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.
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October’s current account offers
Latest bank switching deals
There are now a huge eight deals from major banks, though you can’t go for most these if you’ve had the cash before. Click each link for more info on each one.
The newest offer is another from Barclays, offering up to £400 if you switch into the Premier Account. If you’re not eligible for that, then there’s £200 up for grabs via the Current Account, though you will have to pay for Blue Rewards on top at £5 a month, so technically you’ll make £190 profit if you axe the account once the switching cash is in your account. You’ll also get free Apple TV+ while it’s active.
There’s also £200 up for grabs from Lloyds Bank for switching into a Club Lloyds account. That comes with free Disney+ with Ads or six cinema tickets and a decent 6.5% Club Lloyds monthly saver.
Some existing and all new Chase customers have been offered the chance to get a £100 Amazon voucher. You don’t actually need to switch if you ensure your salary is paid into your account.
TSB’s bank switch offer has returned, and could be worth up to £240, though it’s also more complicated with a lot to do each month for the full amount.
Elsewhere, First Direct’s switching offer is still going for £175. Don’t forget you can access a 7% regular saver with this bank.
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.
Plus you can pick from either NatWest or RBS and get £175 for switching. This is probably the offer with the fewest conditions.
Finally, Co-op is also in the mix. There’s £100 for the initial switch, then up to £75 available on top.
Trading 212 extends to 1.5% cashback
The increased 1.5% cashback rate on Trading 212’s debit card has been extended until 30 November for spending at home and abroad. You need to choose to auto-invest your cashback to get this higher rate. Remember with investing, your balance can go up or down.
Hopefully the offer will be extended again. If you don’t have an Trading 212 account yet, there’s a welcome offer of a free share worth between £8 and £100 via our link.
October’s current account news
New Santander packaged account
Santander has launched the Edge Explorer current account, and it’s worth a look. This is the Edge account with added insurance packages for a £17 monthly fee. You’ll get:
- worldwide family travel insurance
- breakdown cover for the account holder (as driver or passenger)
- mobile phone insurance for whole family
- 1% cashback on some debit card spending
- remote GP access
Alonside the Edge perks of:
- 1% cashback on bills
- access to a 6% Edge Saver on balance of up to £4,000
This is one of our top picks if you need the included policies and already pay the £3 fee for Edge. Interestingly it adds back in the 1% cashback on grocery and travel spending that was removed from the Edge recently.
A slightly cheaper Virgin Money Club M account comes in at £12.50 a month if you don’t want the cashback and savings.
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Have you changed your Santander 123 Lite account?
While we’re talking cashback on bills, a quick reminder that at the end of August, Santander transferred all 123 Lite accounts into their normal Everyday account. That means you’re no longer earning money back on payments from there.
If you’re yet to move your payments, you can still earn money back from the Santander Edge and Zopa Biscuit accounts.
Monzo introduces Billsback competition
Another new way to get money back on bills is from Monzo. Billsback applies to anyone with an Extra, Perks or Max account and it’s the chance to win your bill payments back each month. You’ll be automatically opted in, so if you aren’t already getting cashback on your bills or subscriptions elsewhere, you may as well move them to your account.
There are more than 1,000 bills selected each month, and up to £150 per bill is refunded by Monzo. You could win more than once each month, but you could also win nothing at all.
Though there aren’t official odds released, Monzo says there are more than one million paying Monzo customers, so if on average they pay six bills from their accounts, that means one in 6,000 payments will be repaid.
We’ve covered how it works in more detail in our guide to Monzo Billsback.
Monzo adds free Uber One
I’m already a fan of the Monzo Perks account, and it’s got better with the addition of Uber One.
You’ll need to pay £7 a month for Monzo Perks, so you need to make sure this and other features are extras you’ll actually need and use. These include:
- Monzo’s extra budgeting features
- a free annual Railcard
- a monthly Vue cinema ticket
- a weekly Greggs treat
We’ve covered these in more detail in our Monzo Perks review.
The free Uber One will get you:
- 5% cashback on rides
- 10% cashback on trains (up from 5%), Exec rides, flights and more
- lower Uber Eats fees
- free delivery on Uber Eats over £15
You can read more about this in our Uber One review. Sadly you don’t get the Disney+ offer as that’s only available if you pay for Uber One.
No new Halifax Rewards
Sadly it looks like no debit card fees on overseas spending (already live) and up to 3% interest on balances up to £5,000 are the only new features on Halifax Rewards following the end of the old style perks last month.
You still have to deposit £1,500 into the account each month to avoid the £3 monthly fee, but I don’t think the perks on offer are worth the admin – especially if you had the maximum three of these accounts.
So should you ditch your existing accounts? Well hold on for a second. If you had active rewards on the account when the offer ended in September, you’ll be paid the cash or cinema tickets in bulk for any you would have received in the coming months. This payment will happen this month, so wait until you have those in the account.
But once you’ve got that, and that’s if you get it, then I’d look to downgrade your accounts to the standard Current Account and have them on hand as dummy accounts for future switching offers.
Chase is still a good dummy account
I spotted a post in our Facebook group last week about using Chase as a dummy account. In it, the poster said Chase’s customer support told him that if you switch away all your Chase accounts will close.
I quickly checked with the Chase press team who confirmed the rules haven’t changed and the wrong information was given to the customer. So as long as you have more than one current account open in the app when you switch, you’ll still be able to use Chase as a dummy account and keep everything else live.
More bank closures
Lloyds, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Natwest and RBS have all announced further branch closures. Most of this latest tranche will shut in January 2026. Find out if your local is affected in our updated articles
Our top current accounts for October 2025
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.