UK bank handing £256-a-year to customers but you won't find it on High Street
A new study found 40 per cent of people had never switched provider, despite 58 per cent feeling let down when incentives were cut, reports Express.co.uk.
Santander has closed its 123 Lite account, moving clients to Everyday, which has fewer rewards.
READ MORE: Cost of living payments entering bank accounts every month in 2025
Get breaking news on BirminghamLive WhatsApp, click the link to join
More than half, 51 per cent, of Santander customers surveyed were unaware this was taking place.
The research was carried out by Zopa Bank, which claimed its new Biscuit account provided four times the value of Everyday with customers able to earn £256-a-year through cashback and interest.
Merve Ferrero, Zopa's chief strategy officer, said: "We know over a third of UK consumers stick with their bank out of habit, even when their loyalty goes unrewarded.
"At Zopa, we want to change that.
"With Biscuit, we've launched the UK's best free current account for everyday value - combining the peace of mind of a fully regulated bank with the ease and value customers expect from a modern digital experience.
"Whether it's cashback on bills, interest on savings, or effortless money management in one place, Biscuit makes everyday banking better."
The survey also reveals a clear generational divide in banking behaviour.
While older customers are more likely to stay loyal even when perks disappear, 23 per cent of Gen Z plan to shop around, compared with just 16 per cent of 45 to 55-year-olds.
Gen Z are also turning to new sources for money advice with 42 per cent consulting AI and social platforms like ChatGPT, TikTok, and Reddit, compared with 30 per cent of millennials.
Unsurprisingly, spending priorities for a £256 windfall differ with millennials favouring football tickets (22 per cent), Ninja gadgets (15 per cent) or a Sky Sports/TNT subscription (11 per cent).
Gen Z's shopping list also includes football tickets (13 per cent) alongside Oasis tickets (ten per cent) and Dubai-style chocolate (ten per cent).
Zopa, launched in 2020, has attracted 1.5 million customers and won multiple banking awards.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Tom's Guide
25 minutes ago
- Tom's Guide
Hundreds of thousands of Grok chatbot conversations are showing up in Google Search — here's what happened
If you've ever chatted with Grok, the Elon Musk-backed AI assistant from xAI, and hit the 'Share' button, your conversation might be searchable on Google. According to a recent Forbes report, more than 300,000 Grok conversations have been indexed by search engines, exposing user chats that were likely intended to be shared privately, not broadcast online. This comes just weeks after ChatGPT users discovered their shared chats were searchable on Google too. This discovery once again raises serious concerns about how AI platforms handle content sharing and user privacy. Built by Elon Musk's xAI, Grok includes a feature that lets users share conversations through a unique link. Once users share, those chats are no longer private, and are getting picked up by Google's web crawlers. From there, the chat are turning up in search results, meaning anyone can access and read them. In both the ChatGPT cases and this one, the issue comes down to how "shareable" URLs are structured and whether AI companies are doing enough to protect users who may not realize their content is publicly viewable. The implications go beyond just a few embarrassing screenshots. Some Grok chats could contain sensitive, personal or even private details. Many users likely had no idea their shared conversations were being published for the world to see until now. This privacy breach highlights a growing challenge in AI product design: how to balance transparency and social sharing with greater privacy protections. When users hit 'Share,' they should be clearly informed that their link will be publicly accessible, and AI companies need to use best practices like noindex tags or restricted access URLs to avoid surprises like this. To prevent these kinds of privacy slip-ups, AI platforms should: Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. This isn't the first controversy Grok has faced. the chatbot has come under fire in recent months for questionable responses and controversial content. But this latest issue hits at a core trust concern: how user data is managed and whether privacy is truly being prioritized. As more people turn to AI tools for personal, educational, wellness and emotional support, platforms like xAI will need to step up their safeguards or risk eroding the very trust they're trying to build. Although the damage is already done and deleting the chats won't make them completely disappear from searches, users can still take action. Start by safeguarding your chats by not sharing them until Grok has more secure privacy settings. Screenshots are another option if you must share your chats with others. As more people turn to AI tools for personal, educational, wellness and emotional support, platforms like xAI will need to step up their safeguards or risk eroding the very trust they're trying to Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Tech, chip stock sell-off continues as AI bubble fears mount
Tech stocks fell for a second day on Wednesday as investors sold off a slew of tech names amid concerns over the sustainability of the AI boom and a recent market rotation away from some of this year's biggest winners. Among the Magnificent Seven Big Tech stocks, Nvidia (NVDA) was down about 0.8%, and Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG) stock fell about 0.6%. Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), and Meta (META) shares fell over 1%. Chip stocks Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Broadcom (AVGO) dropped more than 2%; Micron (MU) shares plummeted more than 5%. CoreWeave (CRWV), the AI data center company that rents computing power to Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta — making it essentially an AI pure play — also dropped nearly 4%. Palantir (PLTR), a defense tech stock that's seen a major upswing from the AI boom, sank nearly 2%, extending its recent losing streak. The rotation out of AI-linked stocks comes as sentiment soured this week on the market for artificial intelligence, fueled in part by a recent report from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and commentary from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Researchers for MIT's Project NANDA authored a report released this week that said 95% of companies it studied are getting no return on AI. The findings of the report were first detailed by Fortune on Monday. That report followed commentary from OpenAI's Altman shortly after the ChatGPT-maker finished out its latest multibillion-dollar funding round, with the CEO telling reporters that he believes there's an AI bubble, a diversion from his prior characterizations. 'When bubbles happen, smart people get overexcited about a kernel of truth,' he said. 'Are we in a phase where investors as a whole are overexcited about AI? My opinion is yes." DA Davidson analyst Gil Luria likened the changing market sentiment to a pendulum. 'This is really just pendulum swinging back,' he told Yahoo Finance on Wednesday. AI stocks have taken off in recent months after a rocky start to the year. A new, cost-effective AI model from Chinese firm DeepSeek released in January cast doubt on the massive sums of money Big Tech was spending to build out AI infrastructure to power the technology — and sent tech stocks tumbling. Two rounds of earnings updates from some of the biggest AI plays in the market and more clarity on Trump's trade policies have since quelled those fears. Investors applauded recent quarterly reports from Big Tech firms Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon, which surpassed Wall Street's expectations as the companies said AI boosted their underlying businesses. That news overrode the fact that those companies also raised their forecasts for spending on AI infrastructure. 'The AI trade was getting so expensive that all it took was some comment from Sam Altman to make the investment community take some profits off the table,' Luria said. Luria added that 'the reality is that AI still has limited applications' beyond consumers talking to AI chatbots and using the tools as a search engine. Some AI bulls, however, maintain faith in the technology's ability to fuel markets to new highs. 'We are still in the early days of the AI Revolution as the use cases are just starting to massively expand as more companies recognize the value creation being driven by a handful of tech companies led by the Godfather of AI [Nvidia CEO] Jensen [Huang] and Nvidia,' wrote Wedbush analyst Dan Ives in a note to investors Wednesday. He added that 'the tech bull cycle will be well intact at least for another 2-3 years given the trillions being spent on AI.' More will be revealed when leading AI chipmaker Nvidia reports its quarterly earnings results after the bell next week on Aug. 27. Laura Bratton is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Bluesky @ Email her at Connectez-vous pour accéder à votre portefeuille
Business Insider
an hour ago
- Business Insider
Beat It Musk! Thousands of Brits Aim to Block ‘Unfit' Tesla's U.K. Energy Plan
Thousands of angry Brits have told Tesla (TSLA) boss Elon Musk to pull the plug on plans to enter the country's energy supply market. Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. Over 8,000 people have asked energy regulator Ofgem to block Tesla from supplying British households with electricity over owner Elon Musk's 'clear political agenda'. License Bid Tesla Energy Ventures is currently trying to get approval for an energy license from regulator Ofgem to supply British households and take on giants such as British Gas owner Centrica and Octopus Energy. If successful, it hopes to start switching on supply next year. Members of the public have until Friday to comment on the application, after which Ofgem will decide whether to grant Tesla a licence to supply electricity. They haven't been holding back. According to campaign group Best for Britain, 8,462 people have used its online tool to lodge objections with Ofgem. The group believes that Musk is not a 'fit and proper' person to have a 'foothold in our essential services.' Best for Britain's chief executive Naomi Smith said: 'We've all had a front row seat to Musk's malign influence, turning Twitter into an incubator for right-wing hate. British people are rightly against Musk being anywhere near our electricity supply and that's why we are encouraging more people to make their views known before Friday.' Tesla has had its troubles this year with its EV arm, faced by stiffer competition and the hit to brand reputation caused by Musk's involved in the Trump administration. This has impacted the company's previous 'tour de force' share price performance. However, it has a burgeoning solar energy and battery storage business and has been an electricity supplier in Texas for the past three years. Good Energy Tesla's energy business saw total energy generation and storage revenue jump 67% year over year to more than $10 billion in 2024. After deploying 14.7 gigawatt hours (GWh) of storage in 2023, Tesla more than doubled this figure to 31.4 GWh in 2024. Its Megapack product – a grid-scale battery storage solution designed for utilities and large-scale commercial customers, has led the way. The company is producing Megapacks at its dedicated Lathrop, California, facility, and recently started production at a second Megapack factory in Shanghai, with a target production of up to 40 GWh of capacity per year. The British business is expected to be branded TeslaElectric and could focus on supplying electricity to consumers who own Tesla products such as cars or batteries. Indeed, according to industry experts, Tesla is in a strong position in the U.K. to start supplying if the license application is approved. It has sold more than a quarter of a million EVs and tens of thousands of home storage batteries, called Powerwalls, in the UK, which could help it gain access to a sizeable customer base for an electricity supply business. Is TSLA a Good Stock to Buy Now? On TipRanks, TSLA has a Hold consensus based on 14 Buy, 15 Hold and 8 Sell ratings. Its highest price target is $500. TSLA stock's consensus price is $307.23, implying an 8.33% downside.
