Santander £240 switch offer (01/09/2026 to 07/10/2026)

TruthorConsequences

Hi,

Apologies, I am sure this has been asked many times before.

I have just completed the Santander switch and need to make the £1500 payment into the current account and £200 into the saver account. Can I pay in £1500 and transfer £200 of that straight away into the saver to satisfy that requirement (keeping that in the saver) and can I then transfer the remaining £1300 out of the current account immediately (or even some of it) straight away to elsewhere, or does the money need to be in there for a minimum amount of time? I've already had two qualifying DD payments set up so that requirement is complete.

Further to this - is the switch completion date when the 60 day countdown begins to fulfil all requirements to get the switching bonus or is it when you started the application?

Many thanks in advance

danny13579

TruthorConsequences Can I pay in £1500 and transfer £200 of that straight away into the saver to satisfy that requirement (keeping that in the saver) and can I then transfer the remaining £1300 out of the current account immediately (or even some of it) straight away to elsewhere

Yes.

or does the money need to be in there for a minimum amount of time?

No.

Further to this - is the switch completion date when the 60 day countdown begins to fulfil all requirements to get the switching bonus or is it when you started the application?

The 60 day countdown begins on the date you request Santander that you wish to do a switch to them. You need to complete the switch within this 60 day window.

Evan_Brighton

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82123693#Comment_82123693

Could you help check if my Direct Debits are active? They are shown under the Scheduled, but it says "Not billed yet" for both, so no payment has been taken. Does this meet Santander’s requirements?

danny13579

Evan_Brighton Could you help check if my Direct Debits are active? They are shown under the Scheduled, but it says "Not billed yet" for both, so no payment has been taken. Does this meet Santander’s requirements?

Yes. Payment isn't needed. They just need to be active. A Direct Debit becomes active 3 working days after the utility company on the list submits a mandate to your bank. Just make sure both Direct Debits are from companies on the list.

StevieJ

Does the £1500 deposit include transferred balances and cash deposits? Grateful for any help on this.

Money_Stitch

Probably a daft question but (AI triggered, lol) - re the min 1500 cash deposit. If some of that comes from a cahoot saver as a faster payment, does that count? I'm not referring to switching from cahoot, I understand that is specified in the T&Cs as not meeting the criteria, just querying if the source of any deposits is cahoot, if it would count.

Thanks.

danny13579

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82157215#Comment_82157215

Yes, any money transferred over as part of the switch and any cash deposited count towards the £1,500.

danny13579

Money_Stitch re the min 1500 cash deposit. If some of that comes from a cahoot saver as a faster payment, does that count?

Yes. It can even come from another Santander account.

Money_Stitch

Good to know, thanks for all your tips with this.

ST£V£

Concerning the direct debits and that list.

I have direct debits with

1 Sky Mobile (which I know is not on the pdf list) however when opening "Check you have 2 qualifying household Direct Debits" from their website we have.

"Mobile and home phone bills
EE
O2
Vodafone
Three (H3G)
British Telecom (BT)
Sky
Virgin Mobile
Tesco Mobile
TalkTalk Mobile"
Question. Has anybody successfully used Sky Mobile for an incentive?

2 The other one I have is for Northumbrian Water however the direct debit transactions are marked as "NWL & ESW WATER".
Question. Would that confuse Santander and be deemed as not being on their list?