The deals on offer vary depending on the investment company but include one-off cashback payments, entry into prize draws, refunds of any fees paid, and rewards for recommending friends.

Competition for new customers has led to a range of perks being offered for new and existing customers, most of which are only available for a short period of time.

You can get up to £1,000 from both Bestinvest and Hargreaves Lansdown, but there are just a couple of weeks to get them as they end on 15 and 16 March respectively. While  another deal from Interactive Investor offers up to £1,000, and ends at the end of March.

In order to bank the cash, there are strict terms and conditions you will need to meet. Usually a minimum amount needs to be invested or transferred into a pension or investment account and the money deposited for a set time – often six months.

The top levels of cashback are also only available for those making big deposits. To get the cashback you often need to jump through a few hoops too, such as using specific links so the cashback can be tracked or emailing the firm after you’ve signed up. Therefore before you sign up, make sure you have read the terms and conditions carefully.

It’s also important to look beyond the freebies at what you’re actually signing up to. It may seem appealing to be given a ‘free’ £500 but it’s not worth it if the investment product isn’t right for you. Similarly, it’s vital to look at all the fees associated with the move, such as fees to transfer a pension or investment, as well as ongoing charges.

The investment firms offering cash ‘freebies’

Here’s a run down of all the current offers available, in order of when the deals close:

Bestinvest

New and existing Bestinvest customers can get up to £1,000 cashback when they transfer at least £1,000 by 15 March.

Cashback is tiered and per customer (not per account opened):

• Deposit £100,000 to get £1,000
• Deposit £50,000 to get £600
• Deposit £20,000 to get £300
• Deposit £1,000 to get £100

The money needs to be transferred into one of the following accounts: a Bestinvest general Investment Account, ISA, Junior ISA, or SIPP or any other account type it offers.

To qualify, both new and existing customers must first open a new account. Then you will need to send an email by 30 June to ‘offers@bestinvest.co.uk’ quoting the promotion code ‘BestTransfersOffer’ and include your account number.

The cashback will then be paid to those who qualify six months after the promotion ends. The amount paid is dependent on how much was deposited, and left in the account for the six months.

The cashback can be paid directly into an account or into a bank account.

Hargreaves Lansdown

You can get up to £1,000 cashback from Hargreaves Lansdown if you transfer an account worth £4,000 or more into a HL Stocks and Shares ISA or HL Fund and Share Account by 16 March.

The cashback is tiered:

• Invest £4,000 – £9,999 to get £50
• Invest £10,000 – £19,999 to get £100
• Invest £20,000 – £39,999 to get £150
• Invest £40,000 – £59,999 to get £300
• Invest £60,000 – £79,999 to get £500
• Invest £80,000 or more to get £1,000

To get the cashback, you must register with a form on the investment company’s website and you then have until 16 March to apply to transfer. The money needs to be kept within the account for at least a year, otherwise the cashback will be clawed back.

You’ll receive the cashback within the last 10 working days of the next month, from the date of your last qualifying transfer. It will be paid into a Loyalty Bonus Account and you can keep it there or withdraw it.

You can qualify for multiple cashback offers as long as you meet the criteria outlined in each set of terms and conditions.

Interactive Investor (II)

Cashback of up to £1,000 is on offer from Interactive Investor if you transfer your current pension into a new or existing II SIPP by 31 March.

It applies both to a stand-alone II Pension Builder Plan and any SIPP taken out alongside II’s ISA or trading account.

The amount of cashback is tiered depending on the money transferred:

• £2m+ nets £1,000
• £1m – £1,99m nets £500
• £100,000 – £999,999.99 nets £300
• £25,000 – £99,999.99 nets £200
• £10,000 – £24,999.99 nets £100

The money will be paid 30 days after your qualifying deposit or you’ve opened a trading account, or your bank account has been verified, depending on the type of II account you have.

To be eligible you must keep the II SIPP open for at least 12 months after you make the transfer.

II also offers £200 if you recommend a friend and they invest at least £10,000. The friend will also get their first year’s service plan for free, a saving of £120.

Moneyfarm

New customers signing up to Moneyfarm can get up to £750 cashback. The cashback levels are tiered depending on the amount you invest and the money needs to be deposited by 23:59 on 30 April:

• Invest more than £50,000 to get the top rate of £750
• Invest £20,000 – £49,999 to get £500
• Invest £10,000 – £19,999 to get £200
• Invest £5,000 and £9,999 to get £100

To be eligible you need to be a new customer, or have an active account that you haven’t deposited money into.

You can deposit as many times as you like during the offer period and the total amount will be taken into account when calculating your cashback amount.

New customers must open and fund a Moneyfarm account through the dedicated link available on the promotional Moneyfarm landing page or using the coupon ‘ISA_PROMO_2023’ during the subscription to be eligible.

Existing customers with an open but not funded account, must receive an email, a push notification, or a promotional message in their Moneyfarm dashboard which will contain a dedicated link to use.

The cashback will be paid from 31 May but you will need to keep the money you’ve invested within the account for 24 months. If you remove it in this time, Moneyfarm will withdraw the equivalent cashback from your account.

Any customer from Etoro through its affiliation programme will not qualify for any Moneyfarm offers.

AJ Bell

If you open and fund an ISA, SIPP of Lifetime ISA by 2 May, you’ll receive a gift voucher of up to £200. This can be money you deposit or transfer from another provider.

You can choose from an Amazon gift card or a One4All gift card which can be spent at a range of retailers including John Lewis, Wagamama, National Express, and Hello Fresh.

The amount is dependent on the sum you invest and the type of ISA:

• Invest £10,000 in a new SIPP to get £200
• Invest £10,000 in a new ISA to get £100
• Invest £4,000 in a new Lifetime ISA to get £50

When you’ve opened the account and added the money, you need to log into your AJ Bell account to claim the gift card, it will not be given to you automatically. You must claim the card via a specific website page from the investment provider.

You can claim more than one reward if you open and fund further accounts. But you can only claim once per account during the offer period. Gift cards will be sent out 30 days after the offer has ended.

AJ Bell is also offering to refund any transfer fees of up to £500 charged by an existing provider if you transfer an ISA, pension, or dealing account worth more than £20,000.

To claim the money, you will need to email ‘transferoffer@youinvest.co.uk’ with copies of documentation confirming the transfer costs you’ve paid to your old provider or you can post these. If your claim is valid, the money will be paid into your bank account within 28 days.

If you recommend a friend to AJ Bell, and they transfer more than £10,000, you’ll both receive a £100 voucher too.