The latest news to help you get the most from your bank account.
Here’s our monthly update sharing changes for leading UK current accounts and latest offers.
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August’s bank switch offers
New bank switching deals
There’s one new offer, and it’s the first time we’ve seen Starling do this. Sadly it’s not cash. Instead you can get a Suri Pro 2.0 toothbrush, which they say is worth £105.
You have to be a brand new customer, and open a current account by 11th October 2026. Then you must complete a full switch from a different bank within 30 days of opening the account.
Once complete you’ll get a voucher to claim the electric toothbrush direct from Suri.
Ending bank switching deals
Barclays still has a £200 offer, but this ends 27 August 2026.
Continuing bank switching deals
HSBC has a £220 switch deal for people moving to its Bank Account.
There’s potentially up to £200 available from Co-op Bank. The initial switch is a low £125, though that can be boosted to £200 if you stick around for three months. The extra £100 for existing customers has now ended.
Elsewhere, Natwest still offers £200. The same offer is available from RBS and Ulster.
First Direct’s switching offer is back at £175. There’s also around £40 available if you go via TopCashback or Quidco.
And Nationwide is offering £175 . Unlike other banks you can get the cash on both a personal and a joint account, but only on the first time for each one.
Premier banking switch offers
There’s also a Premier Banking offer from Barclays, which the bank says is worth up to £600.
HSBC is still offering £500 to new Premier customers.
August’s banking offers
Santander £100 voucher for new accounts
If you don’t have any products with Santander, so that’s current accounts, savings accounts, mortgages, credit cards and more, then you’ll be eligible for a bumper £100 supermarket voucher when you open a new current account.
To get this offer you need to go via the link in our tables (make sure it opens on a page about this offer), and open an Edge, Edge Up or Everday account. The latter is free, so the easiest option, though the Edge will earn you cashback on bills and gain you access to a 6% paying saver for a £3 monthly fee.
Once you have the account you need to spend £200 across four or more transactions in the supermarket in each of September, October and November. So that’s quite an outlay. If you don’t think you can do that on groceries, don’t forget you can pick up gift cards in most supermarkets.
Once you’ve done this, keep an eye out for an email from VoucherSent in mid-December 2026 with a link to claim your supermarket voucher.
Offer ends 2pm on 26 August 2026. If you’ve had a voucher from Santander in the last 12 months via another offer you won’t be eligible.
Featured investing offer
Customer rating
3.8/5
- Offerfree £50 in fractional shares*
- Annual fee£0
- Investment stylesShares, funds or ready-made portfolios
- Minimum deposit$50
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Interest on uninvested cash 3% on balances up to $50,000, 3.8% on balances over this
- Fractional shares Yes
- Foreign exchange fee 0.7%
- Fund fees If you invest in funds, you'll have to pay fund fees, which cost on average ~0.16% per year, with additional market-spread effects up to 0.05%
- Offer You need to sign up, verify your account and deposit at least £200 to get the free assets. ISA deposits aren't included in the £200 requirement to get the offer.
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes, FRN 583263
- Risk warning The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk. ISA powered by Moneyfarm. ISA rules apply. UK residents only.
- Accounts available General investment account, stocks and shares ISA (additional fees apply)
Santander offers £150 hotel voucher with Edge Explorer
Get a Santander packaged bank account and you’ll be able to claim a £150 hotel voucher. You can open up a brand new one, or transfer over an existing account. Accounts open before 29 June 2026 won’t be eligible.
The account costs £17 a month, but you’ll get travel, mobile phone and breakdown cover, alongside 1% cashback on bills and access to the Edge Saver.
It’ll take around 60-90 days to be sent an email to claim your code, and the account needs to still be open at this point. The voucher will last for six months.
Santander prize draw
If you miss out on the above deal, you could instead get lucky with a new prize draw. Each month until the end of the year, up to £25,000 can be won if you have at least £100 in a Santander current account or savings account on a single day, or buy something with a Santander credit card each month.
The chances of winning are quite low though, with just 353 prizes each month. The breakdown is as follows:
- 1 x prize of £25,000
- 2 x prizes of £10,000
- 50 x prizes of £500
- 300 x prizes of £100
Then in the January draw (so based on actions in December) there’s a super draw with one £250,000 on offer on top of the normal prizes.
PayPal+ 1,000 points promo
I’m a big fan of PayPal+’s debit card and loyalty offer. There’s a new offer you can activate in the app worth 1,000 points when you make four purchases of at least £75 in 21 days. It’s valid until 15 January 2027.
At face value that converts to £10, though depending on your status, it could be as much as £15. Plus, those 1,000 points will count towards the 25,000 you need to move from Blue to Gold, or from Gold to Black.
August’s banking news
Monzo hikes prices
From 14 October 2026, it’ll cost existing customers £2 more each month for Monzo Perks and Monzo Max. You’ll pay this on your first billing date after the increase. So that could be as late as 13 November. These higher prices are already in place for new customers.
That makes it £9 and £19 a month respectively. Monzo Max Family will go up by £1 to £23. You will now get YouTube Premium Lite bundled in, which would normally cost £7.99 a month.
If you want to cancel, the three month minimum term on Max and Max family will be waived, but if you have activated a railcard you’ll need to pay to keep it.
If you’re on the older Plus and Premium tiers, no longer available to new customers, you’ll also get a price hike. Pro will be £6 (up from £5) and Premium will be £17 (up from £15).
NatWest and RBS Rewards cut
From 1 October 2026 you’ll get £1 less each month for NatWest and RBS Reward accounts, including the Premier Reward. This is because ending the bonus for checking your app once a month. You’ll still get £2 per direct debit, up to £4 a month, or £4.50 per dd on the Premier Rewards, up to £9 a month.
However, Reward debit cards will now be fee free for spending overseas.
Co-op cuts packaged account fee
In a reverse of recent trends, Co-operative Bank has reduced the monthly fee on it’s packaged account. The Everyday Extras account now costs £12 a month, down from £18 a month.
This makes it the cheapest of all packaged accounts, and a really good option if you’re after travel insurance, breakdown cover and mobile phone insurance.
It’s also ditched fees when using any Co-op Bank debit card abroad.
Klarna revamps debit card memberships
Buy now, pay later firm Klarna has announced it’ll change the memberships in the coming months. Launched last year, they weren’t anything to get excited about.
Expect to see higher cashback rates on the premium options, though these should be easily beaten with free alternatives such as PayPal and Trading 212. Exact details for the UK haven’t been revealed yet, so we’ll update you next time once we know more.
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Plus, new Quidco customers get a high paying £18 welcome offer
Our top current accounts for August 2026
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.
