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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Business
James Andrews

Martin Lewis explains how you can get £175 extra cash in time for Christmas

You can get up to £175 transferred into your bank account in time for Christmas for doing nothing more than filling out some forms.

Just not your current bank account.

That's because the money's being handed out by the banks themselves as a reward for moving to them.

The good news is that switching account is simpler and easier than many assume.

"Switching only takes seven working days, and with most, you can get the bonus within a month of that," Martin Lewis explained in the weekly MoneySavingExpert.com newsletter .

"That's about 40 days, meaning it's still possible to bag the cash before 25 December, though even if you don't quite make that date, you'll have it to ease the Jan squeeze - when the gap between paydays is long."

It's safe, too, with the Current Account Switching Service offering a guarantee that all your direct debits and standing orders get shifted across automatically for you. - or ocmpensating you in full if anything goes wrong.

The biggest pure-cash payout at the moment comes from HSBC - it's offering people £175 paid into their new account within 30 days of it opening.

Not everyone will qualify though.

You can't have held an HSBC current account of any type since 1 January 2016, must be over 18 and have to apply using the Current Account Switching Service - including a minimum of two Direct Debits and/or Standing Orders within 30 days of the date of the account being opened.

Oh, and customers will need to pay in a minimum of £1,750 a month or £10,500 over 6 months. That works out as a salary of at least £26,000 a year.

It's not the only new offer though - with the standard HSBC bank account offering £75 up front to people able to pay in £500 a month, or £3,000 over six months, and First Direct offering £50 if you move to them and put in at least £1,000 in the first three months.

"To qualify for the perks, you must to use their official switching services," Martin warned.

"They'll automatically move all your direct debits and standing orders, close your old account, and auto-forward payments made to your old bank for at least three years."

Oh, and you'll also be credit checked .

NatWest is also handing out cash for switching (Rex Features)

If you don't qualify for the HSBC offer, for exmaple if you're already a customer, that doesn't mean there's nothing available for you.

The NatWest and RBS Reward accounts pay you £150 to join, and offer 2% back on bills too.

There's a £24 a year fee, but you can cancel that out by taking advantage of its "cashback on bills" offer - which MoneySavingExpert works out is worth between £60 and £100 a year even after the fee.

You can also get the £150 with no fee or cashback by signing up to the NatWest or RBS Select accounts.

If you're happy with vouchers, M&S bank offers a free £100 M&S gift card after you sign up, and another one worth £80 on your one-year anniversary of joining.

There's also £100 on offer from Nationwide if you know anyone with an account and get them to refer you and move to a FlexAccount, FlexDirect or FlexPlus current account.

They should be pretty easy to convince, too, seeing as they get £100 too.

And once you're signed up you can then repeat the trick up to five times by referring a friend and sharing £200 between you.

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