Can you get a switch bonus from a bank you already use?
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.
20 Oct 2026 · 4 min read
Sometimes. A few banks pay existing customers who bring another account across, as long as the switch comes from a different bank. Most want you to be new to them, or to open a new account for the switch.
The rule is in each offer’s terms, and it changes from offer to offer, so check on the day you apply.
Banks that want new customers
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Barclays says you must "Be a new Personal Sole Barclays Current Account customer". Anyone with a Barclays current account open on or before 1 October 2026 is out, and so is a switch into an existing Barclays account.
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HSBC says "New customers only", and that includes anyone who has held an HSBC or first direct current account since 1 January 2023.
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first direct pays "New customers only, who haven’t previously held a first direct product", and nobody who opened an HSBC current account on or after 1 January 2018.
Banks that take existing customers with a new account
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Lloyds says existing customers qualify "as long as you open a new qualifying account" and haven’t had a switching incentive from Lloyds, Halifax or Bank of Scotland since 1 January 2023.
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NatWest says its offer is "for new and existing customers who don’t hold a NatWest current account as of 6th May 2026", and the switch goes into a new Select or Reward account. RBS words its offer the same way.
Nationwide lets you switch into an account you hold
Nationwide’s terms allow a switch into an existing Nationwide account. The clock then starts when you tell Nationwide you want to switch, and you have 31 days from then to pay in £1,000 and use the debit card.
Two catches apply. Money already sitting in the Nationwide account doesn’t count towards the £1,000. And if that account has had a switch offer at any time since 2021, it won’t get another one.
Money already in your Nationwide account doesn’t count towards the £1,000 pay-in.
The switch still has to come from another bank
Every offer here pays for an account moving in from elsewhere through the Current Account Switch Service. Moving money between two accounts at the same bank, or switching between banks in the same group, won’t earn it. Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland count as one group, and so do HSBC and first direct, and NatWest, RBS and Ulster Bank.
What we do about it
Bank Switcher asks which banks you already have a current account with and which you’ve had a bonus from, and leaves out the offers those rule out. This is general information and isn’t financial advice.