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.
July’s bank account update videos
For a more detailed update, watch this video from my YouTube channel.
July’s current account offers
Latest bank switching deals
The new offer since the last update is a £175 switch deal from Barclays. This is only the second time the bank has taken part in something like this in four years. It runs until late August 2024 and my full analysis is here.
There’s not long to get £175 from Club Lloyds. The last day for account holders to start the switch is 30 July 2024. Don’t forget you can also get a freebie such as a year of Disney+ and an exclusive 6.25% paying regular saver.
There’s no published end date for the ongoing £175 from First Direct, along with a 7% regular saver. There’s extra available via cashback sites, with £35 available right now, though it has been higher in recent weeks. All the details are here.
The Barclays Premier Banking Avios offer is still around, but not really worth it, especially when compared to the main switch deal.
Meanwhile offers from Nationwide, Santander, TSB and Co-op all ended with just a few days or hours notice, so it shows the risks in waiting
Santander offers free Cinema Society pass
If you’ve got a Santander account you’ll got access to a so-so perk called Santander Boosts, with discounts and cashback on a changing list of retailers. Some are good, some aren’t.
But one ongoing offer worth signing up for is free membership for Cinema Society. This will allow you to buy discounted cinema tickets for most of the chains and some independents too. Do watch out though as sometimes your local screen might actually be cheaper!
To launch this there’s also £5 off your first spend, but that’s limited to just 3,000 users.
Free Apple TV+ for Barclays Blue Rewards and Premier customers
As part of other changes, more on that in a mo, Barclays customers can now get Apple TV+ and the MLS season pass for free. If you have the standard Current Account you’ll need Blue Rewards, while it’s included as standard for Premier customers.
You will need to activate the offer and it’ll keep running for as long as you have the qualifying account. To avoid the £5 fee with Blue Rewards you’ll need to pay out two direct debits each month, though that’s all about to change.
July’s current account news
Huge Blue Rewards revamp
From October you’ll no longer receive any monthly rewards for set payments in Barclays Blue Rewards. This isn’t just the £5 for paying out two direct debits, but the additional amounts if you had things like a mortgage or life insurance. I’ve covered this change more here.
The last payments will come in September, so if you choose to keep the account open beyond this you’ll be spending £5 every month to access the other features, such as the 5.12% paying Rainy Day Saver and the new Apple TV+
There will be a 1% cashback offer on spending in September, October and November. I’ll share more when the details are announced.
Monzo adds extra secruity
There’s a lot going on right now about phone theft leading to crooks stealing your money (read our story about a reader who had £20,000 taken), and Monzo has introduced some new features to help protect your cash.
The idea is you set a new limit for how much can be taken out of your savings pots or transferred to a different bank. If you want to send above that, you’ll need to pass two out of three new controls:
- known location means you can only do this at a chosen place, like your home
- trusted contacts means another Monzo user needs to approve the transfer
- secret QR codes can be sent on email to print out or keep digitally
Trading 212 is on Google Pay
After appearing on Apple Pay last month you can now add Trading 212’s cashback card to Google wallets too. You can still earn 1.5% on spending until 1 October 2024, so it’s one of the higher paying options right now.
Revolut adds RevPoints
If you pay with Revolut’s debit card you can now earn points, which can be swapped for things like airline points.
We’ve looked at this in more detail, but I don’t think they’re worth collecting unless you really want to use a Revolut card. There are better returns available from the likes of Chase or American Express.
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Santander refreshes app
I’ve not had a chance to look any deeper into the revamp, but the new look for Santander’s app certainly looks slicker.
it’s probably worth updating it if you’re a customer, however not all existing features have transfered over at start, such as raising a dispute.
you’ll need to log-in again with your five digit security number (something I had to guess as it’s been so long since I used it).
Metro ditches free European spending
From the end of the summer you’ll no longer avoid a 2.99% fee for using your Metro debit card in Europe. From 29 August it’ll be the same charge anywhere outside the UK, so you’re better off moving to an alternative which is fee-free worldwide.
Yet more branch closures in 2024
Halifax, Lloyds and Bank of Scotland have announced more branch closures for this year. You can find out if your local is affected in these articles:
Editor’s pick: 4.9% savings
Easy access ISA from Trading 212 paying 4.9%
Nationwide ditches passbooks
In February 2025 Nationwide will stop allowing customers to use passbooks. Instead they’ll have a wallet with a card and printout receipts. Roughly 120,000 people will be affected. We’ve discussed it further in our recent money news podcast.
First Direct ends text notifications
Yet another change from First Direct that pushes customers to use their apps. This one comes on 10 August when customers will no longer be able to get mini statements, balance alerts or transaction notifications as SMS.
My top current accounts for July 2024
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.
- Best account for everyday banking / app – Starling (review)
- Best account for everyday spending – Chase (review)
- Best account for bills – Santander Edge (review)
- Best account for rewards – Halifax Reward (review)
- Best account for savings interest – Santander Edge (review)
- Best account for 0% overdraft – Nationwide FlexDirect (12 months only) (review)