Barclays moving me from Platinum to Premier

ewokuk

I received a letter a couple of weeks ago telling me they are moving my account from Platinum to Premier.

Reading through the hugely misleading and underhand booklet they sent which SUPPOSEDLY details the "benefits" I get with the new account, it is pretty clear that 95% of what is in the booklet is available to ANY barclays customer and has absolutely sod all to do with the Premier account!!

In fact the only benefits I can see that are Premier exclusive are the slightly bigger fee free overdraft, which I don't need, and "Premier rewards" which are pretty much junk and again I don't need. On the other side of that coin, I lose my current free CHAPS transfers which would then cost £25 each, free rapid cheque clearance, then £20 each, free bankers drafts, then £15 each, and free statement copies, then £5 each.

So I gain a couple of nothing rewards, and lose a bunch of benefits that if I were to ever use any of them would be VERY expensive and more than make up for the junk they are offering as a replacement.

To top it all off you need to pay a very high income into this account (which I will probably not be able to do indefinitely) or they will then dump you out to what I assume would be a standard account since Platinum is no longer available, so I would then lose EVERY benefit I currently have. Perhap I am missing something when it comes to this new account that might actually benefit me, but I can't see what it is.

I believe they cannot force me to change the account and the letter does state "if you decide that you don't want your acount to change to a Premier Current Account, please let us know by 24th July 2017 and We'll ensure your account stays the same". But I have seen a thread on here from last year with peopel talking about Platinum being discontinued and people being force onto a new account, which I thought was odd as I don't think they can do that.

So what have others done that got this same letter? I really can't see the benefit, I really dislike the underhand way they have tried to paint all these benefits (like Blue rewards, ISA's, tailoring your account with texts etc) as being specific to the Premier account when they are not. And the risk is I end up being dumped onto a standard account when I can no longer meet the income requirements (there are no requirements on my platinum account so no danger of that). I don't use things like the free CHAPS transfers and bankers drafts, but at some point I might. I will be needing a mortgage next year so the ONLY reason I have not already switched to something like First Direct is due to me having had this account for about 30 years and that is good for my credit rating (which is about as high as you can get and I'd like to keep it that way).

bigadaj

So tell them you don't want the new account.

You don't appear to take advantage of the supposed benefits so I don't see what you are so concerned about.

Your credit rating means nothing, it's your credit file that is important. Having a stable and longstanding current account is a good indicator but it's one of many factors, mortgages are cheap and not too difficult to get currently so I don't see a reason for excessive concern.

eskbanker

ewokuk wrote: »

But I have seen a thread on here from last year with peopel talking about Platinum being discontinued and people being force onto a new account, which I thought was odd as I don't think they can do that.

What is it that you're thinking they can't do, discontinue Platinum or force account-holders onto a new account?

Unless you believe banks are somehow obliged to keep products going indefinitely then surely you accept that they can discontinue them, so if/when they are discontinuing them, it's only right that they offer a migration path to an alternative product.

Having said that, they obviously can't actually force anyone to take the alternative product, but it's not unreasonable for them to say that if people don't then the only other option would be to close the account....

PeacefulWaters

They can give you two months notice of a detrimental change.

If you don't like the product they're shifting you on to go for their bog standard free offering.

Save yourself a few quid.

Ben8282

Unfortunately I can find no information whatsoever about the Barclays Platinum account that you say you have so it is difficult to compare. However, the list of benefits that you say comes with your Platinum account - free CHAPS transfers which would then cost £25 each, free rapid cheque clearance, then £20 each, free bankers drafts, then £15 each, and free statement copies, then £5 each.- are a rather strange set of benefits which I cannot recall ever seen advertised as benefits offered with a specific type of account.
Of course later in your post you go on to say that you don't actually use any of these benefits ...
The Premier account that you have been offered is a FREE account with NO MONTHLY FEE. This account would appear to offer REAL benefits such as the £1000 per-day ATM withdrawal limit and a £1000 fee-free overdraft. Not bad for a free account.

ewokuk wrote: »

I believe they cannot force me to change the account and the letter does state "if you decide that you don't want your acount to change to a Premier Current Account, please let us know by 24th July 2017 and We'll ensure your account stays the same". But I have seen a thread on here from last year with peopel talking about Platinum being discontinued and people being force onto a new account, which I thought was odd as I don't think they can do that.

If Barclays have stated in their letter that your account will remain unchanged if you decide not to upgrade to a Premier account, then I would not concern myself with what may or may not have been said in a thread that you don't even link or specifically refer to.

System

Ben8282 wrote: »

Unfortunately I can find no information whatsoever about the Barclays Platinum account that you say you have so it is difficult to compare. However, the list of benefits that you say comes with your Platinum account - free CHAPS transfers which would then cost £25 each, free rapid cheque clearance, then £20 each, free bankers drafts, then £15 each, and free statement copies, then £5 each.- are a rather strange set of benefits which I cannot recall ever seen advertised as benefits offered with a specific type of account.
Of course later in your post you go on to say that you don't actually use any of these benefits ...
The Premier account that you have been offered is a FREE account with NO MONTHLY FEE. This account would appear to offer REAL benefits such as the £1000 per-day ATM withdrawal limit and a £1000 fee-free overdraft. Not bad for a free account.

The platinum account actually comes with an increased ATM limit and free overdraft.

They will have no compunction about downgrading you should your account throughput drop. The premier service is just tarted up Barclays products.

I would opt out personally.

Flobberchops

bigadaj wrote: »

So tell them you don't want the new account.

You don't appear to take advantage of the supposed benefits so I don't see what you are so concerned about.

Nail, hammer, head.

The Platinum benefits are: £1000 ATM limit (may be possible to raise to £2000 through mobile banking), and free CHAPS/international, bankers drafts, and status enquiries.

I don't believe rapid cheque clearance exists any more and copy statements are now free for all customers.

Compare to Premier banking which also has a £1k/£2k ATM limit, first £1000 of arranged overdraft fee free, an assigned relationship manager or relationship team, UK based call centres, preferential fixed ISA, bond, loan and mortgage interest rates, fast track Premier counters and lounges in *some* branches, plus a free daily coffee from one of four chains, English Heritage membership, Picturehouse Cinema membership, Gourmet Society membership...

But if you'd rather stick with what you have on the principle that you may one day need a banker's draft, that's completely your choice!

System

Flobberchops wrote: »

Nail, hammer, head.

But if you'd rather stick with what you have on the principle that you may one day need a banker's draft, that's completely your choice!

The OP fears losing what they have if/when they are no longer wanted by the Premier team - given they WILL downgrade them at somepoint plus the platinum account is a closed product, it would seem likely.

ewokuk

Heng_Leng wrote: »

The OP fears losing what they have if/when they are no longer wanted by the Premier team - given they WILL downgrade them at somepoint plus the platinum account is a closed product, it would seem likely.

Exactly. I am a self employed contractor. Money going into that account is a result of me taking out dividends from my company. It is not in my interest to withdraw huge amounts of dividends unless I have to, and so I will at some point go below their 75k threshold, which seems like it would result in me losing all the benefits of both accounts since i cannot revert to Platinum.

I would also like to know exactly how preferential their premier mortgages are exactly. If they can do better than I can get anywhere else then it will be worth the "upgrade" regardless, but I think that is very unlikely. But they havent given any kind of indication of their normal mortgages vs tgeir premiere customer ones.

Flobberchops

ewokuk wrote: »

I would also like to know exactly how preferential their premier mortgages are exactly. If they can do better than I can get anywhere else then it will be worth the "upgrade" regardless, but I think that is very unlikely. But they havent given any kind of indication of their normal mortgages vs tgeir premiere customer ones.

Take a look for yourself, I readily admit I don't have much direct experience with secured lending but I believe these are decent rates.

http://www.barclays.co.uk/premier-mortgages

Marchitiello

Just talk to customer services as to gather what is the plan for people currently on the Platinum package if you do not want the Premier upgrade as they have progressively closed the previous types of account and moved all customer to the current offer.

Premier is free and come with some benefits but you can add other packs that also add more benefit to the account (the Tech Pack will give you additional benefits on the overdraft for example).