11 ways to give yourself a Christmas bonus in 2023

Nearly half of UK adults plan to cut their Christmas spending by an average of £280 this year, according to a survey by shopping website TopCashback. 

If tightening the purse strings has left little room in your budget to treat yourself guilt-free, Which? is here to help. 

We've rounded up 11 ways to make some extra cash or savings to help boost your finances this year and beyond.

1. Switch your bank account

Many of us stick to what we know and stay with the same provider for years, but you may be able to earn a cash bonus for switching plus better perks such as a market-leading savings account and a fee-free overdraft. 

switching deals

Nationwide - £200

You’ll get £200 if you open a FlexAccount (standard everyday account), a FlexDirect (a current account paying 5% interest on balances up to £1,500) or FlexPlus (a packaged account costing £13 a month with travel benefits). 

Nationwide current account holders are also exclusively eligible to apply for its regular savings account, paying 8% AER.

Your £200 will be paid within 10 calendar days of your switch completing.

Find out more

First Direct - £175

First Direct, a Which? Recommended Provider, is offering a £175 bonus to new customers who move to its 1st Account.

The account offers access to a regular saver, which pays 7% AER for 12 months, and a £250 0% overdraft, which is subject to status.

To qualify for the incentive, you need to switch using the Current Account Switch Service, pay in at least £1,000 within three months of opening the account, and must not have been an HSBC current account holder on or after 1 January 2020.

The £175 will be paid within 28 days of the criteria being met.

Find out more:

2. Benefit from birthday freebies

The stars are aligned for Capricorns and Sagittarians this month as they can benefit from a birthday freebie during the festive season. 

3. Max the cashback

Maximise your everyday spending by making the most of cashback schemes. Here are some ways to earn on your Christmas shopping. 

Cashback sites

Cashback sites pay you a cash reward when you follow links from their sites to buy goods or financial products from selected retailers.

Find out more:

Cashback on your debit card

Chase by JP Morgan offers cashback on most debit card spending for the first year after opening the account, capped at £15 per month. This means you won't need to try and keep on top of specific retailer offers that may change and expire each month.

Find out more:

Cashback credit card

A cashback credit card will reward you with a set percentage of cashback every time you buy something.

By putting your everyday spending on the card, you could potentially earn hundreds of pounds a year. But it's important to avoid spending more than you can afford to pay back at the end of the month, as the interest charges usually outweigh any rewards.

Which? analysts have named two cashback credit cards from American Express, which pay 5% cashback in the first three months, as Best Buys.

Find out more:

4. Make your savings work harder

Which? investigation

Between October 2022 and October 2023, the Bank of England hiked the base rate seven times, raising it by three percentage points from 2.25% to 5.25%.

But over the same period, the average easy-access rate offered by the big banks only increased by half this amount (+1.56pp), taking it from 0.42% to 1.98%.

Our experts regularly scour the market for the best rates so you don't have to, with the best regular savings account offering up to 8% AER. 

Find out more:undefined

5. Refer your friends

Films and food are typical recommendations you might make to your friends, but many financial firms will reward existing customers if they put in a good word and get a mate to sign up.

Here are some of the recent deals we've spotted: 

American Express:Co-op Bank:Kroo Bank:Monzo

6. Find lost cash

Finding £10 in your pocket can make your day – but what if you found £40 in overlooked premium bond prizes or £450 in a forgotten bank account? 

Those are the average amounts currently sitting in unclaimed prizes and dormant bank accounts, according to tracing service Gretel. 

Often, people can lose track of their money when they move house without letting a provider know their new address. If communications are not replied to, and no activity occurs on the account, it's eventually classed as dormant.

If you think you might have a dormant account somewhere, services such as Gretel and My Lost Account can help you track it down.

According to NS&I, as of December, there were 2,324,683 unclaimed premium bonds prizes, worth a total of £81,025,600.

Find out more:

7. Check for unclaimed benefits

Millions of UK households could be missing out on help and benefits like council tax discounts, pension credit and universal credit, according to EntitledTo.

This is because many benefits and discounts aren’t granted automatically and so you need to apply yourself.

Find out more:

8. Claim refunds

If you’re prepared to do some legwork you may be able to claim hundreds back in refunds. 

Student finance

More than 833,000 graduates could be due a refund on their student loan repayments for 2022-23, according to the latest figures from the Student Loans Company (SLC).

The refunds apply to graduates who ended up being 'below threshold' in the last tax year, which means their income did not exceed the annual repayment threshold for their plan. 

If you think you’ve paid too much, you can fill out a form and return it to SLC. 

Find out more:

Delayed trains

Being late is never appealing, but if it’s by 15 minutes or more you may be entitled to claim a partial refund.

Most train operators offer a 50% refund on journeys delayed by 30 minutes or more, and a 100% refund on journeys delayed for more than an hour or cancelled altogether. 

Several rail companies now also offer compensation for 25% of the value of your ticket for delays of 15 minutes or more.

Find out more

9. Have a clear out

If you get some time over the Christmas break to have a clear out, don’t throw away your clutter. 

Find out more

10. Start a side hustle

Whether it’s tutoring, pet-sitting, or even building IKEA furniture, if you have a skill, it might be worth using it to earn some extra cash. 

You won’t need to declare extra cash if you make less than £1,000 during the tax year (6 April 2023 – 5 April 2024), as it can be covered by the trading allowance. 

Find out more: 

11. Consider stoozing

The hack involves putting all your spending on an interest-free purchase card and depositing the money you would have spent from your current account into a savings account that pays interest.

Provided you pay the minimum monthly payment on the credit card and clear the balance (using the money you’ve saved) before the 0% ends, you could potentially make hundreds of pounds in interest by next Christmas. However, this hack isn’t for everyone and comes with risks. 

Find out more:

source https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/ways-to-give-yourself-a-christmas-bonus-ajgh52h9lJlY