NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland is attempting to stem the flow of customers to rival banks by launching a current account that gives people cashback on their household bills.
The account, available from 12 October, is the latest to “reward” customers for their loyalty, and is likely to be seen by many as an attempt to copy Santander’s hugely popular 123 current account. This has been the No 1 deal for those switching from one bank to another, though it may suffer a dip in popularity after it emerged recently that the monthly fee is to rise from £2 to £5.
The NatWest/RBS account, which carries a fee of £3 a month, will offer customers 3% cashback on seven types of household bill – council tax, gas, electricity, water, phones, TV and broadband – with no limit to the amount that can be earned. The majority state-owned RBS said, on average, customers would be able to earn £90 a year, and anyone paying eligible bills totalling more than £100 a month via direct debit would earn enough to cancel out the fee.
This makes the NatWest/RBS offering very similar to Santander’s 123 account, which pays cashback of either 1%, 2% or 3%, depending on the type of bill, and has pulled in around 3.6 million people since it was launched in March 2012, helped by high-profile TV adverts featuring sports stars Rory McIlroy, Jessica Ennis-Hill and Jenson Button.
The 123 account has been so successful that it has forced rivals to fight back, albeit by adopting an imitation strategy. In September 2015, TSB launched 555, a new offer giving its Classic Plus current account holders cashback on contactless debit card payments and a high rate of in-credit interest. Meanwhile, Barclays launched a rewards programme in April, and Halifax’s Reward account, which offers a £5 payment each month provided certain conditions are met, has also been pulling in large numbers of new customers.
Andrew Hagger at personal finance website MoneyComms said: “The top two performers in the switching stakes by a country mile have been Halifax and Santander. Both offer rewards, and maybe it’s now being seen by other banks that you need to offer tangible rewards to loyal customers to persuade them to stay.” But he added: “Another current account charging a monthly fee is another step towards the end of free banking.”
NatWest has been among the big losers from the new rules designed to make moving a current account easier. During the last three months of 2014, the most recent period for which figures are available, Santander enjoyed a net gain of 45,633 customers, while NatWest and RBS suffered a net loss of 16,171 and 11,293 customers respectively.
RBS said: “Unlike other providers, there are no minimum criteria, no limit to the amount of eligible bills that can be included or the amount customers can earn – all they have to do is pay their bills by direct debit through their account.”
It added: “Everyone has bills to pay, so we want to help our customers where it matters most, by giving them something back for money they’re already spending.”
