Santander, Nationwide, NatWest customers waking up to £1,222 extra in bank account

Savers could gain as much as £1,222 by switching, Hargreaves Lansdown has warned. Customers can bag £175 from First Direct and Nationwide, £180 from NatWest and £200 from Lloyds, as well as a £150 account offer from Santander, which is the latest.

Santander is offering a £150 bonus when you switch to their Edge or Edge Up accounts. Both accounts offer cashback on bills and shopping, with up to £20/month for Edge and £30/month for Edge Up. Santander Edge comes with a £3/month fee, while Edge Up costs £5/month.

The Edge account also offers a linked savings account with 6% interest on balances up to £4,000 for the first year. It comes as it emerged 20 per cent of savers could miss out on £1,222 in interest by not switching their savings account from a high street bank to the best on the market, Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) has revealed.

READ MORE UK faces -5C snow with 'three regions in England' set to be hammered

The firm’s latest survey found that 60 per cent of savers haven’t switched accounts in the past year, while 30 per cent haven’t changed their savings account provider in the past five years. 22 per cent of bank account holders said they have never switched.

HL revealed that the average high street easy access account pays 1.6 per cent interest a year, while the best on the market, which excludes those limited to small sums and those limited withdrawals, pays 4.87 per cent. If a saver had £20,000 in an average branch-based high street east access account, this could cost them £674 a year.

20 per cent of richest households which have an average of £36,276 in cash, the difference between the average rates from high street accounts and the best on the market could cost them £1,222 a year. Head of personal finance at HL, Sarah Coles, said: "Falling savings rates have seen savings inertia build, so that three fifths of savers haven’t bothered switching savings accounts at all in the past year.

"Inertia always has something of a grip on the UK’s savers. It’s easy to feel that there’s enough to keep on top of in life, so switching your savings to make the most of your money feels like a step too far." Ms Coles concluded: "This is the time when switching accounts can be particularly valuable.

"If you were already with a high street giant that offered less to begin with, and is now cutting rates, the difference between the best rates on the market and a typical offering from the high street is stark, and there’s hundreds of pounds a year to be made from the switch."