"There are 3 switching deals that pay £175: first direct, Nationwide and Lloyds Bank.
first direct’s £175 switching deal is one of the more traditional switch offers, as you get the whole amount as a lump sum once you switch and meet all the eligibility criteria within 45 days. In recent years we’ve seen a lot of switch deals broken down into multiple stages, each offering a smaller separate chunk of cash, which can sometimes take months to complete.
Another huge pro for this switch offer is that you get access to a first direct Regular Saver with 7% AER for the first 12 months. Since the base rate started dropping from 5.25%, we’ve seen a lot of banks lowering their savings rates – but first direct hasn’t budged! If you save the maximum amount of £300 per month into the savings account, after a year you’ll have £136.50 in interest. Overall, that’s £311.50.
To get the £175 from Nationwide you need to open 1 of 3 accounts: FlexPlus (£18 a month), FlexDirect or FlexAccount (no account fee for either of these). If you were to open a FlexDirect account, you could earn 5% AER (fixed) on the first £1,500 you have in the account, but you need to pay in at least £1,000 each month to activate this rate. If you paid in £1,500 on the first day and left it there for a year (while making the £1,000 monthly deposit), you’d earn £75 in interest.
You can also earn 1% cashback on debit card purchases, up to £5 a month for the first 12 months. To hit that £5 cap you’d need to spend £500 each month, which could earn you up to £60 from cashback in a year. So with the £175 switching bonus, interest of £75 and £60 in cashback, you could pocket £310 after 12 months with FlexDirect.
An added bonus is you can get this deal for a solo account and joint account, which would give you £525 per couple before any cashback or interest.
If you decide to switch with Lloyds Bank, you’ll get £175 within 3 working days after completing your switch to a new Club Lloyds account. You need to open a Club Lloyds, Club Lloyds Silver or Club Lloyds Platinum account using the Current Account Switch Service before 1 April 2025.
There’s a £3 monthly fee on all these accounts to access Club Lloyds benefits (this will rise to £5 from June), but it’s waived if you deposit £2,000 each month. The Silver and Platinum accounts have an additional monthly fee of £11.50 and £22.50, respectively.
You could earn up to £90 in interest if you keep a balance of £5,000 in your current account and have 2 active direct debits each month. Interest is paid at 1.50% AER (variable) for balances from £1 to £3,999 and 3% AER (variable) on the amount between £4,000 and £5,000. No interest is paid on the amount over £5,000.
These accounts also come with access to the Club Lloyds Monthly Saver, which pays 6.25% AER, fixed for 12 months. You can save between £25 and £400 each month. If you saved the maximum of £400 at the start of each month, you’d earn £161 in interest in a year.
With the switch incentive of £175, £90 interest on the account balance and £161 you could earn in the monthly saver, you’re looking at getting up to £426.
And a final perk of these accounts is in the form of a lifestyle benefit, which could be a Disney Plus subscription, cinema tickets, Coffee Club and Gourmet Society membership or a magazine subscription."
