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Four banks are now paying FREE CASH to tempt you to switch. Time to take your pick...

- NatWest: £200 + £36/year cashback + 6% savings
- First Direct: £175 + 7% savings + top service
- TSB: £125 now + £75 more in November
- Lloyds: £200 to get 'free' insurance for 20 months

Switching banks is an easy way to earn extra cash - and with incomes squeezed on all sides by higher prices and soaring bills, it's a great time to take advantage. Four banks are currently offering (legal) cash bribes to tempt you over, including NatWest's £200, which is newly launched today.

Switching is quick, taking just seven working days to complete. All payments, direct debits and standing orders are moved over for you, and your old account is closed. So if you are out of love with your current bank, why not take the cash?

Yet many stay where they are, and are put off from switching in case things go wrong. Emma took the plunge a few weeks ago and emailed us, with the subject line "Successful first-time banking switch". She wrote: "I switched my bank account to HSBC after reading about an offer in your weekly newsletter before Christmas. Seven weeks later, I am £200 better off - thank you!"

To get the cash or other perks, you must usually be a new customer, pass a not-too-harsh credit check, and use the bank's official switching service. Crucially, the accounts you're switching between must be from different banking groups. All the below are available as both single and joint accounts.

New. 1. NatWest/RBS launch £200 bank switch - plus get £36 a year cashback and a 6% regular saver.
MSE customer service poll rating: NatWest 62% 'great', RBS 46% 'great'.

In terms of upfront free cash, this is the clear winner and is payable when you switch to a range of its current accounts. The standouts are NatWest's Reward* and RBS's Reward* accounts, as you also get £3/month cashback (you actually get £5/month, but pay a £2/month fee) - all you need to do for the cashback is to each month pay in £1,250+, log in to the mobile app and pay out 2+ direct debits of £2+. Or if you just want the £200, you can switch to the fee-free NatWest Select*, RBS Select or Ulster Select accounts - which all have no monthly min pay-in requirement. With all of these accounts, except Ulster's, you can open a linked 6.17% regular saver into which you can put up to £150 a month - max that out and you could earn an extra £60 in the year.

- How do I qualify for the £200? Open one of the above accounts and switch. You must also pay in £1,250+ once and log in to the app within 60 days from the date you opened the account. The cash will be paid within seven days of doing all that. You won't qualify if you've had switch cash from NatWest, RBS or Ulster since October 2017.

2. First Direct gives a free £175, 7% regular saver and cracking service, plus many get a £250 0% overdraft.
MSE customer service poll rating: 90% 'great'.

In addition to the free cash, newbies switching to First Direct's 1st Account* get access to an impressive 7% linked regular saver you can put up to £300 a month in. First Direct's known for its strong service scores, placing top or near-top in every customer service poll we've ever done. Many also get an ongoing £250 interest-free overdraft, though whether you'll get it depends on your credit history.

- How do I qualify for the £175? Open the account, switch and pay in £1,000+ within three months. The free cash is then paid within 28 days. You won't get it if you've ever had any First Direct account before (including savings and credit cards), or have opened a current account with its sister bank HSBC since January 2020.

3. TSB pays £125 upfront, £75 in November, plus £5 a month cashback for six months.
MSE customer service poll rating: 35% 'great'.

This switch offer can be very lucrative, but you need to work for it... and be patient. TSB's Spend & Save account* offers £125 upfront for switchers, then pays an extra £75 later in the year if you've met certain conditions. You can also get £5 a month cashback if you use the debit card 20+ times a month for the first six months. Plus there's a linked 5% AER regular saver, where you can save up to £250 a month.

- How do I qualify for the £125? Open the account by Friday 3 March, then before Friday 24 March: switch, have 2+ direct debits, spend at least once using the debit card, and log on to mobile banking. Do all this and the £125 will be paid by Friday 21 April. To get the extra £75, every month from April through September, spend on the debit card 5+ times, pay in £500+ and have 2+ direct debits. Do all this and the extra £75 will be paid by 31 October. You won't get either payment if you've had switch cash from TSB since October 2022.

4. Lloyds is a bit different... switch to a packaged account and use its £200 bonus to get 'free' travel, breakdown and mobile insurance for 20 months.
MSE customer service poll rating: 50% 'great'.

Packaged accounts are often expensive duds, but this is a cracking deal. Switch to a Lloyds Silver account and you get £200 free cash, which can be left in your account to pay the £10 monthly fee for the first 20 months.

The account gives you family travel insurance covering trips in Europe (including the UK), nationwide roadside breakdown cover, and worldwide mobile phone cover for the account holder(s). However, this insurance is more limited than many other packaged accounts, so do check it's right for you. Full info in our Lloyds Silver review, plus you can also check more options in Top packaged bank accounts.

How do I qualify for the £200? Switch before Tuesday 7 March and the £200 will be paid within three days of the switch completing (and, technically, there's nothing stopping you from downgrading to a free account after you've got it). You're not eligible if you've received a switch bonus from Lloyds since April 2020.

Couple any of the accounts above with the app-only Chase current account* - there's no need to switch or pass a hard credit-check to get it - and, once activated, you'll get a year's 1% cashback on all normal daily debit-card spending (it generally excludes bills, investments and major purchases such as cars).

So use the other accounts to pay your salary in and pay bills from, then fund Chase and spend on that (not TSB, as there's the five debit card transactions per month requirement). Then with, say, £1,000 of family spending a month, you'd earn another £120 a year.

Better yet, its debit card is top for spending abroad, and you get a decent 3% AER interest on up to £500,000 saved in a linked savings account - close to top easy-access rates.

With multiple banks lining up to pay for your business with FREE cash and other perks, why stop at just one switch?

The concept is simple. Move an existing current account to a bank that pays you to switch, wait until you receive the freebie, then move it again to another bank that pays. Full details in Can you make £1,000s by repeatedly switching banks?

MoneySaver Gareth recently wrote in to tell us that he, his wife, and his mum, dad and sister earned a jaw-dropping £7,000+ in bank-switch bonuses since 2018. He wrote: "My family and I have benefited from a combined £7,375 to date from bank switches in cash alone, plus £770 in vouchers! Many thanks for the efforts of the MoneySavingExpert team for providing up-to-date switch info. Especially important for regular switchers like me."