Doing UK bank switch bonuses with no credit history
Chase turned me down when I arrived from Australia. Why that happens, the spare accounts that work instead, and when to apply.
13 Sep 2026 · 5 min read
The usual advice for switch bonuses is to open a free Chase account first and switch that one away, so your main account stays put. When I moved to London from Australia I did exactly that, and Chase turned me down.
I had no UK credit history, and that matters more for this than most guides say.
Why Chase says no
Chase runs a soft credit search when you apply, which doesn’t hurt your score. It checks you meet Chase’s credit history criteria by matching your name, date of birth and address against TransUnion, and with no file there’s nothing to match.
Chase’s own help pages say that if you’re new to the UK you may have limited or no history, and to try again later once TransUnion has more on you.
Any switchable account works as the spare
The spare account is the account you switch away from. Any current account in the Current Account Switch Service will do.
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Monzo, Starling and Revolut are all in the switch service and are the easiest to open when you’re new.
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Keep your salary somewhere else. The switch closes the spare account and moves whatever is on it.
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Set up the direct debits the bonus needs on the spare account before you switch, so they travel across.
The bonus accounts check your credit too
Opening the account that pays the bonus usually involves a credit check, and with a thin file you can be declined at the application stage, before the switch starts.
You can recover from one decline. A run of applications in a few weeks can look bad on a file with nothing else on it. Apply for one, see how it goes, and space the rest out.
With no UK credit file, the bonus account is where you’re most likely to be declined.
When to start
Give your file a few months of basics first. Get on the electoral roll, put a bill or a phone contract in your name, and pay everything on time. Our post on building a UK credit file has the list.
Offers come and go, and most come back, so waiting a few months costs little. Three declines in your first month can cost more.
What we do about it
Bank Switcher plans the order for you and shows each bank’s conditions before you apply, so you can start with the offer you’re most likely to get and leave the fussier banks until your file has some history on it.