Students can get switch bonuses paid into an ordinary current account. Switching your student account away closes it, overdraft and all.
4 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
Switch bonuses pay for time spent on paperwork, and students often have the time. If you’re 18 or over and have a current account to switch from, you can do most of the offers on the market.
There are two catches. The bonus has to go into an ordinary current account, because student accounts are excluded. And switching your student account away closes it.
The bonus account has to be an ordinary one
So a Barclays student account rules you out of the Barclays offer, and opening a NatWest student account won’t get you the NatWest bonus.
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NatWest and RBS exclude switching into "a Student/Graduate account".
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Lloyds won’t pay if "You open a Student Current Account".
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Barclays won’t pay if you already had "any open Barclays Current Account" before 1 October 2026, and it names "student or graduate account" in that list.
Keep your student account
A full switch closes the account you switch from. If that’s your student account, you lose its interest-free overdraft, and anything you owe on it has to be paid back or covered by the new bank first.
The usual way round it is a second account. Open a free ordinary current account, set up the direct debits the bonus wants on it, and switch that one. Your student account stays as it is.
Open a spare account and switch that one, so your student account and its overdraft stay put.
The pay-in
Most offers want money paid in within a month or two. As of 4 October 2026 that ranges from £1,000 at first direct, Nationwide and Danske to £2,000 at HSBC. NatWest and RBS want £1,250, and Santander wants £1,500.
At most banks the money only has to arrive, so the same £1,000 can be paid in, counted and moved back out. Check each bank’s wording on the day, because some want it kept there.
Barclays wants a £2,000 salary paid by an employer, so most students can’t do it until they start work.
Your credit file
The bonus accounts usually run a credit check, and a student with no borrowing history can be declined. That’s more likely if you’re new to the UK. Our posts on doing switch bonuses with no credit history and building a credit file cover it.
Tax
Most people pay no tax on a switch bonus. Our post on whether switch bonuses are taxable has the detail, including the interest on any savings account a bonus comes with.
What we do about it
Bank Switcher plans every switch around a spare account and names the pay-in for each bank on its step, so you know what you need before you apply. This is general information and isn’t financial advice.