Martin Lewis has offered important advice to 300,000 M&S banking customers whose current accounts are set to close.
During the latest episode of The Martin Lewis Money Show Live on Thursday night, the financial guru urged M&S Bank customers to “switch away by August” and said that if they are overdrawn, they will need to clear it, but should “talk to them [M&S] now if you’re struggling.”
He also said that other M&S financial products are not affected by the closure of the current accounts. The high street giant is also closing all of its 29 branches this summer.
The founder of MoneySavingExpert.com encouraged M&S Bank customers to switch to another current account now, especially those offering a free cash incentive, but warned they may not be around for long.
Martin said: “There are three cash deals for switching bank accounts on right now, we don't know if they'll be on in July or August, so you may as well ditch and switch at the moment.
"The most similar to M&S is First Direct, it gives a free £100 to switchers, a £250 0 per cent overdraft as M&S had and it comes near the top in all the customer service ratings.
"It is a sister bank to M&S so to count as ‘new’ you would need to have opened the M&S account before the 1st of January 2018.
"The other sister in that group is HSBC which is giving £125, but it's service rating isn't as good."
He added that if people don’t qualify for these offers, the cash deals are only available to new customers, Virgin Money is giving those who switch 12 bottles of wine, which it says is worth £138, £50 to charity and 2 per cent interest on up to £1,000.
Martin had one final piece of advice for everyone with a current account in the UK.
He said: “If you’re not happy with your bank account, or it’s telling you to leave, well, you may as well get one of those, but do some reading online about eligibility criteria.:
The Martin Lewis Money Show Live airs on Thursdays at 8.30pm on STV - next week’s episode is the last in the current series.
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