Best Premier Current Accounts Article Discussion ...

[MSE Sally]

This discussion relates to the new

Best Premier Current Accounts Article

Click reply to discuss

[MrSilk]

For value for money, I'd recommend the NatWest Select Silver account, for what you get it's definitely worth it.

http://www.natwest.com/personal/curr...r-account.ashx

[Mendac]

I tried the new Packaged Account Analyser Tool as I have RAC breakdown cover inc recovery at 79.50 and annual WW family insurance (excl USA/Canada) at 25.59 (yes 25.59! I found that family cover was cheaper than a for a a single traveller). Total £105.09. The tool suggests that these would cost £160 & suggest a string of accounts, to save me money, but each of these would cost more than I'm currently paying. USE WITH CARE!

[opinions4u]

Borderline on value.

Main benefits appear to be breakdown cover - I'd expect to pay £60 a year buying privately.

Holiday insurance - I'd expect to pay around £40 a trip for a family or £60 for an annual policy.

Mobile phone cover - I wouldn't normally insure my phone and it's not often new for old cover and tends to have a big excess for iPhone.

Home Emergecy Cover - Would cost around £50 a year as part of home insurance. Bank account policy tends to cover slightly less.

Bank cost: £180 a year. Best value extracted from a joint account I'd suggest.

I prefer to get £60 in rewards off Halifax and buy my own insurances. But there is a convenience in not having to bother.

[sbutton]

I've been thinking of switching to co-op, but they only cover up to £100 for a single item and there's a £50 excess. Hardly worth it.

Do you know how much it would cost to replace a lost or stolen snowboard or pair of skis? Of course, you do everything you can to protect them but it's not unheard of (i.e. pretty common) for someone to break into (or just tail gate) the locker room in a hotel, and steal some equipment.

With Lloyds (much more expensive for the same cover) I've been able to top up the winter cover for about £30 IIRC.

Mobile cover is also not what it used to be. Had to claim for a broken iPhone screen last year, it it took them weeks to replace the screen. They did not replace the whole phone like the used to.

[grannyjo]

I get £5 a month on the rewards ordinary account. To change to their special account costs £15 reduced to £10. By putting it in the tables at £10 a month is a bit misleading.
where did the above reader get ww travel insurance for £25- sounds good

[jarussell1966]

In reading about cover for mobile phones would this mean i would not get a new phone to replace my 2 year old sony w995 non-smartphone, im not sure i would be happy in getting a second hand replacement?

[jan18]

I already have a Nationwide Flexaccount so I thought maybe I should get my monthly deposits paid into it and use it as a current account so I qualified for the free annual travel insurance. I did as you suggested and rang for medical screening as one of my kids has a medical condition (Cystic Fibrosis - CF) and it appears that this is an automatic decline. Can't pay extra/top up or anything to get this condition covered. Good news is that at least they were quick to tell me this and didn't force me to spend 30 minutes having to enter all our details before saying they did not provide travel insurance cover for CF.

[jan18]

If anyone knows a good packaged account to use which will cover cystic fibrosis for annual travel insuranceplease do let me know!

[jpbamford]

I have Barclays Premier Life account costs me £17.50 pm (not £29), and Overdraft of nor than the £1000 free is 14.9% not 19.3%.
I've got stacks of extended warranties, and claimed a few time too - it covers accidental damage too - with great service (not mentioned in the Account Analyser!). Both our cars covered by RAC (used that too when battery went flat!). Never had to use the travel insurance (touches wood...), but use our airport lounge access credits for our summer holiday.
Also get free entry to English Heritage and Royal Academy (also not mentioned in the Analyser). Cards covered with CPP now not card secure.
All together great value I think.

[cheapskatemac]

I have a motorhome so breakdown cover needs to cover that my current Natwest Black account does but Co-op Premier has lower limits on vehicle dimensions (90mm in length) so I am still searching for a better deal
Cover for breakdown in europe for just the motorhome is £180.

The devil is in the detail

[Alanem]

None of them declare their position on pre existing medical conditions until you phone..then you are told they're not interested. I've still got cover with Santander Premier account for £12 per month. I pay £5 per year for my problems but I'd love to go elsewhere.

[platterfish]

I have a halifax reward account and a halifax ultimate reward.

I use my ultimate reward as my main account paying in over 1000 a month so i get the rewards for 10 a month. I then transfer 1000 to my rewards account (which i only use for this purpose) which takes about 1 minute there and back, to get the free fiver. I usually see this as me paying 5 quid a month for my travel insurance, galaxy s3 insurance and RAC.. works for me :-)

[realaledrinker]

Happy with smilemore, mainly as we have a joint account, so:

2 x RAC homestart
Worldwide family travel insurance (USA most years)
4 x mobiles insurance
2 x Experian access

As said above, horses for courses.

I have also been naughty in the past when needing the travel cover only, by switching in/out of the packaged account for only a month or two at a time.

[Chris-W]

I've had the Natwest advantage gold account from it's inception. Only recently did I need to use any of the so-called 'benefits'.

First, I broke down 100 miles away from home. Recovery was a joke, it only covers you for a 10 mile tow, they wanted £600 to get home. I got the car towed to a friends house, they dealt with a garage while I got a train home, then back, at £65 a time. It would have been cheaper to buy a full RAC package, which is exactly what I did afterwards.

Then, I lost my mobile phone. They wanted proof of delivery to myself from over two years ago. I don't keep rubbish like that. They also wanted a 'certificate of barring' which the phone company hasn't even heard of.

I went straight to the bank and got my account changed to a free one. I don't trust the other policies, particularly the travel insurance, which if they hide anything in the small print could leave me many thousands of pounds out of pocket and other potential serious issues.

Check the small print, Natwest can't be trusted to tell it how it really is.

[mrchiggles]

Originally Posted by jpbamford

I have Barclays Premier Life account costs me £17.50 pm (not £29), and Overdraft of nor than the £1000 free is 14.9% not 19.3%.
I've got stacks of extended warranties, and claimed a few time too - it covers accidental damage too - with great service (not mentioned in the Account Analyser!). Both our cars covered by RAC (used that too when battery went flat!). Never had to use the travel insurance (touches wood...), but use our airport lounge access credits for our summer holiday.
Also get free entry to English Heritage and Royal Academy (also not mentioned in the Analyser). Cards covered with CPP now not card secure.
All together great value I think.

I have this too, it's very good value if you use it. They don't sell it anymore though so the tool is right that to get similar sorts of benefits now you have to spend a lot more - let's hope they don't withdraw it from existing customers!

I didn't know about the extended warranty covering accidental damage - we replaced our whole kitchen so put the lot on the warranty so will bear that in mind if the young mrchiggles decides to sit on the dishwasher door again!

[ernie-money]

First Direct's First Directory doesn't show up - it's £12 per month, but only £9 for the first year, regardless whether it's a sole account or joint, so for £9 for a joint account you get worldwide travel insurance for the whole family, cover for two mobile phones and roadside breakdown cover. I think that's fair value...

[parkview094]

I've been with the RBS for the past few years now and the Royalties Gold package at £12.95 a month seems to pay for it's-self for me..

The top 2 features for me are:

1. 25% off concert /theatre tickets which seems to almost cover the annual cost on it's own.

2. The travel service which at 10% off brings them broadly into-line with the various cashback offerings on-line, but has the advantage of being sold as a 'package' holiday. 10% off airfares can also be quite a saver..

I've never had cause to use the travel insurance, but the mobile phone insurance paid out for me pretty painlessly when I lost my iPhone and their home emergency cover replaced our central heating pump without hassle when it packed up last weekend.

So.. if you go to gigs/the theatre or travel a lot, it's worth looking into IMHO

[Savvy_Sue]

Originally Posted by jan18

I already have a Nationwide Flexaccount so I thought maybe I should get my monthly deposits paid into it and use it as a current account so I qualified for the free annual travel insurance. I did as you suggested and rang for medical screening as one of my kids has a medical condition (Cystic Fibrosis - CF) and it appears that this is an automatic decline. Can't pay extra/top up or anything to get this condition covered. Good news is that at least they were quick to tell me this and didn't force me to spend 30 minutes having to enter all our details before saying they did not provide travel insurance cover for CF.

I wouldn't hold your breath, but it COULD be worth phoning the other banks and asking.

I also have a Flexaccount and phoned to ask about the insurance: I think they didn't like some of DH's conditions, but would have covered him if we'd paid extra. This is after I'd found our previous travel insurer wanted to charge more for me - I'd had a catastrophic shoulder shattering incident not long beforehand plus a few ongoing health issues.

Smile works for us, although they won't cover you if there's anything under investigation. So DH was briefly without any cover while he waited for an endoscopy: fortunately nothing sinister was found so again, no extra charge.

[ernie-money]

Originally Posted by parkview094

I've been with the RBS for the past few years now and the Royalties Gold package at £12.95 a month seems to pay for it's-self for me..

The top 2 features for me are:

1. 25% off concert /theatre tickets which seems to almost cover the annual cost on it's own.

2. The travel service which at 10% off brings them broadly into-line with the various cashback offerings on-line, but has the advantage of being sold as a 'package' holiday. 10% off airfares can also be quite a saver..

I've never had cause to use the travel insurance, but the mobile phone insurance paid out for me pretty painlessly when I lost my iPhone and their home emergency cover replaced our central heating pump without hassle when it packed up last weekend.

So.. if you go to gigs/the theatre or travel a lot, it's worth looking into IMHO

Sounds good, but no longer available to new customers...