£300 for switching banks, and a £276 energy rise to dodge

This week there's up to £300 on the table for switching your bank account, and energy bills are forecast to jump £276 a year in January. Every issue has one thing to grab, one thing to fix, and one way to use AI on your own money.

Grab it: get paid to switch banks

Banks are paying £175 to £300 to take your current account, and the free Current Account Switch Service moves your direct debits and closes the old account for you in 7 working days.

Bank	Bonus	What you have to do	Deadline
Barclays	£300	Switch, move 3 direct debits, pay in £2,000 salary every month. £150 up front, then £30 a month for 5 months	None given
HSBC	£220	Switch, pay in £2,000, move 2 direct debits, spend £500 on the card within 60 days	None given
First Direct	£210	Switch with 2 direct debits, pay in £1,000, 5 card payments within 45 days	2 Dec for the extra £35
Lloyds	£200	Switch to Club Lloyds. £5 monthly fee unless you pay in £2,000 a month	9 Dec
NatWest or RBS	£200	Switch, pay in £1,250 within 60 days, log in to the app	None given
Nationwide	£175	Switch and pay in £1,000. Also pays 5% on up to £1,500 for a year	None given

Easiest if you don't want to move your salary: NatWest needs £1,250 paid in once. You can move it straight back out after a day.

Watch out: HSBC and First Direct are the same group, as are NatWest and RBS, so you'll usually only get one bonus from each pair. Most offers exclude anyone who's had an account with that bank recently. Expect a credit check when you apply.

Fix it: get ahead of January's energy rise

The typical dual-fuel bill under the price cap is £1,723 a year until 31 December. Cornwall Insight forecasts it rises to £1,999 on 1 January, an extra £276 a year, or about £23 a month (Money to the Masses, Rest Less).

Log in to your supplier and note your annual usage in kWh. It's on your latest bill or annual statement.
Put that usage into a comparison site and look at 15- to 24-month fixes. Those are where the cheaper deals are right now.
Only fix if the yearly cost beats the January forecast for your usage. A fix can cost more if wholesale prices fall, and leaving early usually means exit fees.
Whatever you decide, take meter readings on 31 December so you're billed at the old rate for everything used before the rise.

Earn it: where your savings should be

£5,000 at 4.55% earns about £227 a year. Left at 1.5%, the same money earns about £75. That's roughly £150 for a 10-minute move.

Account	Rate (AER)	Type	Catch
LemFi Instant Access	5.00%	Easy access	Includes a bonus that ends after 6 months
Starling Easy Saver	5.00%	Easy access	New Starling customers only, 6-month deal
Tembo HomeSaver	4.55%	Easy access	Bonus for 12 months, up to £20,000
First Direct Regular Saver	7.00%	Regular saver	Up to £300 a month, needs a First Direct account
Skipton Regular Saver	5.75%	Regular saver	Up to £250 a month, open to anyone

Regular savers sound better than they pay, because the money goes in a month at a time. £250 a month into Skipton for a year earns about £93. £300 a month at First Direct earns about £137.

When a bonus rate ends, move the money again. Set a calendar reminder the day you open the account.

AI money move: find the subscriptions you forgot about

Small monthly charges are easy to lose track of. This check takes about five minutes.

In your banking app, export the last 3 months of transactions as a CSV or PDF.
Open the file and delete your name, account number and sort code. The AI doesn't need them.
Upload it to any AI assistant with the prompt below.

Here are 3 months of my bank transactions. List every payment that looks like a subscription or regular bill. For each one, give the name, how often it's charged, the amount, and the yearly cost. Flag anything that went up in price, anything charged twice, and anything that looks like a free trial that turned into a paid plan. Sort by yearly cost, highest first, and give me the total.

Then cancel what you don't use. For anything you keep, like broadband, phone or insurance, ask the AI: "What's a reasonable price for this in the UK right now, and what should I say when I call to haggle?"

The small print