Halifax launches £150 bank account switching offer

Halifax has launched a new current account switching incentive with £150 promised to be paid to new customers within just three days.

This makes it the speediest cash incentive launched by a major bank. For example, last December, Halifax – when offering £175 to switch – paid the money in 10 days.

The time taken to pay out rewards has been shrinking in recent years. For example, NatWest currently has a £200 bonus offer which pays out within seven days.

Halifax has launched a bank account switching incentive, offering new customers £150 cash

Customers who switch to a Halifax Reward Current Account or Ultimate Reward Current Account between 25 July and 31 August will receive £150.

To be eligible, customers need to use Halifax’s Current Account Switch Service to transfer all the active credits and debits from the bank account that they hold with another bank. 

A further £25 cashback is available in each of the first three months after opening one of these accounts, meaning customers can earn an additional £75.

Eligible debit card transactions include spending in shops as well as online, including payments using Apple Pay and Google Pay.

The £25 monthly reward will be paid to eligible customers the month after the spending minimum limit has been met.

To be eligible for the cashback, you must use your new Reward Current Account or Ultimate Reward Current Account Visa debit card to spend £750 or more on goods or services each month.

It’s worth noting that both accounts come with a monthly fee.

For the Reward Current account there is a £3 fee for maintaining the account and for the Ultimate Reward Current Account there is a £17 monthly fee.

You cannot apply for the offer if you’ve received a switching offer since April 2020 for switching to any Lloyds or Halifax Bank account.

How does it compare to other deals? 

Halifax is facing stiff competition from a number of other banks, including NatWest, RBS and TSB which are offering £200, as well as First Direct which is offering £175, so the other switching deals on the market are offering more in cash than Halifax’s deal. 

To get NatWest and RBS’s switching offer, customers need to apply online or via their mobile app, and switch a current account held elsewhere into a NatWest or RBS account. This can be the free Everyday account.

They then need to deposit £1,250 into their new account and log into their mobile banking app within 60 days.

When they meet these conditions NatWest will pay £200 into the new account within seven days.

Switchers can either opt for NatWest’s or RBS’ Reward account or Everyday account.

NatWest’s Reward account gives customers an extra £4 per month if they set up two direct debits, and an additional £1 each month for logging on to online banking, totalling an extra £60 a year. RBS similarly gives an extra £4 per month cashback for setting up two direct debits.

However, both accounts come with a £2 monthly fee. The Select accounts have no monthly fee, albeit without any extra cashback either.

For the TSB offer, you need to switch to a TSB Spend & Save or Spend & Save Plus current account.

Customers will need to set up at least two direct debits, use their debit card at least once and log into the TSB mobile banking app to get the first instalment paid into their account.

Unlike NatWest and RBS’s offers, there is no minimum pay-in amount with the TSB switch deal. 

TSB is offering customers the chance to earn an extra £5 cashback each month for the first six months with a Spend & Save account.

For a Spend & Save Plus account, the same cashback is available on an ongoing basis – so customers can earn £60 in the first 12 months, albeit the Plus account comes with a £3 monthly fee.

The TSB cash will be paid by 30 September. 

Those switching to First Direct for the switching deal need to pay in at least £1,000 within three months of opening the account to receive £175 in cash.

First Direct also offers up to £250 interest-free overdraft, a regular savings account paying 7 per cent and now fee-free use of its debit card abroad.

The First Direct cash lands within 28 days of the criteria being met. 

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk