Do I Upgrade to Barclays Premier Life?

LeeSouthEast

As I logged out of online banking today, I was taken to the usual landing page, but for once, stopped to read it. The Premier Life product actually looks quite good and would serve well as an upgrade from the current Platinum Banking product I'm on now.

For the time being (ha, who am I trying to kid) I do not meet the discount eligibility criteria, so the fee would be £25/mo. But on the face of it, that seems still incredibly good value?

Worldwide multi-trip travel insurance
Phone and gadget cover (including loss)
RAC comprehensive breakdown cover

I'm not sure right now that I'd use everything else it offers, but certainly those 3 appear immediately beneficial. On my rough calculations alone, I'd save £19 a year by canceling those services held separately.

Has anyone else done it? Have you found it worthwhile? Are there any pitfalls? I've been with Barclays since I was 11, so it really seems to be my "bank for life", and they've always been extremely good in my view.

Any advice?

gfplux

I would say saving £19 per year ( £1.58 per month) is not a lot when you are further in bed with your bank and have less wiggle room.
Why not shop around for the 3 things you would get included but are paying for separately., I am sure you could save more than £19 by checking.

Extant

You can upgrade to Premier Life online or through your local branch.

Inactive

gfplux wrote: »

I would say saving £19 per year ( £1.58 per month) is not a lot when you are further in bed with your bank and have less wiggle room.
Why not shop around for the 3 things you would get included but are paying for separately., I am sure you could save more than £19 by checking.

Agreed, you could save by swapping to AA or another breakdown service each year for starters, they always discount new business, but not existing, I guess the same applies to the insurance as well.

747

I would say no - if you can meet the criteria for Premier Life, then a proper AmEx Platinum Chargecard would be no issue at all fo you. The fee is £300/year, so on par with what you would pay per year for Premier Life but the benefits would be far better in all honesty. The only omission would be the RAC cover which you can get online for very little when you use QuidCo.

For starters, you'd get 2 x Prestige Level Priority Passes which are normally £250 each a year, these will give you access to over 500 airport lounges around the world.

The travel insurance on the card is probably the most comprehensive product on the market, including insurance cover when you rent a car. The best thing though, is that the card come with 5 supplmentary cards that you can give to family or friends- anyone that has a card (inc the supplementaries) will get insurance cover for them, their partner and their children under 25 - so literally you could have 10's of people covered via your one fee.

There are other benefits too, and I'm sure there is Quidco on the card.

iblametheparents

Barclays also has an account for £14/month called Additions Active, you would get travel insurance, RAC cover and the mobile phone insurance on that account.

LeeSouthEast

Aww but it doesn't come with a shiny black card

Thanks for the useful post though. Even cheaper, I like...!

Extant

Kneale wrote: »

Barclays also has an account for £14/month called Additions Active, you would get travel insurance, RAC cover and the mobile phone insurance on that account.

Are you a CA3?

Quick, mention the rest of the range before he gets welcome called.

Innocent_Guy

BarclaysManager wrote: »

Are you a CA3?

Bankers code LOL :rotfl::rotfl:

Extant

Innocent_Guy wrote: »

Bankers code LOL :rotfl::rotfl:

Customer Adviser, Grade 3. It's a Personal Banker. The grade relates to salary. Cashiers are a Grade 1.

Now you know our secret code!

iblametheparents

BarclaysManager wrote: »

Are you a CA3?

Quick, mention the rest of the range before he gets welcome called.

It wasn't a recommendation! Haha

I work in CT in Liverpool, I'm a B2 Sales Adviser.