Natwest Reward Accout 'upgrade' 23 October 2022 at 2:01PM in Budgeting & bank accounts 12 replies 702 views

Johntea

I got a popup in my Natwest app yesterday suggesting it may be worth having one of their Reward accounts as I tick all the boxes to earn the £5 a month (£3 after deductions) reward

At the moment I have a single 'Select Account' and a 'Digital Regular Saver', does applying for the upgrade just upgrade my Select Account to a Reward Account or does it set up a seperate entity / debit card etc. meaning I would have to manually transfer eveything over?

Also is it likely to involve a hard credit check as if so it isn't really worth it just at the moment with me doing a couple of bank switches recently and also being accepted for some Barclay finance for Apple so I don't want to rock the boat too much for the next couple of months in that arena!

changearound1

Your account number and sort code will stay the same. No idea regarding the credit search.

gsmh

Nothing will change, other than that your account is labelled 'Reward' rather than 'Select'. I've moved both ways in the past and the change happens within hours.

WillPS

gsmh said:

Nothing will change, other than that your account is labelled 'Reward' rather than 'Select'. I've moved both ways in the past and the change happens within hours.

Within working hours only, though. If you expect 'next working day' you won't be disappointed.

zcrat41

I had this too and have neglected to do it. Although I'd make it a profit right now, how long would it be before they stop paying me a £1 to check mobile banking and it cost me money. I bet I wouldn't be able to swap back to a free account easily 

gsmh

zcrat41 said:

I had this too and have neglected to do it. Although I'd make it a profit right now, how long would it be before they stop paying me a £1 to check mobile banking and it cost me money. I bet I wouldn't be able to swap back to a free account easily 

It's just as easy to switch back. You fill in the same online form, but choose 'Select Account' instead of 'Reward Account'. I've done it.

Band7

zcrat41 said:

I had this too and have neglected to do it. Although I'd make it a profit right now, how long would it be before they stop paying me a £1 to check mobile banking and it cost me money. I bet I wouldn't be able to swap back to a free account easily 

It is very easy to downgrade back to Select any time you like. Natwest will notify you if the Reward terms change, and they will give you plenty of time to react.

zcrat41

 Interesting thank you! Will maybe bother earning myself £30!!

Jami74

zcrat41 said:

I had this too and have neglected to do it. Although I'd make it a profit right now, how long would it be before they stop paying me a £1 to check mobile banking and it cost me money. I bet I wouldn't be able to swap back to a free account easily 

Looking back at my rewards, it looks like I've earnt £5 rewards a month and paid the monthly £2 fee since at least April 2021. That's the £4 for having 2 direct debits and £1 for logging in to the app. I transfer the rewards to my current account on the first of the month, takes a few days.

HalfManHalfBiscuit

Not had this offer appear in my app but I would still like to upgrade from my Select to the Reward account. Does anyone know how or where I can do this in the app? 

changearound1

HalfManHalfBiscuit said:

Not had this offer appear in my app but I would still like to upgrade from my Select to the Reward account. Does anyone know how or where I can do this in the app? 

If you start applying for a Reward account from the NatWest website, one of the options it gives is 'Change my existing NatWest current account To A Reward account'