Avios & Barclays Current Account
 

Just got emailed the following, anyone else?

As a valued Member of the Executive Club, we’d like you to be the first to know about a new partnership and special offer we’re launching with Barclays Premier Banking.

You’ll receive 25,000 bonus Avios when you open a Barclays UK Premier Current Account and switch your banking to Barclays before 19 November 2019 (Barclays Terms and Conditions apply). That’s enough for a return trip for two to Europe*. You could be exploring the canals of Amsterdam, enjoying an Italian sunset or skiing down the slopes of Switzerland this year.

In addition, once your account is opened, if you turn on Barclays Blue Rewards before 30 November 2019 and pay a £4 monthly membership fee, you will receive triple rewards for a year - worth up to £252.

Yep, me too.
I've been with my current bank since I was a boy of eight (c. 40 years ago !), but am slightly tempted, as my Avios balance has taken a hammering of 700,000 spend in the last few years !

Sorry, amended

I guess us mere silvers aren't valued then ;)

[QUOTE=Akoz;31655373]

...switch your banking to Barclays before 19 November 20191 (Barclays Terms and Conditions apply)...

[/QUOTE]

That’s a long time to wait!

Doc Copper

[QUOTE=DoctorCopper;31655842]Doh. Edited again. Cut and paste fail.

It happens!

Doc Copper

I'm tempted, but being tax domiciled in Mexico, I'm not sure my gold status will be enough to convince them I'm worthy of a premier account.

Plus there is this eligibility....
An annual gross income of £75,000 or more paid into a Barclays current account

or

£100,000 or more saved or invested with us.


Just moving the latter overseas would probably cost about the same as buying the avios outright

It looks like it’s a welcome bonus, but no ongoing rewards?

Barclays premier is diabolical.

I used to have the most amazing manager. They wanted me to go to private banking. I declined.

He left. Since then it had been terrible. There is nothing personal or premier about it sadly. Handelsbanken are reported you be decent.

It has been terrible since they dropped Patisserie Valerie as a partner. I enjoyed the free cup of coffee, and sometimes a cake or mince pie, on my journey home.

So apart from the non-premier service this looks like it *could* be quite interesting from a points and £££ point of view. Basically you get nearly £500 for switching (half in Avios, half in real currency).

The numbers -- I pay my >£75k salary in and set up two direct debits (to utility companies, for example) under the "Blue rewards", I get 25.000 avios and £252 (£3.50 for each DD times; £7, tripled for 12 months). That costs me £48 in fees - net gain approx £250 in avios plus £200 in real cash.

In month 13, I'll switch my current account to another bank and maybe earn another £100-150 in incentives to do that - such is the chase for new retail customers in finance. It almost seems too good to be true.

I won't actually do it because my current bank's app is SO much better than Barclays' app (Mrs ST has that) that even a £40 per month net benefit to me isn't worth the hassle.

PS I am already being tracked by the offer as ads are appearing for Barclays :(

Although I have income well over £75k, I don't receive a "salary" but am freelance self-employed and receive irregular payments from clients, Does anyone happen to know off-hand if that would suffice, or does it have to be identifiably a salary paid by a single organisation ? I can check with Barclays, but thought someone on here may have been through the issue.

Now I have HSBC ad for £175 to switch to them!

But to the question Frequentflyer99 posed, according to HeadforPoints today, self employed people will qualify effectively on the basis of paying in roughly £50k over a year.

I'm in the same position as you Frequentflyer99 having just become a freelancer. Today's HfP article seems to suggest that we'd be able to qualify.... but I guess it's at the discretion of the bank. We'd only need to have £50k net income (as the eligibility criteria for the account is £75k gross income).

I'm going to have a look at the terms and conditions over the weekend... Although I'm not a fan of Barclays, I do need to bolster my Avios account.

Another ex-Premier customer here and really can't recommend it. I'd shop around for a better account and buy the Avios.

I think if you are self-employed receiving payments directly into your personal account you should be OK providing you can show a decent history. But if you have a company and receive money into a business account and pay yourself from that sporadically with occasional large dividend payoutss they won't (or in my case didn't) like that so much.

I am very tempted, but I don't really want to close my existing current account....

Currently a HSBC Premier customer with a World Elite credit card, does anyone know if I’d be forced to close the card if I switched the current account?

I don't know how you'd be forced to close an existing account with another bank, but you'd have to meet any eligibility requirements for both. Barclays were quite cute about picking up people who transfer money in and then straight out again.

When I applied this morning, at the point of initiating the switch I was offered a full or partial switch. The former closes the old account and moves all debits etc, plus sets up account forwarding; the latter enables you to pick and choose what gets moved, and leaves the old account open.

All that said, the Ts & Cs are particularly clear - the very first sentence is:

Unfortunately, I neglected to read further to where it says:

I did not receive the email, but my partner did. I've initiated the full switch, and now expect to receive nothing. Never mind.

I got the e-mail and have a spare current account which I don't use. It has a few £'000 credit balance but no DDs. I don't mind using the "full switch" to close that account, and can route £50k from my main operating account, in and out through the new Barclays a/c. I could also move a couple of DDs to the new a/c. I would plan to keep it open for (say) 6 months, or maybe close it once the 25k Avios have been credited. Any problem with this plan ?

It's fine I've been free lancing for years and Barclays recognise the actual cash going in regardless of being actual "salary"

FWIW I've been self-employed for my entire (proper) career, which is measured in decades, and I've been in Premier since it started without there ever having been any issues.

Next to useless in my experience from a few years ago.
- couldn’t auto populate most of my mortgage application despite them having my current account
- they couldn’t decide if I was or wasn’t Premier, whenever I wanted something like the higher foreign ATM withdrawals I wasn’t but I had a named manager etc.
- even today I keep getting emails about my Premier benefits despite not having had a current account with them for years (I left 1p in a savings account...)
- their technology was awful, when you managed to get a blocked payment unblocked they had a tendency to block online banking access entirely (I got a few hundred quid out of them for their breaching the Ts&Cs before leaving them); based on SmartInvestor stories it hasn’t improved

Is the income requirement different for joint Vs single accounts? Would it be £75,000 per account, 75,000 each or even £125,000 in total?

No email for me but that's not very surprising as I've dropped to Bronze which probably disqualifies me :(. Never mind, I've got free Lloyds Private Banking instead :D

Hi, I have just checked my account. I am not getting triple rewards or received any my avios voucher. Anyone in the same boat? Will give them a call.

The original offer email said:

so I am holding off contacting them about the voucher until after that date (unless it arrives, of course).

thanks...21st to contact it is then!!! Are you getting the triple rewards?

Been with Barclays Premier for years - but will likely move away from them soon. Don't rate them at all to be honest... For those wondering, irregular salary payments are fine as long as they total more than 75k

In my view there really is almost nothing "premier" about it to be honest... at least, nothing I've noticed.

This offer looks nice enough - but if it really does require a "full account transfer" (i.e. your existing current account is closed and everything is transferred over) then I really wouldn't bother unless you happen to be very unhappy with your current bank.

Good question - but for joint accounts I believe its only one of the account holders that has to have a salary of >£75k paid in. I stand to be corrected but that is my own personal experience, whereby my salary is >£75k but my partner and I share a joint Premier account and we don't have a combined salary of >£149k (sadly)

Although to be honest, I don't really know how they work out which salary payments are coming in for whom...

"Following a successful account switch you will receive an email by 20 December 2019 containing an electronic voucher code which you can use to redeem the applicable Avios"

Has anyone received this yet?

Does anyone have a link to the redemption page for the voucher code?

Thanks. Just used my voucher code - it was provided upon request by my relationship manager.

No voucher for me. Will call on Monday.

An email to premierrelationship_bankingteam at barclays dot com and all is sorted.

Thanks for the tip - I just did the same and the team handled it very well for me.

I hadn’t realised it then takes up to 5 days to credit the Avios once you redeem the voucher code. The waiting continues...