Earn more £££ from your salary!

Rachel Robson highlights five easy ways to get more from your salary - using only your current account.

It may feel as if the minute your salary into your current account it gets beamed back out again at top speed. But that doesn’t mean you should brush your current account to one side and ignore it.

Used wisely, your current account can actually boost your salary by giving you access to better interest rates, cash gifts, free stuff you'd normally pay for, interest-free credit and better deals on loans, mortgages, credit cards and savings accounts.

So in the same way you might shop around and decide which is the best credit card or savings account for you, you should also ensure you take advantage of the benefits your current account offers - or consider switching to a better one.

• Watch our video: Five top tips for choosing a current account

Get the best interest rate

Your current account doesn’t have to simply be the place you store your salary.

In fact, some current accounts offer better rates of interest than savings accounts do, which means that you may find you’re better off using your current account as a place to invest your savings.

Some current accounts are paying enormous rates of interest -- as much as 5% AER.

See below for three of the highest paying:

As the table shows, both the Alliance & Leicester Premier Direct Current Account and the Santander Preferred In-Credit Rate Account offer a fantastic interest rate of 5% on balances up to £2,500 for 12 months.

Just bear in mind that to qualify for this rate of interest, you’ll need to pay £500 a month into the Alliance & Leicester account, and £1,000 a month into the Santander account. You should also be aware that once the first year is up, the interest rate will drop to 1%.

Similarly, Lloyds TSB account offers a 4% interest rate on balances between £5,000 and £7,000. You need to maintain your balance within this tier or else attract a lower rate of interest on all of your money. And again you must pay in £1,000 a month to be eligible for this rate.

Remember, because all of these accounts are current accounts, you'll have the added benefit of being able to access your funds whenever you want. So in theory, you could put in the £500 or £1,000 needed for funding the account - and then immediately transfer it to another account. Read Earn 5% on your easy-access savings to find out more about this.

Get some extra cash

How do you fancy getting your hands on £100 in cash? With both the First Direct 1st Account and the Alliance & Leicester Premier Current Account, that's exactly what you'll get just for switching over! If that’s not an incentive to ditch your current provider and get switching, I don’t know what is!

To be eligible for the £100 cashback offer on the Alliance & Leicester Premier Current Account (which re-launched today), you need to pay in £500 a month and switch all your direct debits over to the account. Bear in mind this is not the same account as the Alliance & Leicester Premier Direct Current Account which I mentioned earlier, even though they have very similar names!

Meanwhile, with the First Direct account, you will need to pay £1,500 into the account each month, but hopefully your salary will cover this. What’s more, if you’re not happy with the account and decide to leave First Direct within the first year, you’ll be given another £100 to help you move your account elsewhere!

Alternatively, if that doesn't tickle your fancy, the Halifax Reward Account will give you £5 each month you pay in £1,000 – whether you’re in credit or overdrawn. So you could even open this account, pay in your £1,000, and then move your funds elsewhere - and you would still get your £5 every month you did this.

• Watch our video: The cleverest current account around

Consider the whole package

Certain current accounts offer a range of perks to entice you in, such as travel insurance or breakdown cover. However, in most cases, you’ll need to pay a monthly fee for the privilege.

Normally, I’m not a fan of these so-called packaged accounts, and that’s purely because if you shop around, I think you can find better deals on travel insurance and so on elsewhere.

That said, if you know you will be able to make the most of the benefits offered, and you are prepared to pay, these packaged accounts can be worthwhile.

The Halifax Ultimate Reward Account, for example, offers the same benefits as the Halifax Reward Account, but has the additional benefits of worldwide travel insurance, home emergency cover, RAC breakdown cover, mobile phone insurance, and a £300 fee-free overdraft (so you’ll avoid the £1 a day overdraft charge you’d have to pay with the Halifax Reward Account).

You will need to pay a monthly fee of £12.50, but you will still get the £5 reward every month you pay in £1,000. So then, effectively, all these benefits would only cost you £7.50. However, be careful. It's only worth paying that £7.50 if you know you will use these benefits and would have bought them anyway.

Similarly, the HSBC Advance Account offers annual travel insurance, roadside breakdown assistance, identity theft assistance, including a free credit report, as well as life cover. All this comes at a price of £6 a month for the first three months, after which you will pay £12.95 a month.

Finally, it’s worth noting that the Alliance & Leicester Premier Current Account offers free annual multi-trip European travel insurance worth up to £60, and there’s no monthly fee, plus you get that £100 cashback. However, you’ll only earn an interest rate of 0.5% on balances up to £2,500, and as I mentioned earlier, you’ll need to pay £500 into the account each month.

Enjoy an interest-free overdraft

If you’re continually slipping into the red and paying a lot in fees and interest, you might feel like your current account is your worst enemy. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Some current accounts offer interest-free overdrafts, so if you’re currently paying a hefty rate of interest on your overdraft, now’s the time to switch!

Again, Santander (which owns Alliance & Leicester) is cornering the market. The Alliance & Leicester Premier Direct Current Account and the Santander Preferred Overdraft Rate Account both offer an interest-free overdraft for 12 months.

The Alliance & Leicester account offers this on overdrafts up to £2,000, and once the first year is up, you will be charged a usage fee of 50p per day (up to a maximum of £5 a month). You must also pay in £500 a month to be eligible for this account.

• Watch our video: Wave goodbye to your overdraft forever

Santander, meanwhile, will match your previous overdraft up to £5,000 (depending on your circumstances). After the first year, you’ll be charged an interest rate of 12.9% EAR. You will need to pay in £1,000 a month to be eligible for this account.

Get a better deal

Finally, you can also use your current account to your advantage by getting better deals on other financial products.

For example, if you have a current account with Halifax, you can apply for the market-leading Halifax Web Saver Extra which pays 0.2% more to Halifax current account customers, giving you a total interest rate of 3%.

And if you’re after a new 0% balance transfer credit card, you will need to be an existing current account holder if you want to apply for three of the market-leading credit cards - the NatWest Current Account Holder Platinum Card, the Royal Bank of Scotland Platinum Card, or the HSBC Credit Card MasterCard. All of these offer 15 months interest-free on balance transfers - the longest 0% period available in the market.

Meanwhile, if you're a first-time buyer after a mortgage, Coventry Building Society is offering a competitive fixed rate mortgage at 5.99% until 30 June 2015 if you, your parents, or your grandparents have held a current account or savings account with Coventry Building Society for the past three years. So this is well worth checking out!

So whatever you do, don’t simply ignore your current account – make sure you’re using it to its full advantage!

More: Five cracking current accounts | How the banks lied to us