The newest information that will help you get essentially the most out of your checking account.
Right here’s my month-to-month replace sharing adjustments for main UK present accounts, in addition to a number of the related articles you may need missed on the weblog.
November’s checking account replace video
For a extra detailed replace, watch this video from my YouTube channel.
November’s present account gives
Newest financial institution switching offers
There are 5 financial institution change offers operating proper now. Click on the hyperlinks for full evaluation of every provide.
You will get £200 from Lloyds Financial institution, in addition to a free way of life profit akin to free Disney+ or cinema tickets.
There’s £180 from NatWest, alongside a 6.17% paying common saver and as much as £36 a 12 months in rewards.
Nationwide is providing £175 for a private account and one other £175 for a joint account change, so a pair may probably get £525.
First Direct’s switching provide can be for £175. Don’t neglect you’ll be able to entry a 7% common saver with this financial institution.
Lastly Co-op Financial institution has a £75 change provide, with one other £75 obtainable when you stick round for 3 months.
Buying and selling 212 extends 1.5% cashback
Whether or not you’re a brand new or current buyer, you’ll now get 1.5% cashback on the Buying and selling 212 card till 1 January 2025. That is the third time it’s been prolonged, so there’s all the time an opportunity it’ll occur once more within the new 12 months.
YouGov Join gives £55
A substitute for YouGov Finance is being rolled out, and you possibly can get free money by sharing your knowledge. Sadly final week they modified what number of accounts you possibly can join from 10 to 3, which lowered the attainable annual payout from £182.50 to £55.
Whether or not it’s nonetheless value it for that quantity is as much as you – I’ve written a full information to how YouGov Connections works.
Get the very best of our cash saving content material each Thursday, straight to your inbox
+ Get a £20 Quidco bonus (new members solely). Extra particulars
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November’s present account information
Zopa trial new present account
When you’ve received a Zopa financial savings account, it’s value seeking to see when you’re ready to enroll in the Beta model of a brand new present account.
The important thing options throughout this take a look at function embody
- 2% cashback on direct debits, as much as £1,500 spend a 12 months
- 2% curiosity on in account balances
- Entry to a 7.5% AER paying common saver
Whereas the next are lacking proper now
- You possibly can’t arrange standing orders
- You possibly can’t have your wage paid in but
I’ll do a full evaluation at launch, however my early ideas are:
The cashback on direct debits isn’t restricted to simply payments, as you may have with the Santander accounts, so if you’ll be able to earn it on something arrange (whether or not this contains bank card DDs is unclear). Nevertheless it’ll be restricted to the primary £1,500 you spend in a 12 months, which might add as much as £30 of cashback. So I don’t suppose it’s a substitute for the Santander accounts, however might be helpful for different issues like gymnasium memberships and subscriptions.
The in account curiosity is welcome, however might be overwhelmed at Starling and Kroo. The common saver is nice although, and you may pay in as much as £300 a month.
Chase to Natwest change bug
Over in our Fb group, just a few of you reported points when attempting to change over from Chase to NatWest. The error message is right down to the kind code for each banks beginning with 60.
It’s clearly a frustration for these hoping to benefit from the £180 change provide which requires the change to be began and accomplished absolutely by way of the app.
I spoke to NatWest’s press workplace who regarded into it and got here again with the next:
“We’re conscious of a difficulty which is stopping a small variety of prospects with the ability to benefit from our newest switcher provide. We’re working exhausting to repair the difficulty.”
As well as they hope it’ll be accomplished quickly. So when you’ve experiences this concern, preserve attempting, and hopefully it’ll get sorted earlier than the change deal ends. I definitely think about there’d be room for a criticism and compensation if it doesn’t – however ensure you take display grabs to point out the error message and show you tried.
Curve has one other revamp
I’m probably not positive what Curve does anymore, and I doubt they do both. The newest adjustments rename all of the tiers (once more), however one profit is now you can add as many Visa or Mastercard playing cards as you want on all ranges. That’s a bonus, and it may enable you observe spending throughout completely different accounts, however I’m nonetheless not satisfied it’s value utilizing.
Particularly since the free tier nonetheless limits you to £250 a month free foreign money conversion, and there’s nonetheless a 1.5% cost on weekends.
I’ll look nearer on the adjustments and if there’s something value sharing I’ll let you realize.
Starling provides new safety function
When you get a name from somebody claiming to be from Starling Financial institution, now you can verify within the app to see in the event that they’re truly on the road to you or not. You’ll additionally be capable to see the latest standing of calls, akin to if they’ve by no means referred to as you or when you missed a name.
This follows a latest £29m wonderful from the FCA for failings in screening of candidates with sanctions or linked to crime.
Lloyds redesigns app
There’s been an enormous change to the feel and appear of the Lloyds app, and the identical adjustments will probably be coming to Halifax and Financial institution of Scotland prospects quickly too.
It’s Personally I fairly prefer it. it’s cleaner, although it’s routinely added in all my Halifax accounts too so it wants some admin to rename these.
There’s additionally a brand new Hyperlink Pay function, which can allow you to ship a QR code or hyperlink to buddies for them to ship you money. You’re restricted to £150 per transaction and £500 a day. Nevertheless you gained’t be capable to use this for the debit card spend necessities hack for some financial institution reward gives because it connects to a different banking account somewhat than permitting you so as to add card particulars.
My high present accounts for November 2024
I all the time suppose it’s value having multiple present account (discover out why right here) and right here’s my run-down of the highest accounts to have this month.
- Greatest account for on a regular basis banking / app – Starling (evaluation)
- Greatest account for on a regular basis spending – Chase (evaluation)
- Greatest account for payments – Santander Edge (evaluation)
- Greatest account for rewards – Halifax Reward (evaluation)
- Greatest account for financial savings curiosity – Santander Edge (evaluation)