COMMENT
Earn £50 In Five Minutes!

By Alison Hunt (TMFAlly)
July 6, 2005

How happy are you with your bank account? Perfectly satisfied – so much so that you would recommend it to a friend or family member? Or do you regularly curse it (and its shareholders!) regularly telling anyone who'll listen that it's the Devil's Bank and to stay well away!

Well, if it's the latter you're in good company – according to a recent survey from Moneyfacts a whopping 61% of us would not recommend our bank or building society and 62% do not think their bank or building society treats them fairly. Blimey!

All I can say to that is – why are you still with it then? There are literally hundreds of bank accounts on the market from numerous providers desperate to look after your money – which means that you, the consumer are in the driving seat. Research from Which? has shown that we could miss out on up to £400 a year by not switching to a better account - but only one in twenty people have switched bank in the last two years.  If you've got a mediocre account, do something about it!

I'm willing to bet that the majority of the people dissatisfied with their accounts are particularly irritated by:

• Poor interest rates
• Expensive overdraft rates
• Unfair fees for going overdrawn, etc.
• Poor customer service

And yes, the big, High Street names tend to do badly here – HSBC, Barclays and NatWest Banks all pay a measly 0.1% AER on their standard current accounts. But there are plenty of accounts paying over 30x more interest than this – just take a look at the Best Buy table from Moneyfacts:

Top 5 Current Accounts

Provider	Account Name	Interest / AER	Interest Paid	Bonus For switching	Minimum Monthly Account Funding
Alliance & Leicester (apply via the Fool)	Premier Plus Account	5.0% on balances up to £2,500 (fixed until 30/9/06)	Monthly	£25	£1,000
Cahoot (apply via the Fool)	Current	4.35%	Monthly	N/A	N/A
Lloyds TSB	Classic Plus	4.00%	Monthly	£50	£1,000
Smile (apply via the Fool)	Current	3.30%	Monthly	£25 (before 31st July 2005)	£1,000 (or salary)
Halifax (apply via the Fool)	Current	3.04%	Monthly	N/A	£1,000

Not only do these accounts pay excellent rates of interest (provided you pay your salary in each month), but some will give you up to £50 for your trouble!  

For outstanding customer service, Smile and First Direct tend to consistently do very well and Smile promises to use your money ethically, too. And both will give £25 if you open an account with them. What's more, Smile will give £25 to existing customers who recommend a friend, too. And for the best overdraft rates you can't beat Alliance and Leicester's current offer of 0% for the first 12 months and 7.9% thereafter.  

In addition to these it is worth noting that although Nationwide's FlexAccount (also available via the Fool) is not currently in the top 5 for interest rates (currently paying 3%AER if you pay in £1,000 each month) it is the only current account which will allow you to withdraw cash with its debit card from foreign ATMs for free. If you travel abroad more than once a year this could save you an absolute packet in foreign exchange charges!  

Interestingly, research by Alliance & Leicester has found that two in five people decided upon their current account following a recommendation from a friend. Only 28% chose their account as it was offering a great deal. This has prompted the bank to launch its brand new 'Recommend a Friend' scheme. The scheme will pay a £50 cash incentive to any Premier or Premier Plus account holder who recommends a friend or family member who then makes a successful account application. Once the Premier/Premier Plus account is open (and either £500 or £1,000 has been deposited) you and your friend will each receive £50!  

If you're an A&L account holder keen to recommend a friend, print off this voucher, fill it out and pass it on to your friend. Your friend then needs to open an account online, or on the phone. Once the new account is open the new account holder simply fills in his or her account details and sends the voucher off to the address given to receive the cash. And this is all in addition to the £25 bonus he or she will receive for switching account. So that's a potential £50 up for grabs for you, £75 for your friend and you'll both be earning more interest on your money to boot!  

And finally, don't let worries about switching concern you. It really is very easy – your new bank will talk to your old bank for you – all you really have to do is sign the form listing your direct debits and standing orders to say which ones you would like transferred over. And I can say this as I'm speaking from experience – I successfully switched current account from one of the 'big four' to one paying over 30x more interest and am very happy I did so!  

So go on, take a look at the accounts on offer and find one to suit your needs – it'll take five minutes and you may even make money from doing so!  

Go on, switch to a better current account today – you can even apply via our Online Banking Centre.