Doing UK bank switch bonuses with no credit history
Chase would not open an account for me when I arrived from Australia. Here is why that happens, the spare accounts that work instead, and when to apply for the bonuses.
13 Sep 2026 · 5 min read
The usual advice for switch bonuses is to open a free Chase account first and switch that one away, so your main account never moves. When I moved to London from Australia I did exactly that, and Chase turned me down.
Nothing was wrong. I just had no UK credit history, and it turns out that matters more for this than people say.
Why Chase says no
Chase runs a soft credit search when you apply. It does not hurt your score, but it is there to check you meet their credit history criteria, and they match your name, date of birth and address against TransUnion. With no file there is nothing to match.
Chase’s own help pages say that if you are new to the UK you may have limited or no history, and to try again later once TransUnion has more on you.
You do not need Chase for the spare account
The spare account has one job: to be the account you switch away from. Any current account in the Current Account Switch Service will do, and it does not have to be Chase.
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Monzo, Starling and Revolut are all in the switch service and are the easiest to open when you are new.
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Keep your salary somewhere else. The switch closes the spare account and moves whatever is on it.
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Set up the direct debits the bonus needs on the spare account before you switch, so they travel across.
The bonus accounts check your credit too
This is the bit nobody warns you about. Opening the account that pays the bonus usually involves a credit check, and with a thin file you can be declined at the application stage, before the switch even starts.
A decline is not the end of the world, but a run of applications in a few weeks can look bad on a file that has nothing else on it. Apply for one, see how it goes, and space the rest out.
With no UK credit file, the spare account is the easy part. The bonus account is where you get declined.
When to start
Give your file a few months of basics first: get on the electoral roll, put a bill or a phone contract in your name, and pay everything on time. Our post on building a UK credit file has the list.
Offers come and go, so you will not miss out forever by waiting. You are more likely to miss out by collecting three declines in your first month.
What we do about it
Bank Switcher plans the order for you and shows each bank’s conditions before you apply, so you can start with the offer you are most likely to get and leave the fussier banks until your file has some history on it.
Want this worked out for your banks?
Six tap-only questions and Bank Switcher tells you which of these offers you can actually take, in the order that collects the most. Free, and about a minute.