Savings account offers and sign-up bonuses that boost your return above the standard rate
Some savings account providers will give you a bonus for signing up which can boost your return well above the rate available elsewhere.
But with all these offers, make sure you check you can’t make more money by putting your savings in an account that pays a higher interest rate. You can see the latest best buys in our guide on the best easy-access savings accounts.
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Best new customer offers
Plum: £15 welcome offer when you deposit £250
Plum is offering a £15 welcome bonus for starting a savings account. You’ll get £10 when you open an account and deposit £250 then another £5 when you keep it saved for four months.
To get it:
- Create a new Plum account via our link between 5 August 2026 and 31 December 2026
- Deposit £250 or more into a qualifying account
- Maintain a total balance of £250 or more across your Plum accounts for 120 days
The first £10 will be paid into your Plum Pocket within 10 days of your deposit and the extra £5 will be paid within 10 days of the end of the holding period.
Qualifying accounts include:
- Plum Pockets
- Easy Access Savings Account
- 95 Day Notice Account
- Plum Interest
- Cash ISA
- Stocks & Shares ISA
- General Investment Account (GIA)
For context, the rate on the Plum Cash ISA is 4.26%. If you saved £250 for a year, you’d earn £10.65. You’ll then get another £15, earning you a total of £25.65 on just £250 — an effective APR of 10.26%. If you save more, this effective APR goes down, but this is a pretty nice rate if you’re only saving a little bit.
Raisin: £150 welcome bonus
New Raisin customers can get a welcome bonus of up to £150. To get it, you need to register for a Raisin UK account using the code SEP150, open a fixed rate bond with a term of 1 year or longer and deposit a minimum of £10,000 by 30 September 2026.
The amount you’ll get will depend on how much you deposit, as below.
| Deposit amount | Bonus |
|---|---|
| £10,000 – £24,999 | £40 |
| £25,000 – £49,999 | £100 |
| £50,000 – £120,000 | £150 |
The best paying 1 year account on the Raisin website is 4.87%. If you deposit £10,000, you’ll get a £40 bonus, so your effective APR would be 5.27%.
The offer is only for new customers and terms and conditions apply.
Barclays: up to £600 bonus when you transfer an ISA
Barclays is offering bonus cash to people who transfer an existing ISA to it – as long as you also have a Barclay’s current account.
The most money goes to people who transfer a whopping £100k and also have a Barclays Premier Current Account.
To be eligible, you need to:
- Hold or open a fixed term single access or Premier triple access flexible cash ISA
- Use the ISA transfer-in service to move an ISA balance from another provider to Barclays
- Complete your ISA transfer-in request by 25 November
This is what you’ll need to transfer to get each level of reward:
| Total amount transferred | Reward for Barclays current account customers | Reward for Barclays Premier Current Account customers |
| £10,000 to £24,999 | £50 | £50 |
| £25,000 to £49,999 | £100 | £100 |
| £50,000 to £99,999 | £200 | £200 |
| £100,000+ | £200 | £600 |
The reward payment will be paid into the customer’s Barclays current account or Barclays Premier Current Account within 60 business days after the offer period has ended.
The requirements to open a Premier Current Account and get the biggest bonuses are quite strict, however. You need a gross annual income of at least £75,000, or a total balance of at least £100,000 in savings, eligible investments, or a mix of both to be held with Barclays.
There are also exclusions.
- Transfers of balances held in Lifetime ISAs, Help to Buy ISAs, Innovative Finance ISAs, Barclays Instant Cash ISA, Barclays Reward ISA, Barclays Fixed Term Flexible ISAs or Barclays Investment ISA are excluded
- Transfers made outside the ISA transfer-in service, transfer-in requests received before 8 September 2026, transfer-in requests with a transfer date outside the offer period, or transfer-in requests made after the offer period has ended are excluded
- Customers will not be eligible if, before the reward is paid, they close the qualifying Barclays ISA or close their Barclays current account or Barclays Premier Current Account
iFast: up to £500 bonus
iFast is offering customers a bonus of up to £500 for adding new funds to a fixed rate cash ISA. The bonus you’ll get will depend on how much you save:
- If you save between £20,000 and £84,999, you’ll get £100 cashback
- If you save between £85,000 and £99,999, you’ll get £250 cashback
- If you save £100,000 or more, you’ll get £500 cashback
You need to save into a fixed rate cash ISA to get the bonus. iFast pays 4.2% on its 12 month fixed ISA, which, if you deposit £20,000, would get you £100 in cashback. This gives you an effective rate of 4.7%.
The new funds can be achieved with either a transfer or a deposit.
Santander: up to £400 in hotel vouchers for transferring your ISA
Santander is offering hotel vouchers in exchange for transferring your ISA. It’s launched a range of new fixed rate accounts, and if you make a transfer of £25,000 or more, you can get vouchers that can be used at over 1.5 million hotels worldwide.
The accounts include:
- 1 year fixed rate ISA: 4.50% AER fixed
- 2 year fixed rate ISA: 4.50% AER fixed
- 3 year fixed rate ISA: 4.65% AER fixed
- 5 year fixed rate ISA: 4.70% AER fixed
If you transfer between £25,000 and £49,999.99, you’ll get a £200 voucher. If you transfer £50,000 or more, you’ll get two £200 vouchers.
There’s not currently an end date for the offer, but it can be withdrawn at any time.
Chase: 4.5% savings account for new customers
New Chase customers can get a 4.5% savings account for 12 months, including a boost of 2% for 12 months.
The new 5% rate is open to new customers that sign up for Chase and open the savings account within 31 days. It’s made up of a 2.25% boost and a variable 2.5% rate (this tracks the base rate so will fall if the Bank of England make cuts).
There’s no minimum balance but there’s a maximum of £3m. If you save £10,000, you’ll earn £500 interest in a year.
How does it compare? Right now, the best easy-access account is also 5% with Cahoot, but only for a maximum of £3,000, so this is a good easy-access option if you’ve got more to save.
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Plus, new TopCashback customers get a high paying £18 welcome offer
Cahoot: £25 cashback & 5%
Apply for the 5% paying Sunny Day Saver from Cahoot via TopCashback and you can get a £25 bonus.
Seeing as you can only save a maximum of £3,000 for a year on this account, that works out as an extra 0.83% boost. If you save less, then the effective boost is even higher.
Plus if you’ve never used TopCashback before, don’t forget there’s a £18 welcome bonus via our link. You’ll need to spend £10 at a different retailer to trigger this, but that should be easy to do.
Snoop: 4% savings and £5 Amazon Voucher
Snoop is an app to help you track your spending. It also analyses your bank data to suggest ways you can save money. Right now, it’s offering an easy access savings account for 4% and there’s an offer to get a £5 Amazon voucher.
You must go via the link below for the offer to track.
Once you’ve downloaded the app and signed up you need to connect a bank or credit card account and stay connected until the end of the following month. Do this and the voucher will be sent.
Featured deal
Customer rating
3.9/5
- Switch bonus£240
- Perks8% regular saver
- Monthly fee0
- Offer endsUnknown
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Bonus requirements To get the £240 switch offer, you need to complete a full switch with the Current Account Switching Service. Then, within 60 days of your initial switch request, you need to set up two active direct debits, deposit £1,500 into the current account, set up a Santander Regular Saver, and deposit £200 into it.
- Regular saver 8% (variable) regular savings account. Includes 5% (variable) bonus for 12 months
- Existing customers? You can't have held a Santander account on 1 January 2026.
How to work out if a savings offer is worth it
A cash sign-up bonus or boosted rate can look very attractive, but it’s not always the best deal available. Here’s how to compare properly:
Compare the total return, not just the bonus
A £50 sign-up bonus on a £10,000 deposit works out at 0.5%. If you can find an account paying 0.75% more in annual interest with no bonus, you’ll earn more overall. Calculate the total return – interest plus any bonus – over the period you plan to save, and compare that to the best standard rate available. Where possible, we try to calculate the “effective” return over a year to help you compare, especially in our savings tables.
Check the conditions
Most sign-up offers come with conditions, such as a minimum deposit, a minimum holding period, or the requirement to do something specific such as setting up a direct debit. Make sure you understand what’s required before opening the account, and that you can meet the conditions without disrupting your finances.
Watch out for short introductory rates
Some offers feature a boosted interest rate for the first few months, which then drops to a lower standard rate. Make a note of when the introductory period ends and set a reminder to compare rates again at that point or you’ll end up stuck on a below-average rate without realising it. If you’re locked in for a year and the bonus ends after 6 months, the actual rate over a year will be different to what’s advertised.
Check FSCS protection
Whether you’re chasing a bonus or not, always make sure any savings account you open is protected by the FSCS protection of up to £120,000 per person per banking licence.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a savings account sign-up offer?
A savings account sign-up offer is a cash bonus or boosted interest rate that a provider gives you when you open a new account. Sometimes, you can get vouchers instead of cash.
They’re used to attract new customers and can significantly boost your return, but they often come with conditions such as a minimum deposit or holding period.
Are savings account sign-up bonuses worth it?
They can be, but you need to check the maths. A sign-up bonus only makes sense if the total return is higher than what you’d earn in the best standard account. Always compare the full annual return, not just the headline bonus amount.
Do I have to pay tax on savings account bonuses?
Usually yes, cash sign-up bonuses from savings accounts are generally treated as savings income and count towards your Personal Savings Allowance (£1,000 for basic rate taxpayers, £500 for higher rate taxpayers). If the bonus tips you over your allowance, you may need to declare it on a self assessment tax return.
Expert thoughts on savings account offers from Be Clever With Your Cash
Sign-up offers can be a great way to earn a bit extra on your savings, but they’re often more marketing than substance. The most important thing is to compare the total return – add the bonus to the interest you’d earn over the year and check that against the best standard rate you can find.
The ones to be most careful about are accounts with a boosted introductory rate that drops after a few months. It’s easy to open the account for the headline rate and then forget to check what happens when the bonus period ends. Setting a calendar reminder for when any introductory period expires is a simple habit that can save you money every year.
The Raisin offer with GB Bank is no longer working. I get a “Deposit opening order limit reached for the product” message when trying to open the GB Bank account via the Raisin app. Sounds like they’re oversubscribed.
To save anyone checking it out in detail, the current Hargeaves Lansdown offer is pretty poor. A £25 bonus on £10,000 equates to only 0.25%. Currently, their best rate is 4.65% for an ISA with Zopa. Since Zopa are themselves currently offering 5.08% it’s difficult to find any benefit in the Hargreaves Lansdown incentive
There isn’t a £25 bonus for opening a Moneybox ISA of either type depositing £500. Or any amount (18/01/2024, Android App).
Hi Andy,
You refer above to the Chip offer ending three weeks ago, but may be extended. Have they extended it?
The 6-month comparisons above are incorrect as they show the interest earned after 1 year and not 6 months.
With all of Chip’s 6-ninth bonuses, Chip @4.51% plus 6-month bonus would beat Cynergy @ 4.8%, but not the best 6-month fix of 5.52%.