Get £175 when you switch your current account to Barclays Premier

[Vit]

Tempted on this as never held a Barclay account before. So would qualify for the £175 switch bonus.

I am a bit hesitated though as been waiting for bigger joining bonus from Barclays Avios Rewards Current Account.

@Rob any insight as if anything bigger than current 25,000 avios switching to Barclays Avios Rewards?

Also if holding other Barclay Premier Account will stop me from also having the Barclay Avios Rewards (i.e. getting both £175 switch bonus and later on getting the 25,000 avios as well)?

Any advices are appreciated.

[PIL]

Last time this was running not so long ago, you could double dip by getting the cash and the avios. I was happy to see both being credited in my account.

I very much doubt they will ever run a bigger promotion given that Rob has already mentioned that this attracts the least desirable/profitable group of customers.

[Misty]

i’m sure Rob has mentioned a few times that the huge bonus offers on the avios barclaycard, that came along at it’s inception will not be repeated. I setted for the 25k currently offered as I needed a points card to put my non-amex spend on.

[Vit]

@PIL thanks for sharing your data point. Did you make the switch to Barclays Premier Current Account or Avios one? My understanding from reading the T&C, it is only either account actually as currently holding a Barclays account will rule out the switch bonus as well as the joining bonus below for the Barclay Avios Current account.

A joining bonus
You’ll receive 25,000 Avios if you’re opening your first account with us and complete a full switch using the Current Account Switcher Service within three months. If you’ve been with us for four months or more, you’ll receive 2,500 Avios as a joining bonus.

£175 vs. 25,000 avios — I think the latter one is more valuable to me. 🙂

[PIL]

https://www.barclays.co.uk/current-accounts/switch-offer/#termandconditions

1.2 Download the Barclays app, use it to apply for and open a sole Premier Current Account (Terms, conditions and eligibility criteria applies)

You do not need to join Blue rewards if you open a premier account. Join avios rewards and I am pretty certain this will be a double bonus (cash and Avios).

I opened a Premier account and then switched my account into it. I got both bonuses, first the cash and then 25k avios after 4 months. If you search the forum, others had the same bonuses too.

[Vit]

@PIL Thanks very much! I was not following the other threads too much as was waiting for the better than 25k joining bonus but now that it will come with the £175 too. I think I will do it as basically you can get nearly 19k avios with £175. So it is good after all. 🙂

[douggy11]

Does anyone know how strict barclays are with the 75k income? Anyone tried with slightly lower 50-60k range?

[WillPS]

douggy11 wrote:

Does anyone know how strict barclays are with the 75k income? Anyone tried with slightly lower 50-60k range?

Plenty in your situation have applied, answered the questions honestly and been offered the account. Worst case they’ll just offer you a standard Barclays Bank Account which is still eligible for the £175.

[TGLoyalty]

50-60k is slightly lower? that’s 20-33% below or another way requiring a 25%-50% pay rise.

Id say £65k+ is slightly lower but as above you can always try and just stick to the standard account if they don’t allow it.

[douggy11]

Thanks for the replies. I will give it a go and report back. Another idea is could I apply for a joint premium account with my partner and then our income would be >£75k?

[JDB]

douggy11 wrote:

Thanks for the replies. I will give it a go and report back. Another idea is could I apply for a joint premium account with my partner and then our income would be >£75k?

One of the joint account holders needs to meet the £75k requirement; you can’t get there by pooling incomes.

[AVN37]

This is perhaps a silly question, but I can’t seem to sign up for any kind of account using the app as the app seems to require me to “register for it” using an existing debit, credit, or other card with Barclays. Am I missing something?

[Guernsey Globetrotter]

I’m pretty sure you have to complete the initial application online but then when you get your account opening details through the mail you use them to activate the app. You are then also able to complete the registration for the rewards in app. I’d say the wording of the terms is a little misleading so don’t worry, if you apply that way then activate in the app you will be eligible for the offer.

[points_worrier]

Yes. When you download the app, one of the options is to sign up for a new account rather than register for the app.
If you sign up online, you won’t get the bonus.

[PIL]

AVN37 wrote:

This is perhaps a silly question, but I can’t seem to sign up for any kind of account using the app as the app seems to require me to “register for it” using an existing debit, credit, or other card with Barclays. Am I missing something?

Clear cache for this specific app and app data on your mobile andthe option should show up

[bagand96]

PIL wrote:

AVN37 wrote:

This is perhaps a silly question, but I can’t seem to sign up for any kind of account using the app as the app seems to require me to “register for it” using an existing debit, credit, or other card with Barclays. Am I missing something?

Clear cache for this specific app and app data on your mobile andthe option should show up

Read on another forum that the Sign up for new account option disappears outside of business hours (or at least overnight). Seems odd but it is Barclays we’re talking about!

[bagand96]

Anyone who’s switched to Barclays Premier and Avios Rewards decided to keep it on for the first year?

Cancel after 4 months:

Cash profit: £127 (£175 – 4 x £12)
Avios: 31,000 (25,000 + 4 x 1500)

If you decide to keep it for 12 months:

Cash profit: £31 (£175 – 12 x £12)
Avios: 43,000 (25,000 + 12 x 1500)
Barclays Cabin Upgrade Voucher

Wonder if 12k Avios and the Upgrade Voucher is worth the £96 cash loss? (although you’re only spending cash Barclays gave you) Guess it depends how much value you put on the upgrade voucher, and most HfP’ers likely have an Amex Companion Voucher anwyay…

[PIL]

I kept it but have also opened the Avios Plus CC

[Matlo]

I had issues with the app too. Signed up on the website and still got the £175 switch reward. I actually had to call the premier helpline in the end who helped me get the app working. Apparently because I already had the Barclaycard app (different to the Barclays app) it was causing issues with me registering my card. They were able to reset it and get it working.

[Matlo]

@bagand96, 12k avios for £96 is cheaper than the avios boost price and you get the upgrade voucher. Very much worth it in my opinion.

[cin3]

douggy11 wrote:

Does anyone know how strict barclays are with the 75k income? Anyone tried with slightly lower 50-60k range?

Just put down £75k and try your luck, it’s not like they can check.

[JDB]

cin3 wrote:

douggy11 wrote:

Does anyone know how strict barclays are with the 75k income? Anyone tried with slightly lower 50-60k range?

Just put down £75k and try your luck, it’s not like they can check.

Along with the advice from @cin3 fraudulently to use a cancelled Plat card to gain access to lounges, this so called ‘advice’ should be disregarded. It’s a serious offence to provide deliberately misleading information to obtain credit and it is incredibly easy for Barclays to check. £50-60k also isn’t really “slightly” lower than the minimum threshold.

[cin3]

How often have there consequences to this “serious offence”? As for the “deliberate” – it’s an intrinsically imprecise question anyway, how can you possibly know your income exactly when multiple factors could cause it to materially change at any moment?

And please explain – how exactly would they check?

[JDB]

@cin3 – well, that’s a wonderfully pharisaic series of questions!

Whether there are or aren’t any consequences is not the point – moral integrity is doing the right thing when nobody is looking. Fortunately, society and the financial system work because the vast majority of people have integrity and most want and expect their partners, children and employees to be honest and show integrity in everything they do. The deliberateness or intent is incredibly easy to pin down, particularly when the people doing this sort of thing often think they are cleverer than the system but are usually very stupid as well as dishonest.

As for how often there are consequences, hundreds, sometimes thousands of people are prosecuted for application fraud every year. Those people and many additional ones will have CIFAS markers against their names. That can have big consequences for whole families. If you would like more statistics/details read annual reports such as Fraudscape (published by CIFAS).

Re checking – if you really aren’t aware of the data credit providers can access or check and how they do this, your advice is even more negligent. Providers are more than capable of offering financial services to those with variable incomes.

HfP is a high quality respectable site. I’m sure there are other more appropriate venues for offering advice to commit fraud twice weekly.

[Colin MacKinnon]

@cin3 Thought JDB would be along to explain!

One thing I learned from him was National Hunter. Another is your credit report – have you ever looked at the full one?

Mrs MacK just got a copy of hers from TransUnion – Octopus said she had failed their credit checks. Every month’s balance on every credit card – open and closed – listed for years and years. It went to 65 pages!

Now, I agree with you a little – how would they “know”. Transunion obviously doesn’t know Mrs Mack (Octopus “solved” the credit problem by making her pay £300 up front!) because she owns the property outright that she was looking to Octopus to supply, with no mortgage. So £300 to “solve” the credit risk is not even a rounding error!

And I have to say that – like my Avios balance in previous posts – I never know my income at any one time. We have a very capital intensive business – by choice, we buy rather than lease – and sometimes things are written off in full in one year, sometimes they are depreciated over several. The accountants decide that, and their choice makes a difference to the “profit” declared to HMRC.

It makes no difference to the actual money in the bank available to pay us!

And then we sometimes draw on savings to pay for flights and holidays with money – what a thing to say on HfP!