stifle

My bank account appeared pretty promptly but the card, opened on the same day, took a week and a half to turn up on the app, so I'd suggest giving it a little time as the live chat was useless for me.
You get 2,500 Avios as a new customer taking out the account. That goes up to 25,000 if you switch in via the app or in branch (the latter is dependent on getting an appointment, very few of which seem to exist).

sdmr

Seems pretty much right. The £12 fee is reduced to £7 by a £5 rebate if you also have the Barclaycard Avios Plus (with its own £20 per month fee).

In order to net the 25,000 avios for doing a current account switch, I have opened a Starling account (it took 5 minutes, all done in the app—literally makes a laughing stock of Barclays’ process), to which I’ll transfer a couple of direct debits before using the switch service to switch to Barclays. I’m hoping that the requirement to route salary (or an equivalent payment) through the Barclays account is only required to waive the account fee (£20 per month, anyway waived for the first 12 months) and not to trigger the 25,000 avios…

stifle

The 25,000 Avios switch incentive requires you to complete a full switch, including the closing of your old account. You are not eligible if you choose to keep your old account. They are looking for affluent customers who will use and keep the account as their main banking account, hence the requirement.

aflack

You can only switch on the app if they are both single accounts if either one is a joint account it's not possible, as you say appointments in branch are very difficult. I asked why this was, she said since saving rates have started to go up, appointments have gone crazy with older people that don't use the app or online banking looking for better rates.

tuonopepper

Might wait and see on the card showing up in the app then.

I don't have a dormant account to switch so that out, I can however channel the required amount through there each mo th as opppsed to the direct route it rakes now so should.mert the ongoing 'requirements'.

tuonopepper

Starling is something I was contemplating last night, open, stick £20, then switch it. I can't see anything that says the account you switch to Bclys has to be fully loaded with DDs and SOs etc.

aflack

Let us know if you do it and it works. It says the switch can be any time in the first 3 months so guess it could be right up to the deadline.

tuonopepper

Seeing as i think i saw the Barclays marketting blurb say 'within 3 months' i went ahead and opened the Starling account - took 5 mins then 2 or so hours for the ID check to be finalised. Shoved a tenner in it then filled in the switch application.

Should be done in 7 days and I'll get notification, all seemed to work fine....no idea how, when or where I'll see the Avios though :-)

tuonopepper

How long after 'opening' both accounts and turning on rewards was it before you got this email?

aflack

I got this email maybe a week after the account was open.

Monium

I was going to do a bit of Sunday admin and get the Barclays Bank account opened, to take advantage of the Avios offer. I’ve set up an account to switch from, so thought I was all ready to go.

However, I simply cannot seem to apply for the damned thing! The website just sends me in an eternal circle of “click here to see how to apply”, the app has no links for applying for accounts, and when I log in to online banking, the “apply for products” bit tells me that I’m “not eligible for feature store”, whatever that might be.

I already have the credit card, and also have other products with Barclays so they know who I am and income etc.

Have they just reached saturation, or am I missing something obvious? Currently I’m joining the “it’s more trouble than it’s worth, but 125000 Avios would be quite nice” crowd.

If anyone has any ideas how I can actually apply for this account, I’d be very grateful.

Speedbird676

I tried to open the account via the app on 21st November.

Actually opened the account in branch on 23rd and received the email on 24th.

tuonopepper

Admittedly I'm new to Barclays as a customer but followed the Download the app and apply for the Premier account route.....took 10 mins, no issues.

Monium

Hmm, interesting. I’m seeing whether their online chat are any use. We’ll see.

Speedbird676

There was a lot of hassle but I finally managed to open the account. I'll tell you my story so you can decide for yourself whether the potential hassle is worth it.

I was in the same situation as you, I have had the Barclaycard Avios Plus since July. I couldn't see an option to apply in the Barclaycard app, so downloaded the Barclays app. Initially I signed in with my Barclaycard, once you're in the app looks identical to the Barclaycard app, but I couldn't find any option to apply for a current account - it was only offering insurance, mortgage and something else which I now forget.

So, I signed out and went down the "I'm new to Barclays" route. Got to what I thought was the end of the application process and got a message saying I couldn't apply in the app and I needed to visit a branch. Call to make an appointment.

I called up and my two closest branches didn't have any appointments until at least January, but my third closest had one on 30th November at 3pm. Cutting it a bit fine, but I accepted the appointment.

Then things started to go wrong.

Later the same day, I could no longer log into the Barclaycard app to service my credit card. Initially I thought it was just a glitch, but it persisted the following morning. I called Barclaycard and got through to someone who was particularly unhelpful and obviously couldn't give a damn. She told me to delete the Barclaycard app and try setting it up from scratch, at which point things got even worse. The app now insisted I needed a Pin Sentry (one of those card reader thingies some banks used 10+ years ago) to complete the registration. I didn't have one and the agent basically told me I had to wait up to 10 days for one to arrive and she had no way to override the system.

The concern I raised at this point was that I use the app to authenticate online transactions. She assured me that I'd be able to receive a one time passcode by SMS to authenticate any transactions, and so the 10 day wait for a Pin Sentry commenced. Later that day, I tried to pay the balance of a BA holiday booking and quelle surprise, I couldn't authenticate the transaction. I ended up having to pay the balance with an alternative card.

I called Barclaycard again and got through to somebody more helpful who tried a few things, but ultimately couldn't get me back into the app. She suggested I visit a branch, where they'd have a Pin Sentry I could use to get back into the app whilst waiting for my own to arrive.

I went into my closest branch the following morning. First helpful guy gave me a Pin Sentry and helped me try to set up the app, but each time it got to the final stage and the app just hung. He then sent me upstairs to see a personal banking "expert". Hats off to him he got me back into the app with a little perseverance and at the same time open my current account, which took three clicks of his mouse from the application he could see pending from the application I'd started in the app.

It turns out the application as a new customer had created a duplicate profile which then caused Barclaycard to lock me out of my existing access to the app. He merged my profiles and assured me all should be well. After a few hours I could see both accounts in the Barclays app and the following day received an email confirming my eligibility for the 100k avios.

90 minutes talking to the call centre and 60 minutes in branch. I have to admit at the point I was locked out of my Barclaycard, couldn't authenticate online transaction and couldn't get it sorted after speaking to two call centre agents I was on the verge of giving up. If it hadn't been for the perseverance of the person in-branch I would no longer be a Barclays or Barclaycard customer.