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Five banks currently pay you to switch to 'em

Bag a FREE £170, £150 + top service, £125 + cinema tickets, or 12 bottles of wine - just for switching bank

In our last 'when did you switch bank' poll, almost 70% had either never done it, or hadn't in the last five years. Yet switching bank is one of the easiest ways to gain a little bit of extra cash. So, with incomes squeezed on all sides by higher prices and soaring bills, we make no excuses for rounding up the top offers to boost your coffers.

For those put off by tales of switching woe, do check when they happened. Since 2013, there's been a simple 'seven-day switch' system in play. Now bank-switching services do it for you - closing the old account and auto-moving all direct debits, standing orders and payments. So it should now be simpler and smoother.

To get the cash or other perks, you must usually be a new customer, pass a not-too-harsh credit check, and use the bank's official switching service. All accounts are available both as single and joint accounts.

1. HSBC's simple £170 deal gives the most upfront cash. MSE customer service poll rating: 38% 'great'.

The fee-free HSBC Advance* has a £170 sign-up bonus, by far the largest offered by any of the banks.

- To qualify: Apply online, then switch within 30 days (including 2+ direct debits or standing orders) and pay in £1,500+ within 60 days. You can't have had an HSBC current account, or opened a current account with its sister bank First Direct, since January 2019.

2. First Direct gives a free £150 and has a cracking service rating. MSE customer service poll rating: 90% 'great'.

Switch to the First Direct 1st Account* and bag a FREE £150 (or £20 just for opening it* - you can get the other £130 later if you call it to switch). First Direct's been at the top or near the top of all customer service polls we've ever done, and it's currently rated 90% 'great'. It also gives access to a linked regular saver which pays 3.5% interest on up to £300 a month, and many get an ongoing £250 0% overdraft.

- How do I qualify for the cash? Open it, switch and pay in £1,000+ within three months. You can't have ever had any First Direct account before, or opened a current account with its sister bank HSBC since January 2019.

3. Lloyds Bank gives a free £125, and gets perky, with freebies such as cinema tickets. MSE customer service poll rating: 61% 'great'.

Club Lloyds pays £125 to switchers and is fee-free as long as you meet its £1,500 a month minimum monthly pay-in (equivalent to a salary of £21,100 a year) - there's a £3 a month fee for the account if you don't. You also get to pick one of these four perks for the year:

- Six free cinema tickets (worth £35-£65, depending on location)
- OR 12 digital movie rentals (worth around £55)
- OR a magazine subscription (worth £30-£50)
- OR a Gourmet Society membership (worth around £40)

It pays some in-credit interest too... 0.6% AER variable from £1 to £4,000, and 1.5% AER variable on the bit between £4,000 and £5,000 (nowt on anything above that). Yet this can be beaten by top easy-access savings.

- How do I qualify for the cash? Apply and start a switch before Mon 27 Jun. Nothing else is needed for the switch, but to get the interest you need to have 2+ direct debits going out of the account each month. You're ineligible if you've had a switch bonus from Lloyds since April 2020.

4. Nationwide pays a free £100 (£125 for existing customers) and is especially strong for those who are overdrawn. MSE customer service poll rating: 70% 'great'.

Nationwide's free switchers' £100 is across a range of accounts, but the standout is the fee-free Nationwide FlexDirect, as it offers a year's 0% overdraft too - though the limit depends on a credit check. So switch and use the £100 to reduce your overdraft, then work on getting rid of the rest of the debt within the year, as after that it jumps to the same horrid 39.9% EAR variable that most banks charge.

If you are - or become - an existing Nationwide member (you have a current account, mortgage or savings with it), you can get a boosted £125 to switch. It's complex, so see our full Nationwide review for a how-to.

- How do I qualify for the cash? Apply, then within 30 days switch (including 2+ direct debits). There's no minimum pay-in for this. 

5. Virgin Money says forget cash, have 20,000 points (swappable for rewards, including 12 bottles of wine) + 2% interest + fee-free overseas spending. MSE customer service poll rating: 45% 'great'.

OK, it's not cash, but the fee-free Virgin Money M Plus* account's incentive is 20,000 points, which you can spend on rewards - whether that's 12 bottles of wine, an experience day, or even 100 doughnuts!

It also pays a whopping 2.02% AER variable in-credit interest on up to £1,000, and its linked savings account offers 1% interest on a further £25,000. Plus its debit card is a top pick for spending abroad, meaning you get the same near-perfect exchange rate banks do, in every country (though you can do similar without switching banks - see Top overseas cards).

- To qualify for the 20,000 points: Apply online, then within 45 days: switch, pay in £1,000+ to its 1% linked savings account, use the mobile app and have/set up 2+ direct debits. You'll then be emailed a code to claim your Virgin points. You can't have had a Virgin Money current account (or have closed one since January 2022) and can't have ever had a switch bonus from the bank.

Full details on all of the accounts above and more are in Best bank accounts, but to answer some of the key questions...

• Can I cheat the minimum pay-in if I don't earn enough? Usually, yes. Say the pay-in is £1,500 but you only have £800 coming in... pay in the £800, then withdraw £700 of it either to an external bank account or as cash, then pay it back in and BINGO. Though it's worth noting if you earn a long way below the minimum pay-in, some banks may reject your application anyway.
  
  
• What if something goes wrong with the switch? If you're hit with charges due to a switch error that leads to a missed payment, these will be refunded by the new bank.
  
  
• Can I switch if I'm overdrawn? Yes, though there's no guarantee the new bank will match your existing overdraft - or even offer you an overdraft at all.
  
  However, all banks have overdraft eligibility checkers - so use these before applying to get an indication of whether you'll likely qualify. Full info in Top accounts if you're overdrawn. If it's not likely, you can still switch, but you'll need to agree a plan to repay your overdraft with your old bank.
  
  
• I don't qualify for one of these accounts - what can I do? Sadly, over a million people don't have a bank account. Yet if you've ID, you can get an account where there's no overdraft called a basic bank account.