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What else does Barclays Premier offer apart from Avios?

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Over the last week we have been spending time looking at the Barclays Premier and Barclays Avios Rewards partnership, so you can see if it is worth signing up.

This is the last article, you’ll be pleased to hear. It looks at what Barclays Premier has to offer as a stand-alone premium banking proposition, irrespective of the Avios and British Airways upgrade voucher.

Remember that there is a 25,000 Avios bonus for signing up. You will earn a total of 43,000 Avios in your first year.

You can apply for Barclays Premier here.

What else does Barclays Premier offer apart from Avios?

What do you get from Barclays Avios Rewards?

If you qualify for Barclays Premier and complete a full current account switch, plus activate Barclays Avios Rewards (£12 per month fee) you will receive:

  • a sign-up bonus of 25,000 Avios
  • a monthly bonus of 1,500 Avios
  • an annual British Airways upgrade voucher, allowing you to upgrade two x one-way flights or one return flight, booked on Avios, by one class

Here is our main introductory article on how the scheme works: Get 43,000 Avios and an upgrade voucher with Barclays Avios Rewards

There is more to Barclays Premier Banking than just Avios

For obvious reasons, our coverage of this offer has focused on Barclays Avios Rewards, the generous 25,000 Avios sign-up bonus and the annual British Airways upgrade voucher.

Barclays Premier Banking has more to offer than just Avios, of course.

To join Barclays Premier Banking, you require either:

  • a gross annual income of £75,000 or more, paid into your account, or
  • £100,000+ saved or invested with Barclays

Whilst it is most likely that you would qualify via the salary option, if you have considerable liquid assets you may want to look at the savings route. We have a separate article on how to apply for Barclays Premier if you want to qualify based on savings and not move your existing current account.

How does the Premier current account work?

It is important to note that there is no fee for a Barclays Premier currrent account.

There is a £12 month fee for joining Barclays Avios Rewards, but this is offset by the 1,500 monthly Avios you earn. You’re basically buying 1,500 Avios for 0.8p each which is a good deal. The annual British Airways upgrade voucher is just the icing on the cake.

Your Premier current account comes with:

  • an interest free arranged overdraft of up to £500
  • ability to withdraw £1,000 per day from cash machines
  • access to a 24/7 Premier relationship team
  • fee-free international payments when made via the app or online, with all major currencies supported
  • a subscription to Apple TV+, saving you £8.99 per month if you currently pay for it

You also get access to a range of dedicated products:

  • Premier mortgages, with exclusive rates for high-value loans
  • Premier Barclayloan
  • Premier insurance and, for high value items, premium home insurance
  • Premier cash ISA and savings products, including a Rainy Day Saver account currently paying 5.12% on £5,000

Some of these products come with an extra Avios incentive if you are enrolled in Barclays Avios Rewards:

  • Mortgage – 700 Avios per month for a residential or personal buy-to-let mortgage, with a one-off bonus of 2,000 Avios when taking out a mortgage
  • Life cover – 150 Avios per month for the first 12 months (500 Avios per month if critical illness cover is included)
  • Barclayloan – 200 Avios per month for each Barclayloan you have (£5,000+) with a one-off bonus of 2,000 Avios when taking out your first Barclayloan after joining Premier
What else does Barclays Premier offer apart from Avios?

Barclays Wealth may also be an option

Whilst we focus on Barclays Premier, Barclays Avios Rewards is also available to Barclays Wealth customers with a current account.

Barclays Wealth requires you to hold investible assets of over £500,000. As well as standard banking services, you can access investment advice, discretionary portfolio management and financial planning.

You can learn more about Barclays Wealth on its website here.

Conclusion

If you are a high earner, it makes sense to move your current account to a ‘premier’ offering. You will get better service and access to more relevant products and services.

The Barclays Premier current account is free so you won’t be paying for the privilege. Whilst there are no stand-out benefits, it remains a definite step up from a standard Barclays current account.

It is worth noting that HSBC Premier has just increased its minimum salary requirement to £100,000, so Barclays Premier is the only mainstream option if you earn between £75,000 and £99,999.

Once you have an account, you can choose to add Barclays Avios Rewards and pick up your 25,000 Avios joining bonus as well as your 1,500 monthly Avios and your annual British Airways upgrade voucher.

You can apply for Barclays Premier here.

Comments (59)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Don says:

    With a Barclays Premier Current Account you also get Apple TV and an MLS season pass for free (worth £8.99 per month). Barclays Premier concierge is great at getting tickets to must see events too.

    The Travel Plus package which costs £21 per month also gives you comprehensive travel insurance (just named top travel cover by Which), full RAC cover and a Dragon Pass card giving 6 annual visits to Dragon Pass lounges worldwide.

    I have the account and find it very good. I’ve also set up a “travel wallet” in Euros and dollars via the app on my debit card to make payments abroad in the local currency avoiding conversion fees.

  • Craig says:

    My wife and I both have Premier accounts. Why? Because we were deemed eligible when we both ran our own businesses. Neither of us hit the earning targets now we have retired. These ‘status’ accounts have never been questioned in the last 15 years. Would either of be bothered if they were withdrawn? Not really. We tend to get a call off Barclays every couple of years to discuss the potential benefits. These calls are a thinly veiled excuse to try and sell the bank’s services.

  • Rob Shaw says:

    There have been some recent changes which mean you now also get Apple TV+, MLS pass (major league soccer) and a regular savings account currently paying just over 5%. These are benefits provided via Barclays Blue Rewards which has a £5 monthly fee but premier customers get them for free as of a few days ago.

    • Rob Shaw says:

      Not a regular savings account.. it pays 5.12% on £5k. Account is called Rainy Day Saver.

    • IanMacK says:

      Didn’t realise that AppleTV+ was included – off to research now !! 👍👏👏

      • Nick says:

        New one on me as well. Theyve kept that quiet.

        • Gosia44 says:

          They didn’t. An email was sent about three months ago with info about the free AppleTV+ I signed up immediately.

        • Gosia44 says:

          Precisely I got the free AppleTv+ email from Barclays on 9th July. Obviously you need to accept marketing to receive such communication.

      • Nick says:

        Thanks for the heads up Rob. Wasn’t aware of these perks but just set up Apple TV – perfect as I wanted to watch Masters of the Air.

        • Matt says:

          ^ d’oh ignore me, Rob Shaw was right (I misread his last sentence). So the key thing is that premier customers should NOT pay for Blue Rewards anymore as you don’t get anything additional but would be charged £5 / month?

          • Roy says:

            As of this week I believe they’ve withdrawn Blue Rewards as an option for Premier customers as Blue Rewards no longer offers any benefits that aren’t included in Premier as standard.

    • Matt says:

      Not quite correct. Apple TV+ is a free benefit with Premier banking (you don’t need blue rewards). Rob should list Apple TV in his article.

  • Doug says:

    Well the international bank transfer exchange rate has 2.75% commission for euros.

  • Simon Stockton says:

    It’s worth noting that existing Barclays Premier Account customers that sign up for the £12/month Avios scheme will only get 4,000 Avios at sign-up.

  • Ed says:

    Honestly the customer service is awful. Whenever I’ve called the Premier Team they’ve been unable to help effectively and I suspect are overseas as sometimes responses have been stupid. Online chat is really poor. I’ve been with them two years and struggled to get the prearranged overdraft despite very clear evidence of my income as I pay in regularly but I’m self employed! The app and experience is vastly worst than First Direct I banked with before but the voucher is the reason I’m hanging on (plus intertia!)

  • IanMacK says:

    “Access to a 24/7 Relationship team” – it was brilliant when there were 1 or 2 Relationship Managers in my local branch – the service was great – phone call or even text/email and it was all sorted.
    Then Barclays made them redundant …
    Twice in the last year I’ve had to threaten the remote Relationship team that if they were unable and/or unwilling to fulfill a reasonable request quickly (e.g. transferring funds to my daughter’s bank account after confirming the payment over the phone) then my pension would be transferred out of Barclays Wealth – that always seems to focus attention

    • Erico1875 says:

      I do all that stuff instantly via my BOS app on my phone

      • IanMacK says:

        It was a five figure sum – transferred using Barclays mobile app.
        The 24/7 team told me it might get processed that day or next day – once all checks were complete.
        I’m all for banking security etc but …

        • Roy says:

          If a transfer gets flagged for a security check for some reason, I really wouldn’t expect the Premier team to be able to bypass it.

        • CJD says:

          End of the following working day is an acceptable timescale for a Faster Payment.

  • Qrfan says:

    Have Barclays removed the ludicrous in branch ID check for opening premier? Last time I tried doing this in an empty branch they required an appointment so I gave up.

    • Matt says:

      Never happened to me or my partner. Not at all an expert, but there must be some mismatch on your credit report. Perhaps electoral register address mismatch (just one example)?

      • Qrfan says:

        Nonsense. I have no issue getting credit and have numerous current accounts opened immediately online. When this was first released there were dozens of comments about the same thing on this site.

        • Matt says:

          Suit yourself then, no premier for you!

        • Roy says:

          I doubt you’ll find anyone who will give you a current account these days without seeing ID. Only question is whether you show the ID via an app or in person.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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