the richest man in atherstone

You may remember that I opened an A+L Premier Direct account a little under 12 months ago to cash in on their referrals scheme. They sent me a letter offering £100 if I signed up, so naturally I jumped at the offer. I recieved the £100 plus another £50 as a referral, as my mum was already an account holder (A+L offer £50 each to the refer-er and refer-ee, if that's a real word). More recently, I got one of my work colleagues to open an account earning another £50.

The only slight difficulty was transferring the requisite £500 over to the account each month. This was made all the more easier by the 12 month 0% free overdraft they gave me. As soon as the account was open, I transferred the full overdraft amount (£950) to my regular Lloyds TSB current account, followed by a transfer of £450 to my savings account. Then I just bounced the £500 between my two accounts every month.

For me, this has been the best deal of the year. £200 in free money for relatively little work plus nearly 12 months interest earned on money that was borrowed at 0%.

However, all good things must come to an end and I decided to close the account as it was approaching the end of the 0% overdraft. The procedure was painless - just a phone call really - and now I plan to open another very soon (probably getting another £50 referral in the process). I am also toying with opening the Premier Current Account, which despite offering a poor interest rate, comes with a 12%AER Regular Savings account. I already have a Lloyds TSB Regular Savings Account which offers a lower interest rate (6%AER), however I can get access to my cash anytime without penalty.

Decisions, decisions...

P.S. A big thank-you to A+L