The latest news to help you get the most from your bank account.
Here’s my monthly update sharing changes for leading UK current accounts, as well as some of the relevant articles you might have missed on the blog.
November’s bank account update video
For a more detailed update, watch this video from my YouTube channel.
November’s current account news
New bank switching deals
Since last month’s update, there have been two three new offers, one two revamps and one extension.
The new offers are from Natwest and Co-op. The Natwest offer is exactly the same as the RBS promotion and offers £100 for switching and another £50 if you stick around for a year. Here’s more info about how it works.
The Co-op deal is a refer-a-friend promotion. You’ll get £50 if you are referred by a friend and switch over. Your friend will also get £50 (capped at £100, so two referrals). It’s for new Co-operative Bank customers only.
An offer that has changed is the one from Virgin Money. This tends to get updated every three or four months, and late in October saw another revamp. Now you can choose between a £150 Virgin Experiences voucher or 12 bottles of Virgin Wine. Here’s more about the offer.
The extended switching deal is from Santander. Due to finish at the start of October, it now ends 2 December 2021. Here’ more on the £130 switching deal.
** UPDATE 3/11/21 **
One more offer has been launched since the weekend. First Halifax has brought back the £125 switch deal. This is open to both new and existing Halifax customers until 14 December 2021.
Meanwhile First Direct has boosted its offer from £100 to £125. This runs until 22 November 2021 and you can read more about it here.
Bank switch deals ending
Obviously any of the offers could be pulled at any time, but we know at least one will end this month, following the Lloyds and HSBC offers which finished in late October.
The RBS offer of up to £150 will finish on 18 November 2021.
Then at the start of next month, the Natwest and Santander offers close on 2 December 2021.
This month’s other bank switch offers
Thes further bank switch offers don’t have a published end date. Click the links for details on each offer.
- Barclays Premier – “£200” Avios switch bonus
- First Direct –
£100 switching bonus**Update** Boosted to £130 switching bonus - Nationwide – Up to £125 switch bonus
The Santander and Lloyds ones are due to end later this month, with RBS set to finish mid-November. The others don’t have a published end date, which means they could go at any time. I’d expect some of them to disappear once the Santander and Lloyds offers go.
Last chance to switch Tesco Bank accounts
Anyone with a Tesco Bank current accounts should start a switch to a new bank by 15 November 2021. After this you won’t be able to switch the account, and it’ll be closed on 30 November 2021. Here’s more on the closures.
More branches closing
Virgin Money, Halifax and Lloyds are all closing more branches. There are 48 from Halifax and Lloyds (read which ones here), and 30 from Virgin (get a list here). All will start closing in early 2022.
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Need to call your bank?
There’s a new number to try if you need to phone your bank and are worried about scammers. Simply dial 159 and you’ll be able to say which bank you want to be put through to. Of course, if your bank card has a phone number listed you can try that too.
HSBC biggest loser in switching game
The latest quarterly switching stats have been released, covering July, August and September 2021. Unsurprisingly the biggest month was September when more offers were available.
Though HSBC gained the most new customers (50,192), it also lost the most (66,756), with a net loss of 16,564. So though people are signing up for the free cash, they’re not staying around!
The biggest net gains were Halifax (up 16,684) and Starling (up 13,270). The fact that the latter had no incentives to join shows a good bank experience can be as appealing as free cash!
Our podcast
Listen to Cash Chats, our award-winning podcast, presented by Editor-in-chief Andy Webb and Deputy Editor Amelia Murray.
Episodes every Tuesday and Friday.
My top current accounts for November 2021
I always think it’s worth having more than one current account (find out why here) and here’s my run-down of the top accounts to have this month.
The banks that pay out the bonus shortly after switching like Halifax which is within 3days, nationwide within 10days. How soon after joining either and claiming the bonus can you leave to switch again making sure you’ve also met their terms.
Pretty much straight away. Always read the terms and conditions for switching, but it’ll be clear if you need to keep the account open
Unless ive missed it… could you include which current accounts offer cash back on certain retailers via their banking app
Andy,
I have a series of fixed term, regular savings accounts due to mature over the coming months; what sort of account would you recommend that I deposit the monies from the matured accounts into that can then drip feed into new regular savings accounts that I set up? Ideally, I think I need an account that has unlimited withdrawals and pays some sort of fixed (preferably) rate of interest no matter how small!
Thanks for taking the time to consider this as I am sure there are several others like me trying to make our money work harder…
Hi Paul. So you could look to split the cash up. Put some in an easy-access account with the best rate, and some in a short term fix (six months maybe) which might pay a little more. Check out my Best Savings account in the Best Buy section of the site for more. https://becleverwithyourcash.com/cash-savings-beat-inflation/