It might be a weekly free Greggs sausage roll, cinema tickets, insurance to replace your teenager’s smashed iPhone screen, or annual travel insurance. All of the main high street and digital banks, including Monzo and Revolut, now offer paid-for packaged current accounts where everyday banking comes with a set of enticing perks.
From December, one of the most popular, Nationwide’s FlexPlus current account, is going up from £13 to £18 a month.
With that, and many other accounts, now costing more than £200 a year, you can waste lot of money if you are not making the most of the freebies.
“Whether or not packaged bank accounts offer good value comes down to one simple question,” says Sam Richardson, the deputy editor of Which? Money. “Will you use the additional perks frequently? If the answer is yes, then there are some good options on the market.”
“If you are thinking of switching to a packaged bank account, also make sure you’re not doubling up on cover,” he adds. “Mobile phone and gadget cover may already be part of your home contents insurance.”
Here is how the main packaged accounts stack up, and what to consider before you open one.
Nationwide FlexPlus
Monthly cost £18 from 1 December (£216 a year).
What does it include? Annual worldwide travel insurance, including the US and winter sports cover, for you and your family, which means a partner you live with, and any dependent children aged under 23.
Mobile phone insurance for you, a partner you live with and children aged under 19, or under 22 if they are in full-time education.
AA UK and European breakdown assistance cover for all your vehicles. Family are covered if they are driving a car you own.
Other perks No charge for using your card abroad. The fee is usually 2.99% of the transaction value.
A switching incentive of £175 cash provided you are coming from a non-Nationwide bank account and bring at least two active direct debits, pay in at least £1,000 and use your debit card within a month. This incentive is also available on free accounts.
Worth considering Of all the travel insurance attached to packaged accounts, this may work out as the best-value for older people who travel a lot, as there is no upper age limit. Standalone travel insurance can be really pricey for travellers in their 70s, 80s and beyond. The average single-trip premium is £190 for those aged 71 to 75, compared with £38 for those aged 36 to 40, according to the Association of British Insurers. The consumer group Which? rates Nationwide’s travel insurance as one of the best on the market as a result.
Virgin Money Club M
Monthly cost £12.50 (£150 a year).
What does it include? Annual worldwide travel insurance, including US and winter sports cover, for you, your partner and up to four children, including stepchildren, up to 18 years old. The upper age limit is 75.
Worldwide mobile and gadget insurance, covering loss, theft and accidental damage, for you and family members living with you, which covers not just mobiles but laptops, iPads, games consoles, digital cameras – most things with a plug – up to £2,000 a device.
Other perks No charge for using your card abroad, although this is also the case with Virgin Money’s free accounts.
Interest of 1% paid on your current account balance up to £1,000, and access to a linked children’s bank account for 11- to 15-year-olds, plus exclusive savings rates.
Worth considering Which? scores the Virgin account particularly highly for the quality of breakdown cover. It is also one of the few accounts to provide gadget insurance. A similar family gadget policy would cost £150 to upwards of £300 a year, depending on the number of devices it protected.
Monthly cost £15 (£180 a year).
What does it include? Annual worldwide family travel insurance including dependent children up to age 22 in full-time education. The maximum age is 80, although winter sports cover is capped at age 65.
Mobile phone insurance for the account holder, covering up to £1,500 for a handset, and up to £350 for any accessories such as headphones if they are lost at the same time.
RAC UK and European breakdown cover.
Other perks You can earn £75 for moving your to the Co-op Bank, plus £25 a month for three months on top, by actively using the account – but this offer is ending on Sunday 24 November, so you will need to be quick. (This offer also applies to the bank’s free accounts.) Until 13 December, the bank will cover the first three months of subscription fees: you pay £15 a month, but a total of £45 will be put back into your account.
Worth considering The mobile phone insurance is less generous than on other packaged accounts, which tend to cover phones up to £2,000. It does, however, have a lower policy excess of £75 (most are £100). You can make up to two claims in a 12-month period. To extend the mobile insurance to a partner, you could take this out as a joint account, for no extra cost.
Halifax Ultimate Reward
Monthly cost £19 (£228) a year.
What does it include? Annual worldwide travel insurance, including for a partner and children up to age 18, or 24 if they are in full-time education. The maximum age to claim is 70.
AA breakdown cover, including family members travelling in any car.
Mobile phone insurance for account holders only.
Home emergency cover of up to £250 for a callout to fix an urgent issue such as the central heating not working or a burst pipe.
Other perks No charge for using your card abroad. The normal transaction fee is 2.99%.
You get to choose one monthly reward: £5 cashback, one Vue cinema ticket, or three digital magazines such as Men’s Health, as long as you spend at least £500 a month on your debit card or keep £5,000 in your account, and pay in £1,500 a month and stay in credit.
Worth considering Take as a joint account and the mobile phone cover will apply to both you and a partner, for the same monthly fee.
The breakdown policy is less comprehensive than other banks – it does not cover you for driving outside of the UK or include vehicle recovery or onward travel where you can be towed any distance, or hotel accommodation while you wait for your car to be fixed.
Club Lloyds Silver
Monthly cost £11.50 (£138 a year) plus a £3 a month Club Lloyds fee (£36 a year). The latter is waived during every month you pay in £2,000 or more.
What does it include? Annual UK and European family travel insurance up to the age of 65, including children aged up to 18, or up to 24 if in full-time education.
Mobile phone insurance covering one phone for each account holder; that means you can double up if it is a joint account for no extra cost.
AA breakdown cover including family members travelling in any car as driver or passenger.
Other perks No charge for using your card abroad. The normal transaction fee is 2.99%.
You choose a “lifestyle benefit” each year: either 12 months of Disney+, six Odeon or Vue cinema tickets, an annual digital Coffee Club and Gourmet Society membership, or an annual subscription to a magazine such as Good Housekeeping. This offer applies to all Club Lloyds accounts, including that with a lower £3-a-month fee.
Until 10 December, you can receive £200 for switching to the account, provided you move across three active direct debits using the Current Account Switch Service (Cass).
Worth considering This is one of only a few accounts that offers annual European rather than worldwide insurance. Older travellers are not covered, though Lloyds does offer insurance up to age 80 with its more expensive Club Lloyds Platinum account at £22.50 a month.
As with its sister bank Halifax, the breakdown cover is less comprehensive than that offered by some other banks.
NatWest Reward Silver
Monthly cost £10 (£120 a year).
What does it include? Annual European travel insurance for the account holder only, up to age 70. It covers winter sports, and trips up to 22 days in length.
Mobile phone insurance covering loss, theft, accidental damage and breakdown (once the manufacturer warranty has expired), but only for the account holder.
Other perks Fee-free debit card purchases abroad. The fee is usually 2.75% of the transaction.
Earn £4 a month in rewards for setting up two or more direct debits, plus an extra £1 a month for logging into the mobile app. This can go into your account as cash, or be donated to charity or exchanged for gift cards at B&Q and others.
You can get £180 paid into your account if you switch to NatWest Reward Silver using Cass, provided you deposit £1,250 and log into the app. This applies to any Reward account, including a cheaper option costing £2 a month.
Worth considering This is an cost-effective account if you do not have a car, as no breakdown cover is included.
You can pay an additional £75 a year to extend the age limit of the European insurance above 70; if you have a joint account and both need the extension you will need to pay £150.
Monzo Max
Monthly cost £17 (£204 a year).
What does it include? Annual worldwide travel insurance for the account holder only, up to maximum age of 70, including car hire excess waiver insurance of up to £3,000.
Worldwide phone insurance, including coverage for cracked screens, for phones worth up to £2,000 and accessories (such as headphones) worth up to £300.
RAC UK and Europe breakdown cover including if you are a passenger.
Other perks These include a free weekly Greggs treat, either a regular-sized hot drink, sausage roll or sweet treat, plus an annual railcard with Trainline giving a third off eligible rail journeys in England, Scotland and Wales, and a free Vue cinema ticket each month. We estimate this bundle, if you were to take advantage of all of it every week, is worth about £20 a month. A Greggs flat white is £2, an annual railcard typically costs £30 a year, and Vue cinema ticket prices vary.
Access to premium budgeting tools such as virtual cards and customisable pots.
Fee-free ATM withdrawals abroad (unlimited in Europe, and £600 fee-free every 30 days elsewhere. The free account gives you unlimited free withdrawals in Europe, and up to £200 a month elsewhere.
Worth considering You can add family members onto your insurance for an additional £5 a month (£60 a year).The free railcard is only beneficial to those who are eligible with National Rail – for example, for a 16-25 Railcard, a Senior Railcard or a Two Together Railcard.
Cost of buying insurance and breakdown cover
The challenge with working out whether a packaged account is saving you money is that insurance is notoriously hard to compare in price.
How much you will pay for a standalone policy for travel or mobile phone cover varies according to your age, destination and, in the case of gadget insurance, the value of your electronics or phone, as well as the quality of what the insurer offers. Whether you really need it is another thing to consider.
All the packaged accounts offer travel insurance with gold-standard terms, including up to £10m of emergency medical assistance, and the majority of policies are rated as best buys by Which?. But they also include add-ons such as winter sports and golf cover, which are not worth paying a premium for if you only ever go on summer cruises or walking holidays in the Lake District.
As a guide, a typical average annual worldwide travel insurance policy would cost about £140 for a family, according to Moneysupermarket.com, and the annual average premium for breakdown insurance bought through the site during the past 12 months was £39.
A typical annual mobile phone insurance policy costs about £100 for just one top-of-the-range phone.
This totals £279. Bear in mind that none of the banks’ travel insurance policies cover you for pre-existing medical conditions, which may mean you end up paying a lot more on top of the monthly fee.