Which Alliance & Leicester Premier Account?

Ponchos

Hi everyone

Just looking at switching to a new (or getting a 2nd) bank account, and the A&L Premier (with the £100 offer) looks pretty good, but just a couple of questions.

1) Which account to get? I see there is the Premier 50, Premier 21, premier Direct and the Premier Current Account... what's the difference? Where can I find out details? Which is best? Which is teh offer avilable on?

2) I currently have a job, and so the paying in £500 a month is fine, but I will be made redundant in March(ish), and so the salary pay in will be gone, at least for a while. I understand that I could always withdraw £500 in cash and then pay it back in, but I am also thining of going travelling, and so this would not be an option. Does anyone know if I would be to able to move £500 from another account into this one and still meet their terms about pay in amounts, or is literally ONLY cash, cheques and salary?

3) I've seen the you can get cashback (£50 from both Quidco and TopCashBack) for these accounts, has anyone had joy with this tracking/paying?

Hope someone can help Thanks in advance all

withnell

1) Only the Premier account (no interest, free travel insurance) pays the £100 signup bonus

2) Transfer from an external account (so not A&L) is fine - I transfer in from my Lloyds account each month

ronaldo746

premier 21 is for 16-21 year olds, premier 50 is for the 50 and over and the premier direct account is for anyone between the ages 22-49 i believe.

Ponchos

Thanks for that

I'm 25, so thats the Premier 21 and Premier 50 out of the running. What's the difference between the Premier Direct and Premier Current Account? Premier Direct is the one with the sign up bonus, yeah?

If you guys use these, how would you rate them? Are they a good bank/is it a good account, or is the £100 sign up the only reason to go to them?

Thanks

heloid

Premier = free travel insurance
Premier direct = 6% interest.

If you're going to regularly keep more than £1000 in the account get the premier direct.

ronaldo746

i am quite happy with halifax (main account) - only signed up for this due to referral system but nothing has gone wrong with a&l and the 6% interest is good.

Ponchos

I'm not too fussed about free travel insurance, seeing as you can get good cover pretty cheap from a comparisson site. Not the Current Account, Premier Direct it is :P

Where does it say about the 6% interest? On the MSE board "Best Bank Accounts" (http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/compare-best-bank-accounts) The A&L Premier is said to be the best, but they outline "0.5% in-credit interest", and that this drops to 0.1% when the balance is over £2500, there is no mention of 6% interest anywhere. Is mention of this actually on the A&L website and the MSE summary hasn't bee updated, or am I missing something?

ronaldo746

"Earn a great rate of 6% AER (fixed for one year) on balances up to £2,500. After one year, 1% AER (variable) applies. Balances over £2,500 earn 0.10% AER (variable)." from a&l website.

Ponchos

ronaldo746 wrote: »

"Earn a great rate of 6% AER (fixed for one year) on balances up to £2,500. After one year, 1% AER (variable) applies. Balances over £2,500 earn 0.10% AER (variable)." from a&l website.

Where does it say that? I've been through the link on the normal MSE page (link above), and the terms I've found are:

£100 cashback when you apply online and move your banking to us using our Switching Service. Conditions apply. (See note 1 below). The cashback offer must end on the 13 December 2009.
0% EAR typical overdraft. No usage fees on arranged overdrafts for 12 months from when you open the account (new customers only). A usage fee of 50p a day (up to £5 a month) applies after that. Maximum overdraft limit is £2,000.
Free annual multi-trip European travel insurance worth up to £60 (upper age limit of 65 applies).
Earn 0.50% AER (variable) on balances up to £2,500 and 0.10% AER (variable) on balances over that amount.
You can have access to your account 24 hours a day, using the internet, phone and mobile banking as well as access to any Alliance & Leicester branch.
It is easy to move your account when you use our Switching Service. Our dedicated team will move your existing direct debits, standing orders and salary to your new account and look to match your overdraft limit (depending on your circumstances).
Exclusive access to a linked PlusSaver account and the Santander Zero Credit Card (depending on your circumstances)

Is it just an out of date link? I went direct to the A&L website to the Premier Direct Account, where I can see about the 6%, but no mention of the £100 sign up I want both! 6% AND £100 sign up!

withnell

As I said in my earlier post, "Only the Premier account (no interest, free travel insurance) pays the £100 signup bonus"

You can't open the 6% interest account with a £100 bonus. The ONLY account with the £100 bonus is the Premier account, with the free travel insurance

agsnu

Quidco is, however, doing £45 cashback