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 offers
Latest bank switching deals
There are five bank switch deals running right now. Click the links for full analysis of each offer.
You can get £200 from Lloyds Bank, as well as a free lifestyle benefit such as free Disney+ or cinema tickets.
There’s £180 from NatWest, alongside a 6.17% paying regular saver and up to £36 a year in rewards.
Nationwide is offering £175 for a personal account and another £175 for a joint account switch, so a couple could potentially get £525.
First Direct’s switching offer is also for £175. Don’t forget you can access a 7% regular saver with this bank.
Finally Co-op Bank has a £75 switch offer, with another £75 available if you stick around for three months.
Trading 212 extends 1.5% cashback
Whether you’re a new or existing customer, you’ll now get 1.5% cashback on the Trading 212 card until 1 January 2025. This is the third time it’s been extended, so there’s always a chance it’ll happen again in the new year.
YouGov Connect offers £55
A replacement for YouGov Finance is being rolled out, and you could get free cash by sharing your data. Sadly last week they changed how many accounts you could connect from 10 to three, which reduced the possible annual payout from £182.50 to £55.
Whether it’s still worth it for that amount is up to you – I’ve written a full guide to how YouGov Connections works.
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November’s current account news
Zopa trial new current account
If you’ve got a Zopa savings account, it’s worth looking to see if you’re able to sign up for the Beta version of a new current account.
The key features during this test feature include
- 2% cashback on direct debits, up to £1,500 spend a year
- 2% interest on in account balances
- Access to a 7.5% AER paying regular saver
While the following are missing right now
- You can’t set up standing orders
- You can’t have your salary paid in yet
I’ll do a full review at launch, but my early thoughts are:
The cashback on direct debits isn’t limited to just bills, as you have with the Santander accounts, so if you are able to earn it on anything set up (whether this includes credit card DDs is unclear). However it’ll be limited to the first £1,500 you spend in a year, which would add up to £30 of cashback. So I don’t think it’s a replacement for the Santander accounts, but could be useful for other things like gym memberships and subscriptions.
The in account interest is welcome, but can be beaten at Starling and Kroo. The regular saver is great though, and you can pay in up to £300 a month.
Chase to Natwest switch bug
Over in our Facebook group, a few of you reported issues when trying to switch over from Chase to NatWest. The error message is down to the sort code for both banks starting with 60.
It’s obviously a frustration for those hoping to take advantage of the £180 switch offer which requires the switch to be started and completed fully via the app.
I spoke to NatWest’s press office who looked into it and came back with the following:
“We are aware of an issue which is preventing a small number of customers being able to take advantage of our latest switcher offer. We are working hard to fix the issue.”
In addition they hope it’ll be completed soon. So if you’ve experiences this issue, keep trying, and hopefully it’ll get sorted before the switch deal ends. I certainly imagine there’d be room for a complaint and compensation if it doesn’t – but make sure you take screen grabs to show the error message and prove you tried.
Curve has another revamp
I’m not really sure what Curve does anymore, and I doubt they do either. The latest changes rename all the tiers (again), but one benefit is you can now add as many Visa or Mastercard cards as you like on all levels. That’s a bonus, and it could help you track spending across different accounts, but I’m still not convinced it’s worth using.
Especially since the free tier still limits you to £250 a month free currency conversion, and there’s still a 1.5% charge on weekends.
I’ll look closer at the changes and if there’s anything worth sharing I’ll let you know.
Starling adds new security feature
If you get a call from someone claiming to be from Starling Bank, you can now check in the app to see if they’re actually on the line to you or not. You’ll also be able to see the recent status of calls, such as if they have never called you or if you missed a call.
This follows a recent £29m fine from the FCA for failings in screening of applicants with sanctions or linked to crime.
Lloyds redesigns app
There’s been a big change to the look and feel of the Lloyds app, and the same changes will be coming to Halifax and Bank of Scotland customers soon too.
It’s Personally I quite like it. it’s cleaner, though it’s automatically added in all my Halifax accounts too so it needs some admin to rename those.
There’s also a new Link Pay feature, which will let you send a QR code or link to friends for them to send you cash. You’re limited to £150 per transaction and £500 a day. However you won’t be able to use this for the debit card spend requirements hack for some bank reward offers as it connects to another banking account rather than allowing you to add card details.
My top current accounts for November 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.
I’ve used Zopa for a while. For some reason, they don’t allow standing orders into their savings accounts or pots so the money has to be manually transferred which is annoying