RBS Rewards accounts...currently a waste of money?

KevinM2

I just had a chat with RBS regarding their Rewards accounts, specifically with them still charging the full amount per month for the accounts and only being able to offer a fraction of the reward services...

They said that they aren't offering any reduction in monthly cost for these accounts, so I asked about downgrading to a lower tier reward account, but I was told that they aren't accepting lower tier reward applications/downgrades at the moment due to the current situation...

They said that my two choices are, to remain on my current rewards tier (at £31/month) or move to a fee free Select (basic) account...I asked if I did this would I need to make a full regular application to go back to a reward account once everything returns to normal, and they said it would be a full credit checked application in the future if I wanted to upgrade...

Am I the only one who thinks that they are being particularly unfair in charging the full monthly cost for the rewards accounts but not being able to offer a lot/most of the reward facilities?

They don't sound like they are being particularly helpful in these difficult times...

Kevin

colsten

I am not sure what it is they are not offering but if you are unhappy, why not use CASS to switch to a different bank? 

hermante

Without knowing what the £31 fee gets you it does sound unfair, so make a complaint. 

KevinM2

Amongst the things the £31 fee offers is:

Worldwide travel insurance
Car breakdown Cover
Discounted Cinema/Theatre tickets
Restaurant discounts
Airport Lounge passes
Discounted Holiday bookings
Fee Free Debit card use abroad

So as you can see, that is a big list that isn't really usable right now...and for the forseeable future (although I do accept that the car breakdown cover is maybe slightly relevant as we use the car once per week to do the 2 mile journey to Tesco for a weekly shop, and that's it...OK it could break down in that 5 minute journey per week, but that's all we drive at the moment)

So, I still stand by them not being very helpful, and wondered if anyone else feels that their RBS Rewards account is of little value right now?

Thanks

jonnygee2

Am I the only one who thinks that they are being particularly unfair in charging the full monthly cost for the rewards accounts

 It's a product and you have a free choice as to whether you keep using it or not by the sounds of it.

 'Unfair' to me would imply they are somehow tricking you, or trapping you into the product. They aren't, they are just saying 'this is what we can offer you, do you still want it?' and you can choose yes or no.

If you don't want it, say no, switch away.

Gray001

I previous had the free select accounts for both RBS and Natwest. I upgraded them to the reward accounts. I was told it would involve no new hard credit search as it's just a simple upgrade of an account as I was already an existing customer. 

eskbanker

They'll have binding contracts on agreed terms with a range of commercial partners who actually fulfil these add-on products - I can see the line of argument that if these contracts are renegotiated because of reduced circumstances then savings could/should be passed on to RBS's customers, but would expect that any such reconciliation would be retrospective.

Admiral Insurance made such a gesture recently but I suspect that they're the exception rather than the rule....

KevinM2

Gray001 said:

I previous had the free select accounts for both RBS and Natwest. I upgraded them to the reward accounts. I was told it would involve no new hard credit search as it's just a simple upgrade of an account as I was already an existing customer. 

Thanks for that info...appreciated.

That's not what they told me on the phone, but it wouldn't surprise me if they were a bit inaccurate right now, so that is a helpful bit of information...I might well downgrade to the free Select account right now, and if it's just a "simple" account upgrade in the future (I see that the Government has extended the furlough scheme until October, so I can't see things returning to any sort of normality until at least then) I will upgrade then...

Thanks 

fewcloudy

KevinM2 said:

They said that my two choices are, to remain on my current rewards tier (at £31/month) or move to a fee free Select (basic) account...I asked if I did this would I need to make a full regular application to go back to a reward account once everything returns to normal, and they said it would be a full credit checked application in the future if I wanted to upgrade...

And is that so onerous a task that you might just continue to pay £31 each month for nothing?
I'm asking as I don't know, as I've never been able to justify the price for the limited use I'd get out of these Select accounts (appreciate we're all different though).
However, I'd have thought they'd bite your hand off when you asked to 'upgrade' in the future...

kaMelo

As long as you still have an account with them and don't increase your overdraft limit then I can see no need for any credit search if you upgrade in the future. Certainly I've upgraded/dowgraded over the years with RBS and never had any credit searches because of it.
If you have two direct debits and use their app, downgrade to the reward account rather than the select. It's only £3 a month reward now but it's easy money if you don't need to do anything different to get it.

sharpe106

Downgrade for a few months and resign up when ready, why does it matter if they do a credit check?