Current account switching Bonus

brightside229 · 2026-02-03T10:07:11+0000

How many of you guys have done it?

Think im on my 4th go round now, Switched to Santander around november and just got my bonus £200 just over a week ago, switch has now been processed to TSB this morning and waiting for my £150, and bonus £50 in april to still have the account and then will be looking to switch again, previous to that i switch to first direct for £175, and cant actually remember the other one before that lol.

Nothing wrong with a bit of free money right? I guess it cant look good for credit score though?

413x · 2026-02-03T10:15:10+0000

I do it a lot. So much I'm on my second off the ones who allow it!

the shadow · 2026-02-03T10:37:11+0000

Lloyds Bank i have just done and have referral codes. :cool:

jaybee · 2026-02-03T10:38:50+0000

Knew about them. Never did them until now as I thought it would be a faff and didn't want to tank my credit history close to mortgage applications. Well we aren't reapplying now until this time next year at earliest so I decided to just spam them all.

I created a few burner accounts very quickly and started doing them. Once they're all done you usually can't get the bonus again for sometimes like 5 years.

I've done about 4 and have 2 left to do. Stand to make over a grand. I just do the admin part whilst on my daily job. Pretty simple.

jaybee · 2026-02-03T10:42:54+0000

The Santander one needs household DDs though doesn't it? Co-op have one out now as well.

brightside229 · 2026-02-03T11:06:08+0000

jaybee said:
The Santander one needs household DDs though doesn't it? Co-op have one out now as well.

It does yes, and you have to check the list, my girlfriend did it same time as me and we didnt realise it had to be certain direct debits, i qualified and she didnt unfortunately!

Freakbro · 2026-02-03T11:07:15+0000

Haven't done one of these for a while, since the banks tightened up their t&c's and started putting restrictions on eligibility if you'd have a switch bonus before and I've had most of them!

I can't see any restrictions on that TSB one though, so thanks for the free £200

E: i see there is a restriction, you can't have had a switching bonus from TSB since Oct 22

413x · 2026-02-03T12:47:37+0000

Freakbro said:
Haven't done one of these for a while, since the banks tightened up their t&c's and started putting restrictions on eligibility if you'd have a switch bonus before and I've had most of them!

I can't see any restrictions on that TSB one though, so thanks for the free £200

E: i see there is a restriction, you can't have had a switching bonus from TSB since Oct 22

That's the one I'm looking at too

Nationwide and FD are particularly tight with their ts&cs

Freakbro · 2026-02-03T13:01:43+0000

413x said:
That's the one I'm looking at too

Nationwide and FD are particularly tight with their ts&cs

FD are very tight yea.

I'm good with TSB though as I switched out their account for someone elses bonus back in '21 by the look of my s/sheet!

Noxia · 2026-02-03T13:04:55+0000

Did it when they first became a thing, tbh n I got about £1100 overall. Wouldn’t bother now though.

lewism · 2026-02-03T13:11:16+0000

Free money if you can afford to take the hit on the old credit score.

Nabinium · 2026-02-03T13:36:19+0000

I did it back in 2022 from Metro Bank to Nationwide. Nationwide were offering £200 to switch, and I got fed up with Metro Bank's service, so it was a no brainer.

Only did it the once back then. Although these offers are about all the time, I've got no plans to switch at the moment, as it does take a hit on the credit, particularly as I may have mortgage applications round the corner.

john_smith · 2026-02-03T14:06:44+0000

Last year I did most of them. Made £500+. Havent looked again as there seems to be a "you cant have switched in x amount of years"

Reuben klang · 2026-02-03T14:08:44+0000

Noxia said:
Did it when they first became a thing, tbh n I got about £1100 overall. Wouldn’t bother now though.

Same here.

Although I did bag £400 from Barclays just before Christmas.

I have codes for Chase, £50 if you deposit £1000 if anyone wants one.

DJMK4 · 2026-02-03T14:10:33+0000

Not really done this,

all my direct debits etc are on my lloyds account, and even though i have plenty of savings, i have a small overdraft with them, which i need to clear

i also trying not to skip round banks too much

Once you skip around banks, you loose the benifit of becoming a "new customer"

swillsy · 2026-02-03T14:14:28+0000

Done it for years and now check once a year as I've been round most of them. Best advice for anyone starting is to make a note of the banks/dates switched as you need to make sure you're eligible (obviously some banks own other banks etc). I switched at the start of last year and found out after I had an account X years before so had to do it again. However if anyone hasn't done it then highly recommend. I just do it at work and it's an easy 200 quid each time. Have two current accounts - one you use and another for switching that your salary goes into and just transfer on payday.

koolpc · 2026-02-03T14:23:21+0000

My friend had to give the Bank of Ireland £200 to switch ''to them!'

Participant · 2026-02-03T15:08:31+0000

Why does it harm credit score? Although I believe it's the case, I don't think it should be as it disincentivises competition.

Hotwired · 2026-02-03T15:12:16+0000

koolpc said:
My friend had to give the Bank of Ireland £200 to switch ''to them!'

Presumably there was some upside to this?

Freakbro · 2026-02-03T15:12:38+0000

Participant said:
Why does it harm credit score? Although I believe it's the case, I don't think it should be as it disincentivises competition.

Just because the bank will usually do a hard credit search on your credit report, which is perfectly normal for any financial application. Hard searches can last up to a year on your record, though if it's just the odd one it won't have any significant effect.