Barclaycard Avios Plus holder – the ‘signing up for Barclays Premier’ thread

[qc]

Tom2 wrote:

VALittleRed wrote:

qc wrote:

I opened a regular current account via the App this afternoon and then upgraded to the Premier Account – maybe try it that way.

Also managed to set up regular account today after doing branch ID check. Now if I upgrade via app does it ask for income and do you have to prove this to Barclays?

You will need to have your salary paid into the account and according to Barclays this has to be directly from your employer and not just a transfer from another bank account you control.

With the poster from the other day saying that Barclays had placed a CIFAS marker on him I would be very careful about fraudulently opening a Premier account if you do not earn either the £75k a year. 100,000 avios is not worth a CIFAS mark.

There is no stipulation to have a salary of £75k nor have savings of £100k with them – that criteria is for free banking.

Here is the relevant section from my welcome letter regarding whether the account will be free –

Eligibility for free Premier banking
To be eligible for free Premier Banking, you’ll need to have a Barclays current account and
• An annual gross income of £75,000 or more paid into your current account with us, equivalent to at least £3,330 paid into your account each month, or £40,000 in the previous 12 months, or
• A minimum of £100,000 in savings with us and/or in personal Barclays UK investments.
There’ll be a £20 monthly fee if you don’t meet this1. If you’re a new Premier Banking customer however, we won’t start to assess your eligibility until you’ve had your Premier account with us for 12 months. In the meantime, although it will apply to the terms of your account, we’ll waive the fee and you’ll be able to access the benefits of Premier Banking for free.

[robato]

Dave1234 wrote:

How long does it take to receive your debit card? I opened the account last Monday and it has still not arrived. I’m not going to switch my banking over or start paying in my salary while I’m going to be unable to make any withdrawals!

Barclays, why is it so difficult to do even the most basic things like open an account!

It should take about a week if the account is set up properly by Barclays.

However, I was one of the ones that needed a manual ID check (but didn’t actually need to*) and had problems with the app so never got confirmation that my account was opened. I called the Premier account customer service line and they said I had opened two Premier current accounts but no cards had been ordered. So they ordered it for me one of the accounts and closed the other one. The card and pin arrived after about a week. They noted that the Royal Mail strikes will also impact delivery times.

*When I visited the branch, they said all the KYC and ID checks had been approved on the day I applied. So I wasted a 20 mile round trip to the nearest branch.

[robato]

smblcklck wrote:

I’ve been locked out of the Barclays and Barclaycard app so had to get them on the phone again. As far as my application goes I do need to go into branch. I’m going to do that regardless of whether I get the account or not in case something has gone awry

Offered me 5th January (!) on the phone and then hung up on me.

Found an appointment at something called ‘Barclays Local’ on Monday so hoping they can help

I was told that Barclays Local don’t actually have any counters or ID verification services. It’s mostly to help people use the app or website, so you may not get very far.

[YH]

I just went through the sign-up process for a brand new Barclays Premier bank account in the app.

It has asked me to come in branch to verify my identity as it couldn’t be done automatically.

The only issue is I am out of the country till the end of December so will not be able to get into a branch before the 30 November deadline.

Does anyone have any idea if there is a way I can get around this or how to resolve this whilst being abroad? Thanks.

[slidey]

For anyone that doesnt meet the 75k requirement, has the most successful route been to open a premier acct and just list 75k or to open the standard acct and then upgrade? Does that also then ask for 75k req?

[smblcklck]

robato wrote:

I was told that Barclays Local don’t actually have any counters or ID verification services. It’s mostly to help people use the app or website, so you may not get very far.

Great. I have a half memory of someone in one of these threads saying they got an appointment at one of these ‘popup’ things and they were able to help; I had assumed they were the same thing

[robato]

smblcklck wrote:

robato wrote:

I was told that Barclays Local don’t actually have any counters or ID verification services. It’s mostly to help people use the app or website, so you may not get very far.

Great. I have a half memory of someone in one of these threads saying they got an appointment at one of these ‘popup’ things and they were able to help; I had assumed they were the same thing

I suppose it’s worth a try if not too inconvenient. When I booked my ID appointment over the phone, the advisor said the Barclays Local down the road from my office don’t do ID checks. I was lucky to get a cancelled appointment at a proper branch, so only had to wait 2 weeks.

[jj]

smblcklck wrote:

robato wrote:

I was told that Barclays Local don’t actually have any counters or ID verification services. It’s mostly to help people use the app or website, so you may not get very far.

Great. I have a half memory of someone in one of these threads saying they got an appointment at one of these ‘popup’ things and they were able to help; I had assumed they were the same thing

I made that post. The Premier call centre booked the appointment for me, but the branch agent then contacted me to say they can’t do ID verification in a pop-up branch. She then found a suitable time for an informal appointment for me in the main branch, outside the normal booking system.

I get the impression of helpful, well-meaning staff whose attempts to provide good service are stymied by poor systems, poor training, and inadequate resources.

[R76]

Adding to the litany of woe:

I tried to sign up using the app, was told in the app that ID verification had passed, but then at the last stage (after entering my income etc.) got a message saying that “Something had gone wrong”, and that I should try again. So I did try again, with the same result. At that point the app “forgot” that my ID had been verified and gave me the message saying that I needed to go to a branch.

It’s the same story from then as everyone else here – phoned them up, no appointments, etc.

But now the plot twist! I’m getting emails from Barclays about my *two* new accounts, complete with the last 4 digits of account numbers. So I think that when “something went wrong” in the app it actually had opened an account, and when I tried again (like it told me to!) it opened another one. But I don’t now have access to either of them…

I can’t even walk away now, because there’s no way I’m going to leave things with two zombie current accounts against my name. I just phoned the Premier line who, as usual, tried to be helpful but couldn’t do anything – then cut me off (though I’m sure that was a tech glitch rather than the person on the other end pressing a button).

God knows how much time it’s going to waste to untangle this, and what damage they’ve done to my record along the way. I’ve been a Barclaycard customer since I was at university but honestly, once I’ve managed to get this sorted out, I just won’t be bothered with Barclays any more.

[smblcklck]

@jj, much appreciated, you’ve saved me a trip there

@R76 that sounds very similar to what happened to me but at the moment I have no way of knowing if I have one, two or no accounts!

[Tom2]

qc wrote:

Tom2 wrote:

VALittleRed wrote:

qc wrote:

I opened a regular current account via the App this afternoon and then upgraded to the Premier Account – maybe try it that way.

Also managed to set up regular account today after doing branch ID check. Now if I upgrade via app does it ask for income and do you have to prove this to Barclays?

You will need to have your salary paid into the account and according to Barclays this has to be directly from your employer and not just a transfer from another bank account you control.

With the poster from the other day saying that Barclays had placed a CIFAS marker on him I would be very careful about fraudulently opening a Premier account if you do not earn either the £75k a year. 100,000 avios is not worth a CIFAS mark.

There is no stipulation to have a salary of £75k nor have savings of £100k with them – that criteria is for free banking.

Here is the relevant section from my welcome letter regarding whether the account will be free –

Eligibility for free Premier banking
To be eligible for free Premier Banking, you’ll need to have a Barclays current account and
• An annual gross income of £75,000 or more paid into your current account with us, equivalent to at least £3,330 paid into your account each month, or £40,000 in the previous 12 months, or
• A minimum of £100,000 in savings with us and/or in personal Barclays UK investments.
There’ll be a £20 monthly fee if you don’t meet this1. If you’re a new Premier Banking customer however, we won’t start to assess your eligibility until you’ve had your Premier account with us for 12 months. In the meantime, although it will apply to the terms of your account, we’ll waive the fee and you’ll be able to access the benefits of Premier Banking for free.

I am pretty sure the word free has been removed from the eligibility requirements. It now reads that you have to earn £75k to get Premier Banking.

[robato]

R76 wrote:

Adding to the litany of woe:

I tried to sign up using the app, was told in the app that ID verification had passed, but then at the last stage (after entering my income etc.) got a message saying that “Something had gone wrong”, and that I should try again. So I did try again, with the same result. At that point the app “forgot” that my ID had been verified and gave me the message saying that I needed to go to a branch.

It’s the same story from then as everyone else here – phoned them up, no appointments, etc.

But now the plot twist! I’m getting emails from Barclays about my *two* new accounts, complete with the last 4 digits of account numbers. So I think that when “something went wrong” in the app it actually had opened an account, and when I tried again (like it told me to!) it opened another one. But I don’t now have access to either of them…

I can’t even walk away now, because there’s no way I’m going to leave things with two zombie current accounts against my name. I just phoned the Premier line who, as usual, tried to be helpful but couldn’t do anything – then cut me off (though I’m sure that was a tech glitch rather than the person on the other end pressing a button).

God knows how much time it’s going to waste to untangle this, and what damage they’ve done to my record along the way. I’ve been a Barclaycard customer since I was at university but honestly, once I’ve managed to get this sorted out, I just won’t be bothered with Barclays any more.

Almost identical experience for me last month and I grew suspicious about the need for an ID check when I got an email selling me a travel pack for my account.

I think the technical solution is to uninstall the Barclays app, get an activation code from Premier support, and use that to re-setup the app.

On my successful attempt with technical support where I didn’t get cut off, the helpful advisor appeared to jump through various hoops to reset my app, with him being able to see my Premier accounts (plural) and Barclaycard were all open. I spent about an hour answering security questions, including a one time passcode via text message since I couldn’t verify with the app and there was even a trick question of how many direct debits I had on my current account with them that I had just opened and not been able to use (answer = zero)! Once I was granted an access code for the Barclays app, I could see both Premier accounts and could transfer money into them.

I suppose if it genuinely did say ID check required, then phone support can’t do anything, but it sounds like you do have 2 accounts open.

[Rob]

Barclays has confirmed to us that anyone who needs an ID check will still get the bonus if the ID check was requested pre 30th November.

They will be setting up a dedicated query line for people who believe they haven’t got a bonus they felt they deserved.

Irrespective of how you may interpret the Premier rules, you’re not getting the 100k until you do a full CASS switch and earn £75k or put £100k into a savings account, unless you’re upgrading from a standard account.

[Carlos]

Rob Burgess wrote:

Barclays has confirmed to us that anyone who needs an ID check will still get the bonus if the ID check was requested pre 30th November.

They will be setting up a dedicated query line for people who believe they haven’t got a bonus they felt they deserved.

Irrespective of how you may interpret the Premier rules, you’re not getting the 100k until you do a full CASS switch and earn £75k or put £100k into a savings account, unless you’re upgrading from a standard account.

According to the Barclays 100k landing page
With 100,000 Avios. See the world in a whole new way
Collect a guaranteed 100,000 Avios bonus when you open a:

-Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card (£20 monthly fee), and
-Premier current account with Barclays Avios Rewards (£12 monthly fee), or
-Hold a personal Wealth current account with Barclays Avios Rewards1 (£12 monthly fee).
Simply open all of them, or any you don’t already have, between 3 October and 30 November 2022.

No mention of switching in order to get the 100k – that was a 25k bonus on top

[qc]

Rob Burgess wrote:

Barclays has confirmed to us that anyone who needs an ID check will still get the bonus if the ID check was requested pre 30th November.

They will be setting up a dedicated query line for people who believe they haven’t got a bonus they felt they deserved.

Irrespective of how you may interpret the Premier rules, you’re not getting the 100k until you do a full CASS switch and earn £75k or put £100k into a savings account, unless you’re upgrading from a standard account.

I upgraded from a standard account so hopefully I’ll be ok.

[Dave1234]

VerdantBacon wrote:

Dave1234 wrote:

How long does it take to receive your debit card? I opened the account last Monday and it has still not arrived. I’m not going to switch my banking over or start paying in my salary while I’m going to be unable to make any withdrawals!

Barclays, why is it so difficult to do even the most basic things like open an account!

Do not switch your main bank over to Barclays Premier, it’s not worth it, their systems are all complete trash. Unless you hate your current bank where your salary is deposited into, don’t switch it!

Instead open a Monzo account and switch that, you will still get the 25k bonus even without and DDs being switched over.

This is what I’ve done and I can confirm the 25k bonus is showing.

Thanks for the tip. I’ve done what you suggested. Is it ok to transfer the required salary in from another account? Sure I saw a reference to Barclays wanting to see it from your employer

I get paid weekly so I’m sure it’ll be a disaster for them to cope with either way!

[VerdantBacon]

Dave1234 wrote:

VerdantBacon wrote:

Dave1234 wrote:

How long does it take to receive your debit card? I opened the account last Monday and it has still not arrived. I’m not going to switch my banking over or start paying in my salary while I’m going to be unable to make any withdrawals!

Barclays, why is it so difficult to do even the most basic things like open an account!

Do not switch your main bank over to Barclays Premier, it’s not worth it, their systems are all complete trash. Unless you hate your current bank where your salary is deposited into, don’t switch it!

Instead open a Monzo account and switch that, you will still get the 25k bonus even without and DDs being switched over.

This is what I’ve done and I can confirm the 25k bonus is showing.

Thanks for the tip. I’ve done what you suggested. Is it ok to transfer the required salary in from another account? Sure I saw a reference to Barclays wanting to see it from your employer

I get paid weekly so I’m sure it’ll be a disaster for them to cope with either way!

I don’t actually know if it is okay, though at the moment that is what I’m planning to do. From what I understand, if they review your account and aren’t happy that you meet the requirements for Premier they will give you a call, rather than just closing you down. I’ll happily explain to them why I am depositing the funds myself and not getting paid in from my employer!

Also for what it’s worth, they are only expecting to see circa £3,500 net monthly income into your account, so that’s all I’m transferring each month. Bare minimum for their bare minimum service!

[R76]

robato wrote:

I think the technical solution is to uninstall the Barclays app, get an activation code from Premier support, and use that to re-setup the app.

This was the key! Huge thanks to @robato.

I phoned them back, said that this was what “the internet” suggested they would need do… and miraculously they were suddenly able to see all my details, confirm that I did indeed have two accounts open, and that I had indeed completed KYC. They could close one of the accounts there and then, *hopefully* leaving me with a single fully-functioning account.

(I’m mildly surprised that I’m even allowed to have two identical current accounts… but perhaps I’m not, and that’s what’s caused all the knock-on problems.)

I still can’t actually get into my shiny new account because of yet another IT glitch, but at least now I’m no longer being told I have to go to a branch some time in 2023.

My tip for anyone in the same position is NOT to say that the app is telling them they have to do IT verification (because then the customer service agent will go off down that path), but instead to say there is a glitch in the app and you want to check whether your account has been successfully opened. If they say yes, then say you need an activation code.

And for anyone applying now, if you get a “something went wrong” message *after* the bit where you’re asked for your salary details, there’s a good chance it actually did open the account. So I’d suggest phoning up to check rather than trying again (even though the app specifically tells you to try again).

Call Premier Banking on 0800 085 1115 rather than the 0345 number the app gives you.

I’m still not sure this whole rigmarole was worth it for 100K Avios, but now I’ve gone this far, I’m going to carry on…

[R76]

Rob Burgess wrote:

Irrespective of how you may interpret the Premier rules, you’re not getting the 100k until you do a full CASS switch and earn £75k or put £100k into a savings account, unless you’re upgrading from a standard account.

Do you happen to know whether we need to initiate the switch before 30 Nov? Given how glitchy things have been, I’d like to give it a few weeks to see whether the account is actually working properly before I take the plunge.

They explicitly say that to get the normal 25K account-opening bonus you have to do a switch within 3 months, so I’m hopeful that’s still the case here. But the written T&C’s for the 100K offer are rather vague.

[Dave1234]

VerdantBacon wrote:

Dave1234 wrote:

VerdantBacon wrote:

Dave1234 wrote:

How long does it take to receive your debit card? I opened the account last Monday and it has still not arrived. I’m not going to switch my banking over or start paying in my salary while I’m going to be unable to make any withdrawals!

Barclays, why is it so difficult to do even the most basic things like open an account!

Do not switch your main bank over to Barclays Premier, it’s not worth it, their systems are all complete trash. Unless you hate your current bank where your salary is deposited into, don’t switch it!

Instead open a Monzo account and switch that, you will still get the 25k bonus even without and DDs being switched over.

This is what I’ve done and I can confirm the 25k bonus is showing.

Thanks for the tip. I’ve done what you suggested. Is it ok to transfer the required salary in from another account? Sure I saw a reference to Barclays wanting to see it from your employer

I get paid weekly so I’m sure it’ll be a disaster for them to cope with either way!

I don’t actually know if it is okay, though at the moment that is what I’m planning to do. From what I understand, if they review your account and aren’t happy that you meet the requirements for Premier they will give you a call, rather than just closing you down. I’ll happily explain to them why I am depositing the funds myself and not getting paid in from my employer!

Also for what it’s worth, they are only expecting to see circa £3,500 net monthly income into your account, so that’s all I’m transferring each month. Bare minimum for their bare minimum service!

Ok, thanks.

I might just ask my employer to pay into this Barclays account until I get the avios and then I’ll change it back after I’ve bagged them and ditch the account.

This is, of course, assuming they ever get around to sending me a debit card so I can make withdrawals.

[baVid]

R76 wrote:

Rob Burgess wrote:

Irrespective of how you may interpret the Premier rules, you’re not getting the 100k until you do a full CASS switch and earn £75k or put £100k into a savings account, unless you’re upgrading from a standard account.

Do you happen to know whether we need to initiate the switch before 30 Nov? Given how glitchy things have been, I’d like to give it a few weeks to see whether the account is actually working properly before I take the plunge.

They explicitly say that to get the normal 25K account-opening bonus you have to do a switch within 3 months, so I’m hopeful that’s still the case here. But the written T&C’s for the 100K offer are rather vague.

The 100k offer has separate terms to the 25k offer.

My understanding is that the 100k is solely related to having Avios Rewards (on a premier account) AND Avios Plus Barclaycard, with one or more of those products opened/added to your ‘portfolio’ between 3 October and 30 November 2022. Nothing to do with Premier Account opening OR switching.

The 25k bonus is related to joining Avios Rewards (on a premier account) within 4 months of opening your first current account with Barclays (so should cover the standard+upgrade route for those with less than £75k income) AND performing a full CASS switch within 3 months of joining Avios Rewards. The points are awarded in the 4th month of Avios Rewards, so minimum of 1 month after switch. The 30th November date does not factor in here.

The two operate independently of one another but obviously there is a huge crossover for people joining Barclays.

I’d personally be surprised if there aren’t massive issues with this starting in February given how many points are on offer driving people into this and all the different combinations and permutations of accounts and errors people are experiencing.

[R76]

baVid wrote:

My understanding is that the 100k is solely related to having Avios Rewards (on a premier account) AND Avios Plus Barclaycard, with one or more of those products opened/added to your ‘portfolio’ between 3 October and 30 November 2022. Nothing to do with Premier Account opening OR switching.

That is 100% what the written T&C’s say, but it isn’t what Rob said, based (I’m assuming) on a conversation with Barclays.

I’m looking forward with mild amusement to the inevitable future – when an ombudsman or court tells Barclays that they do, in fact, need to stick to the rules they actually wrote down. But for the sake of a quiet life, I’d rather do whatever makes it work without a fight.

[Dave1234]

robato wrote:

Dave1234 wrote:

How long does it take to receive your debit card? I opened the account last Monday and it has still not arrived. I’m not going to switch my banking over or start paying in my salary while I’m going to be unable to make any withdrawals!

Barclays, why is it so difficult to do even the most basic things like open an account!

It should take about a week if the account is set up properly by Barclays.

However, I was one of the ones that needed a manual ID check (but didn’t actually need to*) and had problems with the app so never got confirmation that my account was opened. I called the Premier account customer service line and they said I had opened two Premier current accounts but no cards had been ordered. So they ordered it for me one of the accounts and closed the other one. The card and pin arrived after about a week. They noted that the Royal Mail strikes will also impact delivery times.

*When I visited the branch, they said all the KYC and ID checks had been approved on the day I applied. So I wasted a 20 mile round trip to the nearest branch.

Thanks. I did not need an ID check but the whole process seems to be taking forever. They have sent me an email this morning ‘welcome to your premier account’. Email is suggesting I fund my account while currently I have no facilty to withdraw anything from the account. I’ll give it until Monday and then give them a call, I guess.

[qc]

qc wrote:

Rob Burgess wrote:

Barclays has confirmed to us that anyone who needs an ID check will still get the bonus if the ID check was requested pre 30th November.

They will be setting up a dedicated query line for people who believe they haven’t got a bonus they felt they deserved.

Irrespective of how you may interpret the Premier rules, you’re not getting the 100k until you do a full CASS switch and earn £75k or put £100k into a savings account, unless you’re upgrading from a standard account.

I upgraded from a standard account so hopefully I’ll be ok.

I’ve now had the email confirming the 100,000 Avios.

[qc]

slidey wrote:

For anyone that doesnt meet the 75k requirement, has the most successful route been to open a premier acct and just list 75k or to open the standard acct and then upgrade? Does that also then ask for 75k req?

If opening a standard bank account – no need to falsify your earnings – mine are less than the 75k. Then when that account is open upgrade to Premier account in the App – no more questions asked.