Martin Lewis has shared a tip that takes just minutes but could land you some free cash ahead of Christmas. With the festive season coming up everyone will be looking to save a few quid or two, with the Money Saving Expert having the answers.
Speaking on ITV's Martin Lewis Money Show Live, the consumer expert hosted a Christmas special. One big tip he shared was to switch current accounts for your banking, with many branches offering a free cash reward for doing so.
He showed offers from Natwest, Lloyds, First Direct, Nationwide and Santander with them each offering between £150 to £200 to those who switch to them. Most of them also included other perks such as special interest rates on savings and exchange rates when visiting overseas.
Martin explained: "To switch, you need to use the bank's seven working days switching service, which will close your old account for you. It will also forward any payments from that old account and move across any direct debits and standing orders."
However, he issued a warning adding: "If you have any recurring payments, those are the ones where give the long number card, like on a debit or credit card, they won't be moved across so you need to keep an eye on that one yourself."
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The Money Saving Expert founder added that each of the deals all have certain criteria such as having to have a couple of direct debits switching across or use online banking for a specified amount of time.
Martin advised that Natwest and Lloyds offered the most cash reward, however Santander was better for paying bills and Nationwide and First Direct were better as all rounders.
An audience member on the show asked if switching current accounts too often to take full advantage of all of the offers out there will have an impact on credit scores.
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Martin replied: "There are lots of people out there who switch a lot of bank accounts all the time, so look, if you were to do one switch it's an application on your credit file which has a very minor small term negative effect. Lots of them in a short space of time could have an impact.
"Banks also like to see evidence of longevity, so that's also slightly negative. I wouldn't switch my bank account if I had a mortgage application due in the next two months. Other than that I wouldn't care that much. It's very, very minor.
"Switching very regularly to make money can have a bigger impact."
