Switching, explained

Most UK switch offers ask for money paid in, and your own money counts. Barclays is the one that wants a salary. Which offers work between jobs.

Nationwide lets you switch into an account you already hold. Barclays, HSBC and first direct want new customers. Lloyds wants a new account. Bank by bank.

HSBC, Lloyds and Barclays exclude their basic accounts from switch offers. You can still switch a basic account away from another bank. What the terms say.

Some banks only ever pay once. Others reset after a set date, and NatWest asks whether you held an account on 6 May 2026. The rule at each bank.

You can switch a joint account, but banks pay one bonus per account. At some banks, one person’s old bonus rules out both of you.

The switch itself leaves your credit file alone. Opening the new account often means a credit check, so space your applications out.

Your overdraft stays with the old bank. The new bank has to agree to lend you enough to cover it, or you pay it off before the switch date.

Students can get switch bonuses paid into an ordinary current account. Switching your student account away closes it, overdraft and all.

Barclays pays up to £300 if your employer pays £2,000 of salary into the account within 30 days. Other offers accept a transfer from your own account.

Two or three years in London is enough time to collect most UK switch bonuses, if you pace them around a thin credit file and a flight home.

The short answer for most people, how interest is treated, where tax firms disagree, and what Australians in the UK should also check.

What you need, which banks open accounts for people who arrived last week, and why your Australian credit history stays behind.

Chase turned me down when I arrived from Australia. Why that happens, the spare accounts that work instead, and when to apply.

The steps that add to a new UK credit file, how long they take to show, and what to avoid while it builds.

Most UK switch bonuses want two or three active direct debits. NatWest wants none, and Santander only counts household bills. Which bank wants what.

The switch takes seven working days. The bonus takes 30 to 90 days after that, depending on the bank and how quickly you meet its conditions.

Technically yes, with two spare accounts. Experienced switchers avoid it because it can get you blocked by a whole banking group.

Banks limit bonuses by banking group. HSBC and first direct are one group, Nationwide owns Virgin Money, and Lloyds owns Halifax.