Rumble In The Credit Jungle. Who Wins The Heavyweight Current Account Clash?

Santander customers are being given a free upgrade to their Reward Account – National Green Flag breakdown cover is being added for new and existing customers who currently have only local recovery. This would cost you £98 if you got it outside the account, and given you pay £10 for the extras on this account – £120 a year – it makes the Reward Account good value.

But HSBC is launching its global Advance account in the UK, so how do the two match up?

Which Account Offers What?

Santander adding Green Flag to its stable means all the account’s benefits now add up to £460 a year. It already offers family travel insurance including winter sports cover and a 6 per cent interest rate.

There is identity protection which gives you up to £50,000 of legal cover, card loss assistance, key protection with up to £500 for replacement keys or locks, and commission-free travel money. You also get a £100 interest-free overdraft, and you pay 12.9 per cent on agreed overdrafts after that.

HSBC Advance has a very different portfolio of benefits on offer, which it claims is worth more than £500.

It offers customers preferential terms on selected HSBC mortgages, overdraft and savings. You can also get a regular savings account paying 8 per cent fixed for 12 months.

UK breakdown assistance is included, and you can upgrade to Homestart if you wish, plus family travel insurance, fee-free cash machine access abroad, and a 12-month fixed rate Isa paying 2.85 per cent.

The real benefit of this account comes if you travel extensively, or intend to move abroad either temporarily or permanently. You have global customer recognition – so anywhere in the world you will be treated as a ‘local’ customer – and you can access emergency cash if you need it.

One of the biggest benefits is international assistance to open accounts – this is a huge advantage if you are moving abroad, as it can be very hard to open an account overseas.

The final benefits are:

• A discounted overdraft rate of 17.9 per cent EAR (typical) compared to the bank’s standard rate of 19.9 per cent,
• £3,000 of life insurance cover and 50 per cent discount on LifeChoices premiums
• 10 per cent cash back on personal loan interest costs,
• identity theft assistance and advice

For the first three months you would pay £6 for the privilege of having all this, but that will rise to £12.95 a month after that.

Which One Is The Winner?

So which of these accounts delivers the knock-out punch?

Santander is impossible to beat on the interest rate at 6 per cent, and it has a much cheaper overdraft than HSBC’s Advance. It does offer commission-free travel money, but that promise is only worthwhile if the rates on offer are decent in the first place. Often you can get a better deal on travel money online rather than at the bank.

HSBC has the fee-free cash machine access abroad, which is a real benefit, and has an element of life cover on offer, but it is pretty poor at £3,000.

The Final Verdict

But with a much higher overdraft rate, and access to a tracker rate of 2.49 per cent – which can be matched by Mansfield Building Society, the only real benefit for this account we can see is if you are looking to move abroad.

If that is not the case, then we would give Santander the verdict.