Martin Lewis alert as bank switching offers return – how to secure up to £200 payment | Personal Finance | Finance

Martin Lewis has urged savers to look at two switching offers with payments of £200 up for grabs.

The financial journalist told listeners to his BBC podcast about the switching offers with NatWest and Lloyds Bank.

He said the qualifying criteria for the payments are not hard to achieve, saying: “In all cases, switching is pretty easy.”

NatWest and its partner bank Royal Bank of Scotland are offering switchers £200 if they open a current account.

This applies to accounts opened from February 15. Savers need to deposit £1,250 into the account and log in to the mobile banking app within 60 days of opening the account.

The £1,250 deposit can be made up of several deposits and the funds must remain in the account for at least 24 hours.

Savers joining Lloyds Bank can also get a £175 payment when they open a qualifying current account, including the Club Lloyds Account, Club Lloyds Silver Account and the Club Lloyds Platinum Account.

Mr Lewis said: “When you switch bank, you have to use their seven working day switch service, so it takes about 10 days in practice.

“What that means is they close your old account, any payments to the old account are auto-forwarded to you.

“They move across any direct debits, they move across any standing orders. If you have any recurring payments, which is where you give the long number on your card and they take money regularly, you have to move the money yourself.

“That’s things like subscriptions, like Netflix or Amazon Prime or maybe Buy Now, Pay Later.”

Another concern for savers is when interest rates will start to come down. Experts are predicting the base interest rate could drop in the Spring, from the current 5.25 percent.

Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, told the Treasury Committee: “We don’t need inflation to come back to target before we cut interest rates, I must be very clear on that, that’s not necessary.

“We think the economy is already actually showing distinct signs of an upturn.”

He told the committee he was monitoring services inflation, wage increases and labour market shortages as the best indicator for when it will be safe to cut interest rates.

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