Barclays Premier Account - free upgrade?

antispam246

I've been a Barclays account holder for pretty much my whole life, including having the account in my mums name and it being transferred over to me, so nearly 30 years.

This morning, upon logging in, I was greeted with a message stating I was eligible for a free upgrade to the Premier account (the black debit card one).

The thing is, I don't quite meet the eligble terms upon reviewing it. Does this mean they've simply waived that for me? I can upgrade online (directly through the offer) but upon checking it goes through the generic upgrade procedure which includes ticking a box stating I meet the eligble terms. If I do this, are they simply going to over look it and grant it based on the offer directly to me or should I call and check when it's open?

Just wondering if anyone has ever had this offer despite not being, technically, eligble. Will be great if it is the case as I've genuinely been thinking along the lines of "I haven't really received any long term customer benefits, so perhaps it's time to swap" Maybe they just read my mind.

PDF

Isn't it £25 per month to run the account?

dr_adidas01

PDF wrote: »

Isn't it £25 per month to run the account?

No!!

http://www.barclays.co.uk/PremierBanking/PremierBankingServices/P1242592991442

ColdIron

antispam246 wrote: »

The thing is, I don't quite meet the eligble terms upon reviewing it. Does this mean they've simply waived that for me?

Basically yes. They seem to do this periodically and invite people to upgrade. Check out if it's worth it to you. Some of the offers are just fluff (personalised manager from Hyderabad) and some you get anyway. The increased withdrawal and transfer limit can be OK. I don't meet their criteria so I declined it as I have an old platinum account, closed to new customers which gives me benefits I wouldn't like to give up, in case they decided to enforce the necessary criteria in the future which would leave me high and dry

theshortstack

I started a thread on this the other day to find out what the deal with the Premier Account is and I've been offered an upgrade too. You can find the thread here:

I've actually spoken to them online and it is a free upgrade. Apparently, the account was charged for up until a couple of months back when they withdrew the cost.

I'm not really sure what the benefit of it is though apart from the supposed improved telephone banking (which isn't much used to me as I do most of my banking online) and the free overdraft.

Happy to be convinced otherwise though!

tomo21217

• First £1000 of overdraft is daily fee free
• UK call centre, with no push option 1 , 2 etc
• Black Card, £750 daily limit
• larger Online banking limits
• Local Premier manager - need £150k assests/income to get them
• Premier Rewards, free 02 lounge access etc

Worth if for free

AMG762

Hi, is everyone who is getting the free premier account upgrade meeting the criteria as below or are Barclays being more relaxed about it now?

To be eligible for Premier Banking, you must have a gross annual income of at least £75,000, which must be paid into your Barclays current account, or have at least £100,000 in Barclays savings or investment products.

System

As it's free, I suggest taking it but it's mainly aimed at selling you more mediocre Barclays products by giving you 'Premier' status.

They'll downgrade you back to platinum or standard banking when they think they won't make money from you.

theshortstack wrote: »

I'm not really sure what the benefit of it is though apart from the supposed improved telephone banking (which isn't much used to me as I do most of my banking online) and the free overdraft.

Happy to be convinced otherwise though!

antispam246

The benefits aren't anything to rave about but it's purely "something for nothing". I think it's worth it personally, one thing to bear in mind is you will be subject to a credit check I believe.

I've applied and I'm not eligble under their terms although I was told I was, so i'll let you know how that turns out.

System

If they are offering to upgrade you, there will be no additional credit check simply for the upgrade itself.

The upgrade will be offered on data they already possess such as account turnover and rating agency feeds.

antispam246 wrote: »

one thing to bear in mind is you will be subject to a credit check I believe.

cheops2006

Has anyone ever been offered one of these without meeting the criteria?

To be eligible for Premier Banking, you must have a gross annual income of at least £75,000, which must be paid into your Barclays current account, or have at least £100,000 in Barclays savings or investment products.