Savings accounts were invented to help us earn some money. (Although currently we might consider ourselves lucky if we just manage to protect our savings from erosion by inflation). But you can make a little extra with a current account as well.

So, lets have a look at how the banks lure new customers and what you can earn by switching your bank account.

Santander’s offer of £100 to anyone switching to its Preferred current account has been around for a while now. If you already have a Santander mortgage or a loan and switch your account to them, you can get a cashback of £200 or £300. But there is a huge catch! Santander’s accounts with cashback are all packaged current accounts, which means that you are paying a monthly fee to use them. And there is a chance that you will be paying in fees more than getting in cashback. All this apart from the fact that Santander customer service is still far from what you can justly hope to expect from a bank.

If you are a new customer, switching to the First Direct 1st Current Account, a £100 cashback will be offered on arrival, but what is more, after the first 6 months you are free to switch again, if not satisfied with it, and will be given another £100 as a compensation for inconvenience. But this account is only suitable to those who can pay a minimum of £1500 a month into it.

Another way of earning a little extra from you current account is offered by Halifax. It will pay you £5 a month if you open its Reward Current Account. The requirement is to pay at least £1000 a month into it.

Bad news: The Co-operative Bank is no longer offering a £200 cash incentive to switch to its bank accounts. The moral of the story – grab good deals while they are still around!

And what do you think? Do you manage to keep an eye on the best offers and switch your current account to get the maximum out of it, or prefer the “no-hussle-whatever-wil-be” approach?