The temptation to switch bank accounts to make some easy money is strong but the idea of paperwork and hassle can be off-putting. I had thought about serial switching for years but worried that my employers would think I was that annoying man who constantly changed his bank details.

Then last Christmas I decided to give it a go. And like all serious switchers, I lured my partner into it too. She was reluctant at first, unwilling to go through the upheaval just for a few pounds off the painful monthly cost of having two children in nursery in London. But with some gentle persuasion — “think of something you would never usually buy yourself and we will use the money for that” — she was on board.

The Current Account Switch Service guarantees to do all the hard work for you in as little as seven days. Then, if you fancy, you can do it again to get even more money. I figured that if we made five switches, we could pocket more than £800 each. I would use my half to join a tennis club and she would fly her mum over from Canada. We were sold.

I set up a second account. To qualify for a switching bonus you have to move a current account, usually one that you pay a certain amount into each month and from which you pay at least a few direct debits. I set up a “ghost” current account that would meet these requirements but kept another that I would not move as a back-up. This meant that most of my payments and day-to-day banking would not change. I was in the game!

We each moved two direct debits (for the gym and the lottery) to the ghost accounts and set about completing our first switch. Nationwide offered £200. To qualify you had to close your old account and make sure its direct debits were active, then the bonus would appear after 10 days. Setting up the app and account needed some biometric security checks, which took about two hours, after sifting through the post for passcodes. Not too bad, as far as admin goes. At least not so far.

I was conscious that switching banks could affect my credit score. When you open an account, your new account holder will perform a credit check and too many credit checks can show up on your score. An application for an overdraft, for example, will leave a hard credit check on any report.

• Best bank account switch offers in the UK

A low credit score can affect how much you can borrow, so if you are about to mortgage or remortgage it is best not to move your bank in the months before. We had no big purchases to make, however, so I decided not to worry.

After our success with Nationwide, the switches continued. Slowly we worked our way through the big names from NatWest to Santander to Barclays. I started looking at which tennis club I might join.

But the hoops we had to jump through were getting tougher. NatWest required me to pay £1,300 and leave it in the account for a night, or was it two? Santander wanted the account to be open for 60 days before the bonus was paid. Although when it eventually showed up on the crisp red Santander app, I began to think how much better looking this user experience was than many of the others I had flirted with. Maybe I should forget the plan and stick with one bank?

But I carried on with a switch to Barclays, which demanded a monthly fee for its blue rewards scheme. Banks had begun tagging on separate conditions for users to get the bonus, often away from the main account. I was even offered a free streaming pass so that I could watch Major League Soccer in North America. But I didn’t want football, I wanted tennis.

Some 30 days went by when a text arrived: “Hi Rick, good news. You’ll get your £175 bonus in the next ten days”. My birthday passed. My wife’s mother was still on the other side of the Atlantic and my tennis racket remained in the cupboard.

The list of conditions kept growing. Lloyds wanted at least three direct debits set up. TSB needed you to spend money using the account at least five times in the first month to qualify for £100, then make at least 20 more purchases in each of the first six months to qualify for an extra £15 a month cashback.

Of course, you could just go and buy 20 bananas individually on the first of the month, but that seemed a lot of hassle. This was not the stress-free switching experience I had signed up for. The banks were getting wiser.

Switching incentives are pulling in more people than ever. In the past 12 months the switch service transferred 1.4 million accounts, up 10 per cent on the year before. It said that 99.7 per cent were completed within seven working days, but we found that the bonuses can take much longer to arrive.

We eventually reached our target in nine months, earning £825 each from five switches. Mum made it over from Canada, never realising that her trip had been paid for by a personal banking experiment.

Each switch took an average of less than two hours. But this was not including the waiting, the checking, the activating and spending requirements. The exercise required a diary full of calendar reminders to meet conditions and deadlines and by the end we had run out of offers — most banks say you cannot get the rewards again if you have previously held an account in the past three years.

Was it worth it? Probably.

But it was a lot of hassle and I am not sure I would do it again. Perhaps my new friends at the tennis club will have some better ideas for our next money-making game.

How to be a successful switcher

• Find an account. Comparison sites can help you find an account offering a switching bonus. Read reviews of the bank involved and consider other factors such as customer service and how easy the app is to use. • Check the terms. To qualify for a switching bonus you usually have to pay in a minimum monthly amount and have a certain number of direct debits. You might not get the cash if you have been a customer of the bank before. Check before you start.• Make an application. Contact the new bank to apply for your account. You will need to provide some personal information such as your name, age and address. Be sure to tell them you are switching and give your old account details.• Start the switch. Once your application is approved you can pick a switching date. This is when your new account will be activated and old direct debits and payments will be moved across to it from your previous account. This can take as little as seven days.• Wait for your bonus. Your new bank should stipulate how long it will take to receive your switching bonus. Make sure you check whether there are ongoing terms to claim the bonus, such as spending a certain amount each month.