Boots has up to 50% off its gifts online and in-store, but I suspect that it’ll soon boost it to up to 70% off any day now – it has done for the past two years now (and while Boots won’t confirm the day it’s sale will be boosted it hasn’t denied it either). Off course there’s no guarantee, but based on what’s already in the sale, the popular gift sets that are likely to be up to 70% off are the No7 'City Lights' for £24 (currently £40 in up to 50% off sale, normally £80, contents £140ish if bought separately), Champneys 'Spa Treatment Time' set for £15 (currently £25 in up to 50% off sale, normally £50, contents £54ish if bought separately) and Sanctuary Spa 'Make a Wish' set for £13.50 (currently £22.50 in up to 50% off sale, normally £45, contents worth £46ish if bought separately).
Last chance. ‘Free’ 500 Clubcard points. Download the free Tesco PayQwiq app (available on Android and iOS), and add you credit/debit card on to it (Tesco will deduct £2 to make sure the card is genuine, but it’ll then pay it back to you), plus your Tesco Clubcard details. Then use the app to pay for your Tesco shopping (works in majority of its stores, full list of participating stores) – just open the app and swipe the barcode in store. But as an added bonus if you sign up before this Sunday (15 January) you can get an extra 100 Clubcard points on each of the first five times you use the app (minimum £1 spend) – so that’s 500 free points (or £20 of vouchers using Clubcard boost), which’ll be added to your Clubcard account within two weeks of making the transaction.