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Sounds good but were there any information conveyed about the 25,000 points? (When you switch over)
I presume you still need to switch after upgrading and you need to enable the avios rewards add on which includes a £12 monthly fee
Yes, when in the Barclays app, there is an option to upgrade to Premier banking.
She clicked on it, and it asked her annual income, and net income per month. She pressed submit (her income is quite low because she never went back to work after our daughter was born in 2020), and was instantly approved. Weirdly, there was no pop-up asking if we were sure we wanted to apply for Premier banking or anything like that, it was literally a single screen.
She didn’t mention anything about £100k in savings, she currently has about £60k i think, and that’s as high as its ever been. The net income requirement is £40k into your account over the last 12 months, and she wouldn’t have met that either.
The letter received says they wont even check for 12 months.
Are you currently with Barclays?
This is really interesting. When applying for the account outright they ask for income details and if it’s below the threshold they ask if you have £100,000 to invest. If you answer no you can’t proceed to open a Premier account (it lets you open a standard account instead), and so the idea that anyone can now sign up for the Premier account and pay the fee instead is incorrect.
Your experience suggests that if you’re upgrading an account though it doesn’t ask the £100,000 investment question even if you enter in the form that you’re below the income threshold, is that correct? If so then perhaps the only way to access the Premier account if you don’t meet the eligibility criteria is to open the standard account and then upgrade?
I think from the banks point of view, they know if you meet the threshold or not by looking at your historic transactions. Thats what they did over the phone as I was enquiring about upgrading over the phone but its possible to do online (via app) or in branch.
Yes, when in the Barclays app, there is an option to upgrade to Premier banking.
She clicked on it, and it asked her annual income, and net income per month. She pressed submit (her income is quite low because she never went back to work after our daughter was born in 2020), and was instantly approved. Weirdly, there was no pop-up asking if we were sure we wanted to apply for Premier banking or anything like that, it was literally a single screen.
She didn’t mention anything about £100k in savings, she currently has about £60k i think, and that’s as high as its ever been. The net income requirement is £40k into your account over the last 12 months, and she wouldn’t have met that either.
The letter received says they wont even check for 12 months.
Are you currently with Barclays?
This is really interesting. When applying for the account outright they ask for income details and if it’s below the threshold they ask if you have £100,000 to invest. If you answer no you can’t proceed to open a Premier account (it lets you open a standard account instead), and so the idea that anyone can now sign up for the Premier account and pay the fee instead is incorrect.
Your experience suggests that if you’re upgrading an account though it doesn’t ask the £100,000 investment question even if you enter in the form that you’re below the income threshold, is that correct? If so then perhaps the only way to access the Premier account if you don’t meet the eligibility criteria is to open the standard account and then upgrade?
Yes, within the Barclays app, at no point did they ask if she had £100k invested with them. I guess they would be able to see that for current customers anyway.
To clarify, my wife even when she was working, would not have qualified for free Premier banking as she never has earned £75k or had more than £100k saved with Barclays.
As they have stated they are not going to check her eligibility for free Premier for 12 months, it should be relatively cheap for her to qualify for the 100k points (probably only 4-6 months of paying the £12 for Avios Rewards).
Whether they have the same 12 month leeway for new standard current account customers upgrading to Premier is unknown.
If anyone already has a BC Avios Plus card, but no Barclays current account, and does not meet the income/savings criteria for free Premier, its a question of whether its worth a gamble of opening a standard current account and seeing if you can upgrade within the app to Premier. We both got the email confirming we would get the 100k points, and the letter about not checking for 12 months within a few days of upgrading and switching on Avios Rewards.
As she already had the Avios Plus card for £20pm, and standard current account, I decided it was worth a gamble to upgrade to Premier for a possible £20pm, plus Avios Rewards at £12pm, minus £5 discount for holding both products. Going from £20 she already was paying to £47 for about 4-6 months for possibly 106k-109k points was worth a gamble for me, and as it turned out, that £20pm Premier fee is not going to be applicable yet, so excellent result. YMMV.
Just tried applying with a salary less than 75,000.
Got the following response:
“Your account has been upgraded.
Remember, to be eligible for free Premier Banking, you’ll need to have a current account with us and either pay in a gross annual salary of £75,000 or more, or have at least £100,000 in savings with us and/or Barclays UK investments.
If you don’t meet this, there’ll be a £20 monthly fee.”I didn’t get any mention of 12 months before they check but I also got an automatic approval. I’ll keep you posted on whether or not £20 is charged later
Just tried applying with a salary less than 75,000.
Got the following response:
“Your account has been upgraded.
Remember, to be eligible for free Premier Banking, you’ll need to have a current account with us and either pay in a gross annual salary of £75,000 or more, or have at least £100,000 in savings with us and/or Barclays UK investments.
If you don’t meet this, there’ll be a £20 monthly fee.”I didn’t get any mention of 12 months before they check but I also got an automatic approval. I’ll keep you posted on whether or not £20 is charged later
Are you a new Barclays customer or already had a standard current account? When we upgraded, it didn’t mention the 12 month thing either in the app, but it did in the letter in the post welcoming us to Premier banking. Incidentally, neither of us have received the black debit card yet, and there’s been no mention of it being sent out.
Just tried applying with a salary less than 75,000.
Got the following response:
“Your account has been upgraded.
Remember, to be eligible for free Premier Banking, you’ll need to have a current account with us and either pay in a gross annual salary of £75,000 or more, or have at least £100,000 in savings with us and/or Barclays UK investments.
If you don’t meet this, there’ll be a £20 monthly fee.”I didn’t get any mention of 12 months before they check but I also got an automatic approval. I’ll keep you posted on whether or not £20 is charged later
Are you a new Barclays customer or already had a standard current account? When we upgraded, it didn’t mention the 12 month thing either in the app, but it did in the letter in the post welcoming us to Premier banking. Incidentally, neither of us have received the black debit card yet, and there’s been no mention of it being sent out.
Edit: Don’t forget to switch on Avios Rewards.
Are you guys @aq.1988, @GimmeMorePoints, @MPL not planning to get the 25,000 bonus avios for switching (I was told on the phone you can upgrade and switch later) so if you havent thought about it that could be an option. I cant jump on the 100k combined offer as I already have a Barclaycard and need to wait 6 months if I didnt.
Just tried applying with a salary less than 75,000.
Got the following response:
“Your account has been upgraded.
Remember, to be eligible for free Premier Banking, you’ll need to have a current account with us and either pay in a gross annual salary of £75,000 or more, or have at least £100,000 in savings with us and/or Barclays UK investments.
If you don’t meet this, there’ll be a £20 monthly fee.”I didn’t get any mention of 12 months before they check but I also got an automatic approval. I’ll keep you posted on whether or not £20 is charged later
Are you a new Barclays customer or already had a standard current account? When we upgraded, it didn’t mention the 12 month thing either in the app, but it did in the letter in the post welcoming us to Premier banking. Incidentally, neither of us have received the black debit card yet, and there’s been no mention of it being sent out.
I already have the standard current account. I would’ve loved to switch and get a bonus 25k but the only other “bank account” I have is with Revolut. Revolut isn’t eligible for transfers
Just tried applying with a salary less than 75,000.
Got the following response:
“Your account has been upgraded.
Remember, to be eligible for free Premier Banking, you’ll need to have a current account with us and either pay in a gross annual salary of £75,000 or more, or have at least £100,000 in savings with us and/or Barclays UK investments.
If you don’t meet this, there’ll be a £20 monthly fee.”I didn’t get any mention of 12 months before they check but I also got an automatic approval. I’ll keep you posted on whether or not £20 is charged later
Are you a new Barclays customer or already had a standard current account? When we upgraded, it didn’t mention the 12 month thing either in the app, but it did in the letter in the post welcoming us to Premier banking. Incidentally, neither of us have received the black debit card yet, and there’s been no mention of it being sent out.
I already have the standard current account. I would’ve loved to switch and get a bonus 25k but the only other “bank account” I have is with Revolut. Revolut isn’t eligible for transfers
Same, I only have Barclays accounts and Revolut too.
Are you guys @aq.1988, @GimmeMorePoints, @MPL not planning to get the 25,000 bonus avios for switching (I was told on the phone you can upgrade and switch later) so if you havent thought about it that could be an option. I cant jump on the 100k combined offer as I already have a Barclaycard and need to wait 6 months if I didnt.
What do you mean you need to wait 6 months? I’m sure you’re eligible even if you already have the Barclaycard
Regarding being eligible for the 100k offer (where you have to hold the avios plus + a premier account)
Regarding being eligible for the 100k offer (where you have to hold the avios plus + a premier account)
I’m sorry, I’m genuinely confused.
Where in any HfP article or Barlcays T&Cs did you see anything about 6 months?All I know is getting the avios plus + a premier account, hold both for 4 months, get 100k avios.
So you wont get the 100k if you already hold a barclays credit card (i.e. platinum or hilton) it says it in the article
My partner appears to able to upgrade her standard Barclays account to premier even though she doesn’t meet the income or savings criteria, however she has the standard Avios cc and doesn’t seem to have the ability to upgrade that to enable her to get the 100k avios
My partner appears to able to upgrade her standard Barclays account to premier even though she doesn’t meet the income or savings criteria, however she has the standard Avios cc and doesn’t seem to have the ability to upgrade that to enable her to get the 100k avios
keep checking, has it been 3 months since holding the standard avios cc?
keep checking, has it been 3 months since holding the standard avios cc?[/quote]
She has had the free card for approaching 6 months…. Yeah will get her to check. Hopefully she can upgrade before the 100k offer expires
These are interesting data points. As non-Barclays customers, it’s now in my mind that it could be possible to apply, shift investments to satisfy the obligation created by applying on the basis of £100k, but then shift those investments out of Barclays some reasonable time afterwards. I think this runs the gauntlet of meeting T+C’s, not making untrue statements on the applicatin (I don’t see anything committing the £100k for a period of time), but reducing exposure to the shamefully poor interest rates on offer for any cash element. FSCS is the risk.
These are interesting data points. As non-Barclays customers, it’s now in my mind that it could be possible to apply, shift investments to satisfy the obligation created by applying on the basis of £100k, but then shift those investments out of Barclays some reasonable time afterwards. I think this runs the gauntlet of meeting T+C’s, not making untrue statements on the applicatin (I don’t see anything committing the £100k for a period of time), but reducing exposure to the shamefully poor interest rates on offer for any cash element. FSCS is the risk.
If you go down this route you need to apply for the Avios Plus card first to make sure you are accepted before applying for the Premier bank account. In respect of the £100k investments if you are going down that route rather than £75k income, the FSCS is mainly relevant for cash. If you have investments in shares or funds, these should automatically be held in segregated funds to your order, but do check carefully. Anyway, if the statutorily ring fenced Barclays UK were to go bust, we would all have much bigger concerns.
If you go down this route you need to apply for the Avios Plus card first to make sure you are accepted before applying for the Premier bank account. In respect of the £100k investments if you are going down that route rather than £75k income, the FSCS is mainly relevant for cash. If you have investments in shares or funds, these should automatically be held in segregated funds to your order, but do check carefully. Anyway, if the statutorily ring fenced Barclays UK were to go bust, we would all have much bigger concerns.
That’s a very good point. We are both Avios Plus post-SUB, so this isn’t an issue for us but very important to note for others who are looking to try to maximize the return on these offers.
When you upgrade, does your a) bank account number change, and/or b) does your online banking login change? My issue with anything like this is the faff of changing logins etc
When you upgrade, does your a) bank account number change, and/or b) does your online banking login change? My issue with anything like this is the faff of changing logins etc
no i asked the CS agent and your details do not change, just the type of account you have.
The only thing which isnt clear for me is the switch bonus (25,000 avios) for existing barclays personal members otherwise I will sign up todayHi All,
First time poster!
Just a question to clarify –
– My wife holds the Barclays Avios Mastercard
– She will not be ‘switching’ a current account, but will joining Barclays Bank as a premier customer for the first time
– Because she’s not switching, i understand she won’t be eligable for the 25k avios offerBUT
Will she still be eligable for 100,000 avios for joining premier banking as a new customer (without the account switch)?
Thanks all
Hi All,
First time poster!
Just a question to clarify –
– My wife holds the Barclays Avios Mastercard
– She will not be ‘switching’ a current account, but will joining Barclays Bank as a premier customer for the first time
– Because she’s not switching, i understand she won’t be eligable for the 25k avios offerBUT
Will she still be eligable for 100,000 avios for joining premier banking as a new customer (without the account switch)?
Thanks all
Does she have the free Avios card or the £20pm Avios Plus Card? As she would need to first have the Plus card before you go down the road of applying for Premier banking, and then switching on Avios Rewards (at £12pm).
Does she have the free Avios card or the £20pm Avios Plus Card? As she would need to first have the Plus card before you go down the road of applying for Premier banking, and then switching on Avios Rewards (at £12pm).
She has the £20pm plus card.
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