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 site.
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January’s current account offers
Latest bank switching deals
Good news this month with a couple of offers that could be obtainable even if you’re a seasoned switcher.
First up is the return of an offer for switching into a Club Lloyds account. It’s worth a huge £250 and it’s open to anyone who last received switching cash from Lloyds, Halifax or Bank of Scotland prior to January 2023. You don’t have long for this one as it ends 3 February 2026. New customers can combine it with a £50 referral promo.
Another new offer is from HSBC. Once again it’s just for Premier customers who need to earn more than £100,000 a year and have that salary paid into the account OR have at least £100,000 saved or invested with HSBC. If you qualify then you can get £250 for opening a new account and switching. If you do both, and keep the cash saved for three months, then there’s another £500 added on. This offer ends 23 February 2026, but you’ve until 30 April 2026 to complete the switch.
The final new offer is from TSB, with up to £200 available for switching. You can get £150 if you switch to a new Spend & Save account or an existing current account, make five debit card payments, deposit £1,000 and log into the TSB app by 20 March 2026. Another £50 can be added if you add in another £1,000 in April 2026. I expect this offer to end in late February. The cut off date for previous switch bonuses is 1 October 2022.
If you opt for a new Spend & Save account you’ll also be able to earn another £5 a month for six months when you make 20 debit card payments. Plus don’t forget to go via a cashback site for another £30 or £40 on top, though that has it’s own conditions you’ll need to meet. So all in, this could be worth £260.
Elsewhere, Santander £200 switch offer is still going, offering 1% cashback on bills and 6% interest on savings as extras.
First Direct’s switching offer is also still available for £175. Don’t forget you can access a 7% regular saver with this bank. There’s also £35 available if you go via TopCashback.
Nationwide’s switch deal also has the same amount on offer, and you can get it for both a personal and a joint account. There’s a good chance you’ll pick up a further £100 Fairer Share bonus next spring.
Chase launches £50 refer-a-friend
Following from the Lloyds referral scheme, Chase has widened it’s £50 refer-a-friend offer to most, if not all, customers.
In the app you’ll see the offer in a tab just below your balance and accounts. You can create five separate referral codes which expire after a month. If they’re not used they expire, so don’t generate these until you have a friend to give the code to.
These codes can be given to new customers or those who’ve had an account for less than 30 days.
If they then enter your code and deposit £1,000 into their account within 30 days you’ll both get £50 added to the Reward balance in the app, which you’ll then need to move to your account to use.
There’s no set end date for this offer, so we don’t know if it’ll be ongoing or end at any time.
Monzo ‘Double Payday’ draw
If you have a Monzo account and get your salary paid in each month you’ll now be entered into a prize draw to win double that amount. Only 10 customers will win each month, with the draw taking place on the first working day of the month.
The payment to your account must be via Bacs to a personal or joint account, and needs to be between £300 and £20,000 each month, though the most anyone can win in a month is £10,000.
For those with more than one job, it’s the first salary made to the account that is entered into the competition. Benefit payments are excluded.
January’s current account news
Santander hike 123 fees
Last year Santander axed the 123 Lite account to existing customers, but kept the 123 account going (both had already been closed to new customers a few years back).
Well sticking with one might not be a good idea thanks to a forthcoming fee hike. From 11 May 2026, the monthly charge will go up from £4 a month to £5 a month, representing an extra £12 a year. The same hike will apply to Select account.
Since you get up to 3% back on the 123 versus just 1% on the Edge and Edge Up, there’s a chance you’ll still make more sticking with the 123 over moving to the Edge. Though the Edge does offer you the chance to access the 6% paying Edge Saver, you can get that as well.
You can use the calculator on the Santander website to work out what it’ll mean for your own bills, but here’s what my own bills would earn after fees on the main cashback accounts.
| Bill | My monthly cost | 123 monthly cashback | Edge monthly cashback | Edge Up monthly cashback |
| Council Tax | £228 | £2.28 | £2.28 | £2.28 |
| Broadband | £28 | £0.28 | £0.28 | £0.28 |
| Mobile Phones (x2) | £16 | £0.16 | £0.16 | £0.16 |
| Gas & Electricity | £250 | £5 | £2.50 | £2.50 |
| Water | £40 | £1.20 | £0.40 | £0.40 |
| Monthly fee | -£5 | -£3 | -£5 | |
| MONTHLY TOTAL | £3.92 | £2.62 | £0.62 | |
| ANNUAL TOTAL | £47.04 | £31.44 | £7.44 |
Featured switching deal
Our top pick
Customer rating
3.7/5
- Switch bonus£200
- Offer endsUnknown
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Bonus requirements Switch using the Current Account Switch Service and close your old account within 60 days of starting the switch
- Deposit requirements Deposit £1,500 in the first 60 days from opening the account
- Direct debits transferred over Set up two Direct Debits before or after the switch from a selected list of household bills
- Existing customers? Can't have held any Santander current account on 1 January 2025
- Restrictions Can't have received a switching bonus from Santander already, offer limited to once per person
- Eligible accounts Open a new or hold an existing Everyday, Edge, Edge Up or Edge Explorer current account
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Nationwide launches scam checker
If you’re every called by Nationwide, or someone claiming to be from the building society, you can now use the app to check if they’re legitmate.
Go to ‘more’, then “Call checker’. The screen will then display whether you’re on the phone to the real Nationwide or not.
Contactless limit to be scrapped
Right now you can’t use contactless on your cards for purchases of more than £100. You also need to enter your PIN if you’ve made five tapped transactions or totalled £300 across multiple purchases.
Well from 19 March 2026 that’ll change, when there will be no set default limit. Instead it’ll be up to the banks themselves to decide these limits. it’s possible some will keep the rules as they are, while others might lift them completely. It’s most likely the banks will just set higher limits.
The FCA says fraud is already very low, so they don’t expect this change to see any significant increase to the crime stats.
However, that doesn’t mean people aren’t worried about this. In the consultation for this change, 84% of public respondents (as opposed to corporate) were opposed to the change! Well, if you’re concerned there will be a few ways to keep yourself protected.
Many banking apps already let you change your limit down from the current £100 cap, so if you don’t like the idea of having too high an amount you can set your own. Right now only 1% of customers do this, but perhaps that’ll be higher once the £100 limit goes.
If you do lose your card, then you’ll need to report it ASAP. Many apps let you freeze a card instantly. Do this and you should be refunded for any fraudulent purchases. You’ll be liable for up to £35 of those transactions if you don’t.
And of course, using your card via your phone’s wallet is already cap-free. That’s because you need to authenticate the payment with your passcode, face ID or fingerprint. So you get the benefit of not having to enter your PIN while also the added security.
Our top current accounts for January 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.