Barclays will pay you a bumper £300 to switch current account – with double on offer for Premier accounts

Barclays has launched a new switch deal that means you can bag £300 when you shift your banking to its regular current account.

This is a market-leading bribe with the next-best amount currently being offered by Santander, which is paying switchers £240 until October 7.

There’s double on the table if you can switch to a Barclays Premier account, which requires you to have an annual income of at least £75,000, or £100,000 in savings and investments with the bank.

There’s a caveat in that you’ll only hit the full amount for each deal after five months because Barclays will pay £30 for each month you make ten debit card transactions.

The basic amount offered to regular and Premier account switchers is therefore £150 and £450 respectively.

It’s been a strong year for switch bribes with some banks boosting their regular incentives. For example, First Direct has a longstanding £175 deal that’s now sitting at £210 until December 2.

How to get the cash from Barclays

You must switch using the Current Account Switch Service and open and complete a Barclays current account application in the Barclays app within 21 days.

As usual, there are some requirements that you need to watch out for. You must:

• Complete a full switch including three direct debits.
• Pay in at least £2,000 if you’re a regular account holder or £5,000 if you’re a Premier one within 30 days.
• Make ten debit card transactions a month for five months to get the extra £150.

You should get your payments within 28 days of meeting the requirements. 

You can’t have received a switch bonus from Barclays in the past and you must be a new customer – meaning you can’t have held an account before the offer opened on October 1.

There’s no end date for the offer stated, but Barclays says it can remove it at any time.

How does the offer stack up?

Major banks including HSBC, Nationwide, NatWest and Santander are currently offering switch deals at varying levels.

Unless you’ve bled all these banks dry previously for their switch deals, it’s likely you can shift to one and get a cash boost.

Keep in mind that the bribe shouldn’t be the only reason for you to open an account. If you intend to use it as your main one, check for other features you might need – such as an interest-free overdraft, number of branches or a good app – as well as how its customer service team performs.

> Read more: The best current accounts for perks, cashback and more

Here’s a list of the bribes currently available:

• Barclays: £300 or £600 for Premier
• Santander: £240 – closes October 7
• HSBC: £220
• First Direct: £210 – £35 boost until December 2
• Lloyds: £200
• NatWest: £200
• Nationwide: £175

Earlier this week our savings expert Sylvia Morris revealed the high street banks that will pay you up to 8 per cent interest on your cash. 

When deciding who to bank with, it’s also worth checking the savings rates it will give you.

> Read more: The best easy-access savings rates