Santander relaunches £240 free cash offer for new and existing customers

It is available to new and existing customers who move their current account to a Santander Everyday account through the Current Account Switch Service.

The deal comes as billions of pounds remain in accounts paying poor returns.

Research from savings app Spring found that £327billion is held in accounts paying interest of 1.5 per cent or less.

To qualify for the £240 payment, customers must request their switch on or after October 27, 2026, and before Santander withdraws the promotion.

They must also open a Regular Saver account, which currently pays eight per cent interest.

Within 60 days of initiating the switch, they need to complete the full transfer, which includes closing their previous account.

During that same window, at least £1,500 must be deposited into the new Santander account through one or more payments.

Customers are also required to have a minimum of two active household direct debits running on the account. On top of this, they must put at least £200 into the Regular Saver, which pays eight per cent interest.

Both the Everyday current account and the Regular Saver must remain open, with the two direct debits still active, on the date Santander issues the bonus.

Those who held a Santander current account on 1 January 2026 will not be eligible for the bonus. The same applies to anyone who has previously received a switching incentive from the bank.

The restriction also extends to joint accounts: if any person named on the new account falls into either of those categories, the entire application will be disqualified.

Customers who meet all the requirements can expect to receive their £240 within 90 days of starting the switch process.

The offer remains open-ended for now, with Santander stating only that the switch request must be submitted before the promotion is withdrawn.

No specific closing date has been announced, meaning prospective switchers should act while the deal is still available.

The scale of the opportunity for savers is underlined by recent research from Spring, which analysed CACI data on adult savings accounts.

The findings revealed that 49.3 million accounts are earning 1.5 per cent or less, with an average rate of just 1.03 per cent.

The bulk of these underperforming funds, some £275billion, sits in accounts holding more than £10,000.

More than 365,000 accounts with balances exceeding £100,000 are earning similarly low returns, collectively holding £72.6billion.

Derek Sprawling, Head of Money at Spring, said: “With £327 billion sitting in savings accounts paying 1.5% or less, too much of the nation’s money is earning far less than it could.”

Mr Sprawling added that many savers wrongly believe they must accept lower rates to retain instant access to their money.