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.
August’s bank account update video
For a more detailed update, watch this video from our YouTube channel.
August’s current account offers
Latest bank switching deals
There are now seven deals from major banks, though you can’t go for most these if you’ve had the cash before. Click each link for more info on each one.
The newest offer is a rare one from Barclays, offering £175. You will have to pay for Blue Rewards at £5 a month, so technically you’ll make £165 profit if you axe the account once the switching cash is in your account, though you’ll also get free Apple TV+ while it’s active.
TSB’s bank switch offer has returned, and could be worth up to £340, though it’s also more complicated with a lot to do and a long time required to keep the account.
Some existing Chase customers will also have been offered the bank’s first ever switching deal – a £50 Amazon voucher.
Elsewhere, First Direct’s switching offer is still going for £175. Don’t forget you can access a 7% regular saver with this bank.
Plus you can pick from either NatWest or RBS and get £125 for switching and another £50 for opening a Digital Regular Saver.
And sadly you’ve missed out on switching deals for Nationwide, Santander, Lloyds and Danske, with offers all ending in the last month.
Latest Premier bank switch deals
HSBS’s Premier Bank switch offer has returned, once again offering a £500 Selfridges voucher for those eligible for the account. However, you need to meet high salary or saving requirements to open the account.
Meanwhile you can still get the Barclays Premier Rewards switch offer, which will earn you 25,000 Avios.
Trading 212 offers up to 1.5% cashback
The increased cashback rate on Trading 212’s debit card has been extended until early September for spending at home and abroad. You can boost it further to 1.5% if you choose to auto-invest your cashback. This is until 5 September. Remember with investing, your balance can go up or down.
Hopefully the offer will be extended again. If you don’t have an Trading 212 account yet, there’s a welcome offer of a free share worth between £8 and £100 via our link.
iFast offers 2% cashback on overseas spending
We’ve not looked in detail at the iFast account, though it did win best newcomer at the British Bank Awards this year.
From what we have seen it’s not going to replace your main current account anytime soon, as it’s more geared up for those who want a multi-currency account and the ability to transfer cash internationally. It also has spending insights to track where your money goes.
But this short term increased cashback offer could be a good time to try it. You can get 2% back on your spending abroad from 1 August to 31 October 2025. It’s capped at £25 cashback a month, so that’s on the first £1,250 you spend. Sadly you won’t earn on UK spending.
There’s also 3.2% interest on balances, so you’ll earn on your holiday cash before you spend it too.
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August’s current account news
First Direct launches ‘Perks’
Last month Zoe in the team received an email from First Direct promising an existing new ‘Perks’ scheme. At the time the First Direct press office said they couldn’t share any details yet, but I spotted this week that it’s now live in the app.
So what do you get? Cashback? Freebies? Access to events? Competitions? Sadly no. It’s just some offers. Of course, it could be more are set to come, but right now it’s showing me:
- 2 midweek Cineworld tickets for £10
- £65 off a Jet2 holiday
- 15% off at Bills
- £50 energy credit and £50 M&S gift card if you join Octopus Energy
- 10% off and no joining fees at The Gym Group
- 15% off a three year railcard at TrainPal
- Up to £150 gift card via Cuckoo Broadband
Overall it’s pretty disappointing and not too different to offers available elsewhere. Still if you’re an existing customer (don’t forget that switching deal and regular saver!) then there’s no harm taking a look.
You’ll need to register for the scheme. To do this, go to Menu on the app (via ‘More’ or the three lines) and select perks. A new tab will open in your browser and you’ll need to set a new log in and password for this account (it won’t change your First Direct log in details).
Halifax Reward account to pay out if you miss out
We reported in late May changes to the Halifax Rewards. From September you’ll no longer receive a reward in it’s current form. This means an end to £5, a cinema ticket or a digital magazine subscription.
It’s since been announced that you’ll get any rewards still due paid in bulk in October. This will only be for any time remaining from each 12 month period. So if you were due to renew in December (like me), then you’d get three lots in one go.
If you initially chose the £5 reward or magazine subscription, you’ll get this in cash payments. If you chose cinema tickets, you’ll get all the remaining cinema tickets.
So don’t switch away just yet!
Will there be new Halifax Rewards?
As for the new rewards promised, so far all that has been revealed are no debit card fees on overseas spending (already live) and up to 3% interest on balances up to £5,000 (from 1 October). These are pretty poor and not a reason to stick with the account once the final payment has been made.
I’m still hoping we’ll get something more exciting announced, but there’s a part of me that wonders if that’s it. Halifax is part of Lloyds group along with Bank of Scotland, and this new offering is pretty much the same as the BoS Vantage account, albeit that one doesn’t have the £3 monthly fee.
There’s also not been a Halifax bank switch offer in two years. Plus, if you log into your Halifax, Lloyds or BoS app, you’ll probably have noticed that the start screen tells you the banks are “Part of the same family”. Along with an announcement that customers of any bank can use all branches from the group, could it be that they’re just deprioritising the Halifax brand?
We’ll keep an eye and let you know if anything is announced – and what we think of it.
Santander to buy TSB
Another big bank takeover, this time with Santander agreeing to buy TSB. For now there’s no change for customers of either bank, and it probably won’t complete until early 2026.
If it does go ahead, then there could be a gradual change. Perhaps the TSB brand could be removed completely? Or if it does remain, the banking licences could be combined, impacting the £85,000 FSCS protection on savings. You’d imagine there would be some branch closures where there’s both brands on the same high street. But for now, just carry on as normal.
Lloyds to buy Curve
Curve was one of my top picks for years, but it’s been pretty pointless since a raft of changes back in 2022 that added fees and removed features. Now it looks like Lloyds Bank will be buying the business. That could be good news for users, but I expect it won’t be. Instead, I’d imagine Lloyds are just after the technology rather than existing product, so we could well see the brand closed down. Again, we’ll let you know if anything is announced.
Moneyhub to survive?
The last of the proper budgeting apps is set to close to consumers on 16 August, but it’s been announced that customers can transfer their accounts to WPS Advisory. They’re already using MoneyHub’s systems in the background so it’ll work similarly.
I can’t find details of prices, and my existing Moneyhub account won’t open, so it’s hard to give you more details right now. But if you’re a dedicated user of the app, it’s worth transferring your data before the deadline.
Our top current accounts for August 2025
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.