Do you need direct debits to switch banks?

Not to switch — the Current Account Switch Service will move an account with no direct debits at all. But most banks will not pay you the bonus unless it finds some, because a switch that carries nothing across is not really the customer they paid for.

The number is almost always two. What counts as one, and when they have to exist, is where people lose the money.

This is the trap. HSBC, first direct and Nationwide want the debits to arrive with the switch — they have to already be collecting on the account you are switching away from, so the switch service carries them across. Set them up after you switch and they did not come with it.

Santander is the other way: it only checks that two are active on the new account by the time it assesses you, so setting them up afterwards is fine.

Usually anything genuine: a phone bill, a charity donation, a subscription. Two different ones, not the same biller twice, because some banks reject a pair that look identical.

Santander is the exception worth knowing about. It counts household direct debits only — council tax, water, gas, electricity, broadband, home or mobile phone, paid-for TV. A subscription does not count there. Neither does insurance, and neither does a debit that funds a Santander savings account.

If you already pay bills by direct debit, you are done: switch the account they are on and they move with it.

If you do not — a spare account with nothing running on it is the normal case — you need something small and real. Our app can set up a £2 a month direct debit for each one an offer needs, or you can point it at any debit of your own. It says which, on the step, and it will not offer you ours at Santander, because ours is a subscription and Santander would not count it.