Martin Lewis has explained how people can make up to £1,000 a year just by changing their bank account – but you need to make sure you jump through “all the hoops”. ITV The Martin Lewis Money Show star Mr Lewis spoke out on This Morning today.
The BBC Sounds host was introduced by Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley for a segment on bank account switching. Ben said: “But [for] a lot of people, their relationship with their bank isn’t usually seen as something that they can change quickly because it takes certainly takes a long time to get to know your bank, to get to know your bank manager, [but] things have changed somewhat over the years.”
He continued: “People sort of always felt that they had this relationship with their bank. They knew their private banker, they knew their bank manager and so they didn’t want to change. It’s very different landscape now there isn’t it?”
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Mr Lewis replied: “Absolutely. Most people bank online. Now look, I was going to start this by saying if you love your bank, it gives you great service, you’re happy with it and it tickles your toes whenever you want it to. There’s no need to change. But the whole point is right now there are four banks who are willing to pay you bribe you legally if you like to switch so if you feel just my bank is neither good nor bad, then you may as well get paid to switch you may as well make money from it.”
He added that there are “some people who make about a grand a year from regularly switching bank accounts”. Martin continued: “Now what actually happens here is I’m talking about the financial terms of banking. Again, if you have a very good customer service, relationship specific bespoke needs to stay with your bank then don’t bother.
“But it’s worth knowing what’s out there and so many people find it really really easy to switch bank last time I polled, it was over eight per cent that said it’s easy and hassle free.” He said: “They move your balance over for you. They move standing orders over for you.
“They move direct debits over for you, they close your old account, and any money paid into the old account is then automatically forwarded to the new one. So actually, it is a pretty seamless process that happens very easily without much hassle.”
“So it takes about a month or two months, so you’ll have the money in your bank account pretty quickly,” he added. “Let me run through the best ones for you what’s available out there at the moment so people can get it. I’ll do it in order of the upfront cash you get for switching. So NatWest RBS is the top pay – it gives you £200 pounds to switch so £200 quid in your hand, which will be very useful for many people.
“It also gives you £36 pounds a year cashback. What actually happens, is that you pay it a fee of £2 a month and it gives you cashback of £5 a month, as long as you hit some very basic criteria like having a couple of direct debits going out, and making sure you check in the app once a month. So that’s an extra £36 quid on top.”
On Santander, he said: “It’s been around a while, it’s been one of my top picks, it’s a bills account – it gives you cashback on the bills you pay for it.” He also said Lloyds has a £375 switching bonusr and HSBC has a a free £100 bonus too.
He concluded: “So there are four banks willing to pay people to switch at the moment. As I say, if you’re happy with your bank, don’t do it. If you’re not happy with your bank, why not grab some free cash? The only warning I think…is having a decent long term relationship with your bank can be beneficial for credit and of course applying for a bank you will have to pass a not too harsh credit score.
“So if you were just about to make a mortgage application or do something really important, credit wise, I wouldn’t do this in the three to six months before that. But if you’ve got nothing going on credit wise and switching bank accounts is a very lucrative way to make money.”
