The best reward current accounts

How to earn rewards & freebies from your bank

There are a number of reasons to change your bank, with switching bonuses, cashback and interest often a big draw. However, the easiest ones are often “reward” accounts as they usually require very little effort to make something extra every month – and you don’t even need to switch to get them.

From free cinema tickets to a fiver paid to your account each month, they’re certainly better than the accounts we’re all used to which give nothing in return.

But they aren’t without some drawbacks, including fees and requirements that you set up direct debits or deposit money each month.

So whether you’re just after one account or are happy to game the system for a handful, here’s how they work and my picks of the ones to go for.

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Rather watch than read? Here’s my video review of reward current accounts

What is a reward bank account?

Here’s how reward accounts work:

You can earn monthly cash or freebies

Some accounts offer cash, some offer a freebies and others give you the choice between cash and freebies.

Reward accounts come with a fee

These benefits aren’t actually free! All the accounts charge a monthly fee. Some you can avoid by paying in a certain amount of money each month. Others you’ll need to take into account when working out how much you’ll make.

You might have to “claim” the reward

Though some will pay the reward into your account, others (Natwest & Barclays) put the money in a separate rewards wallet which you have to manually withdraw. It’s a bit pointless really.

And if you’re claiming a non-cash reward then you will have to select it, though you shouldn’t have to do anything else each month.

There will be additional requirements

Some reward account require you to either set up direct debits or pay in a minimum amount each month.

Here are the typical ones. You’re unlikely to be required to do all of them, probably just one or two.

Set up direct debits

Often banks require one or two direct debits, sometimes with a minimum value. Though ‘active’ usually means the money has to have been paid in the last year, the banks that use this only pay you the months a direct debit is paid.

It’s not such a huge issue as if you pay bills you’ve all got direct debits you could use – though they might be better suited to a cashback current account.

If that’s the case direct debits can easily be set up for other things too, such as credit card bills, memberships, subscriptions and charity donations. Here’s my guide to where to find additional and cheap direct debits.

Pay money in each month

Reward accounts often require a minimum deposit each month. This is to encourage you to pay your salary there. You can do that easily if you want – just tell your HR department of the new details.

But you don’t have to. It’s easy to transfer money in from a different current account via a standing order. You can do this as one lump sum or break it into smaller amounts over the month if that’s better for you.

And it doesn’t have to stay there either. You can transfer it back out straight away.

Spend on your debit card

A couple of accounts require you to spend on the debit card too. You can do this as part of your regular spending but it does mean you’ll miss out on cashback from a different card. Once again there are ways to get around this, as explained in this Halifax Reward hack article.

Use your internet banking or the app

You might also need to log in to your banking app or online account once a month to qualify for the reward. It’s worth setting a reminder in your calendar to do this if it’s not an account you’re using regularly.

My top reward bank accounts

Here’s my opinion on the different reward accounts.

Other reward accounts

For completion, here are the other main reward current accounts. It might be worth looking at these if you already bank with them, or if there’s a switching offer on top.

Should you get a reward current account?

Having multiple reward accounts

As I’ve said many times, there’s no reason why you only have to have one current account – and that means you can have multiple reward accounts too.

You’ll usually only be allowed one personal reward account with each bank, though it does vary, and most let you can have an extra one as a joint account too. That means you could potentially have three accounts in a household, and three times the rewards.

But the more you have, the more you have to do to be eligible. Some are easy to overcome, others might make it less worthwhile.

Recirculating your inbound payments

Most people should be able to cover the minimum deposit payments for one reward current account. And if you have more than one then it’s easy to repeat for the others by moving the same money between each account.

I actually do this via a standing order where the money automatically goes from bank to bank to hit the eligibility threshold, with it eventually coming full circle back to my original account.

Covering the fees

This is a bit of faff, but manageable. Since some of the accounts charge a fee but don’t pay the reward directly into your account, you’ll have to make sure there’s enough in there each month to cover this charge. You’ll also need to remember to transfer the reward over each month too.

Running out of direct debits

If you have multiple reward accounts then you might quickly run out of direct debits. It used to be you could set up a couple of £1 ones for charities, but the banks have cottoned on to this and made it pretty pointless.

For example, Natwest give you £2 back for each direct debit, but the DD needs to be at least £2. So if you’re setting up a new payment just to get the reward, you won’t actually be any better off.

Of course you could see it as free cash for charity – which is great – but it does require a bit of effort.

Alternatives to reward accounts

Of course, there could be a better bank out there which should be your priority. Things like overdraft fees or savings account rates might be more important to you. Digital banks like Starling and Monzo have great features to help you budget, or perhaps you want to make sure you have access to a branch.

And of course it might work out more profitable to go for switching bonuses or cashback on your bills via Santander or on spending via Chase.