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.
October bank account update videos
For a more detailed update, watch this video from my YouTube channel.
October’s current account offers
Latest bank switching deals
There are four 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.
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.
Nationwide offers 1% cashback
New Nationwide FlexDirect customers can get 1% cashback on spending for the first year – as long as you’ve not had the account before. It’s capped at £5 cashback a month. We’ve more details in our Flexdirect review.
Co-op Bank offers three months free insurance
Co-op Bank’s Everyday Extra account provides travel and phone insurance as well as breakdown cover for a £15 monthly fee. And until 4 November 2024 new account holders can get the first three months fee refunded to their account. You can combine this offer with the bank switch promotion.
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October’s current account news
Hilton launch new debit cards
There are two new point earning cards from Hilton. Both have welcome bonus too – but they also come with an annual fee. So are they worth it?
Well they work a lot like reward credit card, but they’re actually debit cards that you can connect to your existing current accounts (like Curve or Currensea). However, you won’t earn any points or rewards on your linked current account, so this would be a replacement for something like Chase.
Hildon Honors cards key facts
| Hilton Honors | Hilton Honors Plus | |
| Fee | £60 | £150 |
| Welcome bonus | 3,500 points when you spend £1,000 in foreign currency in six months | 12,000 points when you spend £2,500 in foreign currency in six months |
| Ongoing | 3 points per £1 | 4.5 points per £1 |
| Overseas fees | 0.5% (cash up to £250) | Fee free (cash up to £500) |
| Status | Silver status | Gold status |
For many of you, the question will be how much are the points worth. And that’s hard to nail down to a set value as it depends on how, where and when you redeem them. It could be anywhere between 0.2p and 1p, though around the 0.35p is more realistic. So three points would equate to at least 1%, and 4.5 points to 1.5%. Which isn’t bad at all.
Ultimately though it will be on hotel stays, and you have those hefty annual card fees to factor in. I’d say you’re better off using Chase or the Amex Nectar to get a guaranteed 1% back on spending which you can use how you want. And without the high annual fee (first year only for the Amex Nectar).
Equally there are similar or better cards to use on overseas spending, again without a card fee.
However, there are also those welcome bonuses (until 30 November 2024) and status upgrades to consider.
The welcome points require you to spend in overseas currency to trigger them, so that might rule you out. And even then, the points aren’t worth a huge amount.
However, if you travel a lot and like to spend time at Hilton hotels when away, they it could be worth stumping up the fee for the status perks that come with it. Gold status gives you a free breakfast on your stay, so if you’d spend more than £150 on that while away, you’d at least break even.
Nationwide hikes fee on FlexPlus
Nationwide will charge £18 a month for its packaged bank account from 1 December 2024, up from £13. That’s an extra £60 a year.
It means you can pay less with the Virgin Money Club M and Co-op Bank Everyday Extra accounts at £12.50 and £15 a month respectively, but it’s still cheaper than the options at other banks.
Whether it remains value for money depends on if you actually need all the included policies, or if it’ll be better to buy them separately.
There’s also the chance of a £100 Fairer Share payment in the summer if Nationwide decide to repeat their member bonus. Based on previous criteria, with the FlexPlus you only need to also have £100 in savings in March. However, you can hopefully be eligible still with a standard Nationwide account by adding £500 to the account and making two payments in two of January, February or March of each year.
Nationwide ditches 0% overdraft
As part of the revamp of the FlexDirect account that offers 1% cashback on spending for the first year, Nationwide have removed the option of a sizeable interest free overdraft on the same account. This was the only decent option for those looking to clear overdrafts elsewhere without a cost. The next best option is a £250 buffer from First Direct.
If you are struggling with an overdraft, you could look instead at a 0% Money Transfer credit card, though this will have a small transfer fee attached.
Virgin Money now part of Nationwide
A final Nationwide update – the building society has completed the acquisition of Virgin Money. Overtime the brands and products will be combined – but probably not until 2030.
For now there’s no difference and they’ll operate under separate banking licences. Of course there could be a knock on for things like switching deals, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Dormant Co-op warning
I’m sure many of you will have switched into Co-op for free cash but not used the account itself afterwards. That’s the case for me – though I’ve been tempted by the 7% regular saver I’ve already been paying instead into First Direct, Lloyds and Nationwide.
So, it’s been sitting there unused, which isn’t normally an issue. However this week I got a letter from Co-op saying since it hasn’t been used in 12 months it’ll be closed unless I add some money to the account in the next two months.
I’d like to keep hold of it – perhaps for the saver, or to use as a dummy account – so I’ll be doing this, and it’s worth you doing the same.
Editor’s pick: 4.9% savings
Easy access ISA from Trading 212 paying 4.9%
My top current accounts for October 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.