[WillPS]

MichaelR wrote:

Managed to find it eventually.

It’s under Products > Premier Banking > Explore all Premier Benefits > Rewards > Barclays Cashback Rewards > Register Now.

Says it may take up to 48 hours to activate, but I did receive a pretty instant “Welcome to Barclays Cashback Rewards” email.

This is correct – you shouldn’t go via Blue Rewards as a Premier customer, go to the Premier menu.

The 48 hours is for the ‘on card’ element to kick in – it relies on overnight batch processes. The same lag is there when you enroll any Visa or Mastercard in any oncard cashback scheme.

[WillPS]

Some confusion above I think. Blue Rewards for Premier is over as of yesterday. No cash cash rewards any more (for anyone). The new Blue Rewards offer is worthless for Premier customers as they have all the benefits for free, so all Premier customers were disenrolled yesterday.

This should all have been communicated to affected customers in detail, and if it hasn’t I’d be raising a complaint about that.

Blue Rewards was never a Premier-exclusive thing, and indeed Blue Rewards remains for non-Premier customers, at £5/month.

The upshot is that Premier is actually much improved now – access to the 5% easy access savings, Apple TV+ (with MLS if that’s of use) and this cashback offer, for no fee.

The Avios offer stacks on top of this if it’s of use (it isn’t to me since I cash out via Nectar, and I don’t have a mortgage).

[WillPS]

When Barclays finally added Google Pay support to their debit cards a couple of years ago, a few months after support was enabled there was a generous cashback offer but only for customers who hadn’t already added their card to Google Pay.

For that reason, I’d advise sticking to Curve for the time being.

[WillPS]

Misty wrote:

I will read up on Robs articles on the Virgin Card, will it become a Nationwide Card, or is that something that is in the lap of the (financial) Gods?

Too many variables to know.

The possibilities are:
> The Virgin credit cards are merged with the Nationwide credit card offer, and run by Nationwide moving forward
> The Virgin credit cards are left as is (other than a rebrand) and remain with the Clydesdale Bank plc subsidiary
> The Virgin credit cards are sold off

In either case the owner and Virgin Atlantic may or may not continue the partnership/JV. If they don’t, then that may lead to the closure of the cards altogehter (ala John Lewis/HSBC) or the cards might be reissued with a different brand/rewards package.

[WillPS]

Harrier25 wrote:

It’s mainly about the mortgage book, I can assure you. That’s where they really want to make their mark and buying the 6th largest mortgage book in the UK allows them to do that. There’s not much profit in credit cards these days compared to secured loans and mortgages. I have no idea what profit is in business banking, but I’m sure that Virgin Money are nowhere near one of the largest players in that market place anyway.

You’ve already shifted to ‘mainly’, which is a different argument to the original one you presented. I’ve no doubt this was one of the top priorities for them either.

Like I said business banking is something they’ve been trying (and failing) to get any form of foothold in for a very long time now. Clydesdale is far from the biggest player in any field, but they’ve been actively pushing their business banking offer far more visibly than their rivals – and of course any presence is exponentlially higher than Nationwide’s pre-existing zero. For clarity, I’m not suggesting this is their top priority, but it’d be outrageous if all the presented rationale from the society which literally states this was a motivation was untrue (as it would have to be for your initial statement to be true).

Also not disputing there’s no money in credit cards, and that might well not be a priority. We will have to wait and see.

Harrier25 wrote:

…and flogging credit cards to existing customers only doesn’t sound like ‘drive to build this side of their operation’ to me. Its more sound business sense. Don’t give your existing valuable customers an excuse to go wondering off to a competitor. Keep them in house.

Pushing a moribund loss-making product over one they’re interested in pushing (like, say, a mortgage) doesn’t seem very sensible business to me. I suggest it probably does make money for them, directly/indirectly. That’s not to say the Virgin credit card business is certainly a good fit for them, but it’s evidence to the contrary when it’s suggested that it definitely isn’t.

[WillPS]

I doubt Tesco Bank patronage will affect Barclaycard eligibility on day 1, but on the flipside how much do you value your Tesco Bank credit card? If ‘not much’, then maybe don’t risk it causing issues.

[WillPS]

Harrier25 wrote:

I think it’s a dead certainty that Nationwide will sell on the credit card portfolio as soon as it can. The only thing they’re really interested in is the mortgage lending book because it instantly propels them to the 2nd largest mortgage lender in the UK behind Lloyds Banking Group.

I’m not sure what you’re basing this upon. They’ve widely communicated that the substantial business banking customer book was a motivating factor, and that’s consistent with their long-held ambition to get a hold in this market; most recently with a partnership with Mastercard which ran aground during Covid.

They haven’t said much about the credit cards, so it could well be that they’re off to market – although everytime I’ve had cause to visit Nationwide recently they’ve tried to get me to take their (rewardless) Member credit card, so there’s clearly some drive to build this side of their operation. Either way it’s certainly not correct to suggest this is really only about the mortgagebook.

[WillPS]

JDB wrote:

Everything is in the air at the moment. Virgin Money is being taken over by Nationwide, an acquisition due to complete in the autumn. The VM name will eventually disappear and the Virgin Atlantic cards will almost certainly need to find a new provider as rewards cards don’t really fit into the Nationwide strategy. Not sure that really explains the new look card, but could be connected.

The VM name will indeed be dropped but not everything will be absorbed in to Nationwide. All the indications are the business banking and investments will remain with Clydesdale Bank plc, even after the integration period concludes. One possibility is that credit cards remain with the bank subsidiary – perhaps with movement of Nationwide’s own offering moving the opposite direction to other personal accounts.

The takeover announcements made specific mention of the intention to enter in to negotiations with Virgin Red regarding points issuance – that could of course mean a negotiated exit, but who knows.

Another possibility is that another company purchases the credit card portfolio. Branson will no doubt be shopping his Virgin Money brand about for another venture as soon as he can, as he did with Virgin Trains.

The integration period is currently set to run until the end of 2030 – which is a long old time in the context of a cobranded/JV credit card offering. It could well be that there’s a natural exit point all parties can coalesce around.

[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.

[WillPS]

Aye, it’s a bit of a shame. I don’t bother with Nectar eStores, I think the last time I did was when Amazon was on there (but not TCB/Quidco), and I’d far rather earn 10-12% cashback with Complete Savings than 2 Nectar points per £.

My main Nectar redemption path is Sainsburys fuel (which is normally cheapest around here and can’t be discounted via giftcards/cashback as groceries, Ebay and Argos can) but it was nice to have Ebay as an option when I fancied something a bit frivolous.

[WillPS]

JDB wrote:

@CarpalTravel – even though Amex has tightened its income requirements and other criteria in the last couple of years, it remains laxer than Barclays and suffers correspondingly higher bad debts. Barclays has vastly more UK credit data than Amex or indeed the credit agencies and uses that to manage its risk. Often decisions in fact relate not to the applicant specifically, but similar profiles in all sorts of different ways.

However large someone’s income, Barclays doesn’t generally like those with too many cards/too much open unsecured credit, the self employed and somehow putting Barclays as ones bank account can be a disadvantage.

I don’t think that’s true – Barclaycard offer a specific ‘credit builder’ card (Forward), Amex never have. For prime cards, maybe – but I think Barclays on the whole are more accommodating of less affluent customers than Amex could be (as you might expect of a retail bank!).

[WillPS]

jj wrote:

@WillPS, as I said, I wouldn’t have paid cash at the current BA price; I’d have stayed home. But I have previously paid enough for a similar journey to value the Avios at about 1.8p, and at that price I would again pay cash if I had no Avios. That’s why I said that I get much more than 1p per Avios on a typical redemption.

Fair enough, appreciate the deets 🙂

Promise I’m not casting aspersions; if flying was an option for us I know I would be all over it.

[WillPS]

Rob Burgess wrote:

You’re implying that people would take a Wizz Air at 5am from Luton with no reserved seat and squeeze into HBO if they couldn’t get an Avios BA flight at 10am with seat and baggage included plus a sensible terminal experience. That’s not true for most.

I’m not implying anything at all, I’m asking 🙂 if you wouldn’t fly at 5am on a Wizz Air from Luton then it’s not a valid base for comparison.

However, unless BA is the only choice you would consider, then the cash price for the fare you take shouldn’t be the base either, as you’re not ‘starting from 0’ when counting.

I’m not a flyer, so I don’t know, but I think ‘for most’ there is a pretty large market between 5am Wizz Airs and BA at the top end. Some would only consider that top end, and in that case fair enough, but ‘for most’ I suspect they are not using the cash fare they would actually pay as the basis for their calculation.

By contrast when I redeem those Avios at 0.66p or 0.5p value, I know I am getting *exactly* that value because there is no cheaper diesel which is available to me than the stuff I buy at Sainsburys.

I appreciate that for many miles collectors that’s not what it’s about, and it’s instead about specifically getting something they definitely wouldn’t enjoy if they had to pay cash for – and again, fair enough – but it’s important to acknowledge that there’s a difference in those valuations; one is genuine money saving and the other isn’t.

Indeed, once you factor in taxes etc AIUI paradoxically it’s possible for a 2 or 3p Avios redemption to actually cost money compared to the open market cash fare you’d choose if you were paying…

[WillPS]

jj wrote:

WillPS wrote:

jj wrote:

Given current flight pricing and the helpful way reward flight saver redemptions interact with the Amex voucher, surely you’d be mad to swap out to Nectar anyway? Most ofy recent redemptions have been for way more than 1p per Avios.

I don’t fly.

Curious tho – is that 1p+ value compared to the cash price for the same flight/class of seat, or 1p+ compared to the ticket you would actually have purchased in cash if you had to (in any class and with any airline)?

It’s based on what I would have paid. On Friday I booked a redemption that offered 2.7p per Avios based on the revenue fare – and that was at the cheapest time of the year.

And you would pay for cash fares with BA even if you had 0 Avios?

[WillPS]

jj wrote:

Given current flight pricing and the helpful way reward flight saver redemptions interact with the Amex voucher, surely you’d be mad to swap out to Nectar anyway? Most ofy recent redemptions have been for way more than 1p per Avios.

I don’t fly.

Curious tho – is that 1p+ value compared to the cash price for the same flight/class of seat, or 1p+ compared to the ticket you would actually have purchased in cash if you had to (in any class and with any airline)?

[WillPS]

kitten wrote:

I’ve lost track.

How much has the original Avios to Nectar conversion rate been reduced by now in total?

The launch deal was 250 Avios == 400 Nectar points (either way), or 1 Avios = 0.8p worth of Nectar

Then in Nov 22 they devalued to 300 Avios = 400 Nectar, or 1 Avios = 0.66p worth of Nectar

Now it’s going to be 400 Avios = 400 Nectar, 1 Avios = 0.5p worth of Nectar.

[WillPS]

Harrier25 wrote:

Rob will need to amend his Amex MR article now from the weekend.

True. No benefit to doing MR -> Avios -> Nectar over just MR -> Nectar now.

Also makes the Nectar credit card (strangely absent from that piece!) seem even more of a great deal.

[WillPS]

To be honest I thought the whole thing was more likely to be scrapped than anything else. Ironically, they’ve still not nerfed it to the point of being completely useless – 0.5% pseudo-cashback on a fee free Mastercard credit card is still market leading.

It’s all the encouragement I need to put the Barclaycard in to reserve and apply for the Santander Edge card tho.

[WillPS]

St George’s Park is great for Diamonds – loads of upgrade potential, decent exec lounge, strong breakfast. Has an almost resort feel to the place such is its scale.

I’ve never had a spa treatment there, not really my bag, but from what I hear it’s great.

[WillPS]

John wrote:

So max £750 spend a month and get £12 back. Percentage wise it’s good but not really worth diverting spend from other cards for me

Yep. Set a spend alert for £750. Easy £12/month for a year.

[WillPS]

Also of note – theyve launched an Edge Up Credit Card which gives 1% cashback, boosted to 2% for the first year, for a £3/month fee. £15 max cashback per month.

Pretty good.

[WillPS]

You don’t need to spend the exact value in a shop. Just go to a manned till and say ‘I need to put £x on this card, and I’ll pay the rest with another card’.

It can be done on self checkouts too if you get a member of staff to help you (and they know what they’re doing), but it’s very standard on a manned till.

You’re in cat and mouse territory on the ‘recycling’ approach. People who know tend to keep it to themselves.

[WillPS]

HughM wrote:

I’m an x, though hardly a capital X.
Today I received this NEW card from Creation. Hey, I thought I was blacklisted! I don’t actually want my NEW card from Creation and wonder if not activating it is sufficient, or if it’s going to be more hassle to get rid of.

I still hold the white IHG rewards card, which Creation promise will still earn points until next month. After the black card experience, I haven’t trusted them to give me any points, so have switched daily spending to Barclay.

The good news is: my last free night is in Amsterdam this Tuesday, at the nicest hotel we know there (Crowne Plaza). After protracted ombudsman proceedings, I guess I will appreciate it the more. Thanks to all you contributors on this and other threads for your long-term expert support in this story. I have learned much.

I thought IHG points earning ended in the spring?

And when you say ‘new card’, do you mean a newly issued card on an existing account or a new card replacing an expired/reported one?

[WillPS]

Is the issue that you need to dip in to the account regularly or just that you want it to be local when the time comes and the funds are needed?

I don’t think Virgin Money could refuse a closure request if you made one in writing, enclosing the passbook if there is one, and an instruction to return the balance upon closure by cheque. Of course, you would no longer have the account if you did that, but it’s an option to keep the account alive if this is a lump sum that you expect to stay put for a long time.

Also worth bearing in mind the law of unintended consequences. Say you were successful, and Virgin Money were forced to change the terms of the account to allow distance access – do you not think, while they’re at it, they might also alter the terms such that the interest rate is no longer as beneficial as it currently is?

Mad to think there won’t be a branch in London.

[WillPS]

Live and learn. Maybe the 7000 Avios points is a better option next time around? (I do this but since I don’t fly it’s kind of a no-brainer…)