Martin Lewis issues urgent £175 warning with just hours left to claim your cash | Personal Finance | Finance

Britain’s top money-saving guru Martin Lewis has fired off a red-alert warning that the £175 cash giveaway from First Direct ends today at the stroke of midnight.

The latest bulletin from MoneySavingExpert.com has revved up urgency amongst savvy savers, highlighting that time is ticking to clinch First Direct’s enticing £175 switch bonus before it vanishes tonight (July 31). Initially revived in May, First Direct had made it clear the offer wouldn’t stick around forever.

According to reports from MoneySavingExpert.com, First Direct, which operates under the same banner as HSBC, boasts an impressive track record for customer service. The online wealth wizard’s poll awarded the bank a “great” stamp of approval.

Further sweetening the deal, First Direct also tempts with a juicy seven percent regular savings account and a tempting zero percent overdraft deal, reports the Mirror. 

The experts at MoneySavingExpert.com were quoted in their newsletter saying: “ENDS 11.59pm WED. FREE £175 to switch to top service bank. Last week we predicted First Direct’s* FREE £175 would end soon. Now it’s confirmed. The account got a 91% ‘great’ service rating in our last poll, has a linked 7% regular savings account you can put up to £300/mth in, and many get a £250 0% overdraft.”

Those eager to take advantage of this freebie while it’s still on offer will need to act swiftly and submit their switching application through the Current Account Switch Service (CASS) within the next few hours.

To be eligible for the £175, customers must meet certain requirements, including transferring a balance of £1,000 into the account, switching at least two regular payments, and using their debit card a minimum of five times within 30 days of opening the account.

If you previously held a First Direct product or opened an HSBC current account on or after January 1 2018, you will not qualify for the incentive.