NatWest Reward Black account - Any reviews?

Jlawson118

I was covered for travel insurance through Halifax Ultimate Reward until I closed my account down earlier this year and decided to upgrade my AMEX Gold to Platinum. I was accepted but a week or so into the card I didn't feel like it was worth the annual fee for me personally, and much prefer the value I get from Gold so I cancelled the account within my cooling off period.

Since leaving Halifax, I've moved all of my short term savings accounts to NatWest, as well as opening a current account as I feel like their 'Emergency Cash' feature might come in handy if ever I've forgotten my wallet or something.

Upon looking for travel insurance, and a credit card for travel to perhaps replace my Clarity Card, I've stumbled across the NatWest Reward Black accounts. £28 per month which works out about £114 cheaper than AMEX Platinum but seems to offer more, such as cashback on bills, mobile phone insurance, travel insurance and then similar things to AMEX Platinum such as the concierge service, which I doubt I'd ever use but it's something that's there if I wanted to.

I'll just add that I know the Platinum Reward Account with Natwest is £19 per month, but I was curious about the black due to the credit card fee being waived with the account.

I'm currently in the process of looking for travel insurance between now and June. I'm currently shopping around.

But I'm wondering if anyone has this NatWest account and if you have any positive or negative feedback on them? I'm curious because it isn't something I often see mentioned on the forums here, and I've never seen it on the MSE Websites or with Martin Lewis discussing it himself on the television?

WillPS

Did you see this bit:

Available to Premier banking customers who are aged 18 or over, a permanent UK resident and not been declared bankrupt in the last 6 years, with a sole income of at least £100,000 or a joint income of £120,000 paid in to this account, or a NatWest mortgage of at least £500,000, or £100,000 in NatWest savings and investments. To keep earning Rewards on your household bills, you must log into online or mobile banking at least once every three months.

That would be why it's never mentioned on MSE, it's out of reach to the vast majority of people.

The account is also pretty terrible value for money. The cashback benefits are identical to the standard Reward account, which is £2/month (and an excellent product), which also gives access to the Reward Credit Card with no annual fee.(As far as I can see the Black credit card only has free foreign transactions as a benefit over the blue Reward card.)

That, paired with a Nationwide FlexPlus account (£13/month) would give you almost every other benefit except the 'home emergency' cover and the worthless 'preferential rates' and 'concierge service'.

Jlawson118

WillPS wrote: »

Did you see this bit:


That would be why it's never mentioned on MSE, it's out of reach to the vast majority of people.

The account is also pretty terrible value for money. The cashback benefits are identical to the standard Reward account, which is £2/month (and an excellent product), which also gives access to the Reward Credit Card with no annual fee.(As far as I can see the Black credit card only has free foreign transactions as a benefit over the blue Reward card.)

That, paired with a Nationwide FlexPlus account (£13/month) would give you almost every other benefit except the 'home emergency' cover and the worthless 'preferential rates' and 'concierge service'.

I never even noticed that bit. I'd been reading the Credit Card minimum income which was £15k per year and didn't see the rest about the premier. My bad :rotfl:

With the Nationwide cover, I wouldn't need Home Cover and the concierge service anyway so I might have a good look into this!

todayisagreatday

I use to have the Amex Platinum, given that I did a lot of travel. The gold statu at.many hotels and discount and enhanced mile status paid off for me as did the airport lounge access for me and the other half which we used a lot. I also used the Melia discount as gold status to book hotels for friends and family and I bagged the cashback and points and overall I felt the fee was worth it for a year. The insurance was also for as we normally paid around the £200 mark for comprehensive round the world travel insurance. I've cancelled though now. For me the NatWest could be a good option as we do meet the criteria, though I'm not sure at the moment if it is worth our while but it's certainly cheaper than the Amex.

Ben8282

There is nothing really special about this type of account.
It is a 'packaged' account and the benefits included in the package are more or less the same as any other packaged account, except for the Priority Pass for airport lounge access. The value of this to you would depend on how much you intended to use it. The breakdown cover is with Green Flag. Not my personal preference;; would prefer AA.
This account pays no interest but offers rewards. Again, a personal choice. If the value of the rewards would exceed what you may earn in interest elsewhere, then it may be better for you.
The debit card is a plain black card, identical to the black credit card except that unlike the credit card the debit card is a visa card and has the word debit on it. Made of quite flimsy light plastic too.