NatWest Rewards has been one of the most consistent reward schemes in the whole reward accounts space. Much like Club Lloyds, you always know what you’re getting. You meet the requirements, you get the reward. No nudging you to spend more, no pressure to add more bills. Basically no nonsense. It’s the cleanest of bribes, or if you prefer – a simple thank you for using the account.
The NatWest Rewards Offer
- First Direct Debit — £2
- Second Direct Debit — £2
- Mobile app login — £1
- Retail cashback — 1–15%
Conditions
- Monthly deposit — £1,250
- Monthly fee — £2
The irony
On paper, it’s the simplest offer in the market: £36 a year, guaranteed, just for using the account normally. And yet… they’ve found a way to gamify it.
Instead of saying: “Deposit £1,250 and pay two Direct Debits — we’ll reward you.”
It’s more like: “Pay us £2 at the start of the month. Then earn £2 back when you pay a bill. Then another £2. And £1 if you log in to the app.”
Sure, you’ll log in anyway. Who doesn’t open their banking app once a month. But it still feels childish. A little too carrot and stick for my taste. Do this, get a snack. Forgot to do it, you’re out of luck.
I also don’t love the idea of £2 leaving the account and then slowly finding its way back to you. In fact, they never refund you at all. NatWest puts it into a separate reward account and you pay yourself from there. By the time you get the reward, the next £2 is already on its way out. It’s like they tried to come up with the most annoying way of paying that reward.
It’s the opposite of how Lloyds and Halifax do it. With them, if you meet the conditions, you simply get the reward. Money never leaves your account. No games, no transactions clutter on your feed. A cleaner, more adult way to go about it.
How it compares
For all my objections to the structure, the offer itself is decent. £3 a month for using the account naturally is literally free money. The cash value is lower than Lloyds’ cinema tickets or Disney+, but if you prefer straight cash, NatWest is the cleanest route.
The downside is the ceiling of course: You can’t earn less than £3, but you also can’t earn more.
Take Halifax Reward: if you naturally keep around £2,400 in your current account (roughly the UK average) you’ll get the same £36 through interest. If you keep more, say £4,000, your £36 just hit £60. So for better or worse, NatWest doesn’t scale at all.
Bottom line
The NatWest Reward account is as simple as it gets. Meet the basic requirements and you’re guaranteed £36 a year — no more, no less. It’s not the highest cash value, but it’s a lock, and it doesn’t require any big balances or jumping through silly hoops.
If you want to see the offer yourself: NatWest Rewards
