A&L tempts current account switchers with £100

by Gill Montia

Story link: A&L tempts current account switchers with £100

Alliance & Leicester (A&L) is promoting its Premier Current Account with an offer of £100 to anyone who switches online.

The bank’s current account manager, Andy Muddimer, is promising new customers a seamless transfer via the Premier Switching Service and is urging anyone interested to research the market and discover the benefits of A&L’s offering.

These include free annual multi-trip European travel insurance; a free agreed overdraft for 12 months, a linked PlusSaver account at 5.25% AER and a recommend a friend scheme.

Last week, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) published a report on the UK banking sector’s provision of personal current accounts which concluded that many consumers do not know how much they are paying in charges or the rate of interest they receive on their current account.

The report blamed complexity and lack of transparency on behalf of the banks for the fact that only 6% of customers surveyed had switched accounts in the past 12 months.

Meanwhile research by A&L found that 80% of people surveyed had not switched current accounts in the last five years.

Of those who do switch, 13% are looking for a better overdraft facility and 14% are keen to improve the benefits that come with their current account.

There are estimated to be 54 million active personal current accounts in the UK and according to the OFT’s analysis, banks earned the equivalent of £152 per active bank account in 2006.