Premier Bank Accounts

wmb194

WillPS said:

km1500 said:

It is likely your salary would be paid by BACS. 

Transfer between accounts is usually faster payments.

Plenty of employers pay their staff using Faster Payments, big and small.

Plus Chaps.

DullGreyGuy

chammer said:

I see most premier bank accounts have a minimum salary of £60-£100k. Like some people do to meet the minimum pay in on normal accounts, what stops you from paying your normal salary in twice to meet the threshold? Thanks

Nothing but that doesnt meet the requirement if the requirement is based on salary not the amount of money paid into your account. 

Probably most banks monitor the amount being paid in and use that to determine who they should pick on to decide to ask for actual evidence of salary/income. Clearly they can differentiate between you bouncing money between accounts and a company paying you so they could, if they wanted, look how much is coming in a month from non-self funds and determine if that likely means you are meeting the salary requirements. 

Marchitiello

Marchitiello said:

The qualifying criteria are often checked upon request, either when applying or even some time later during an account review.

I know with HSBC I had to have a meeting in branch and show proof of income. RBS also require strict proof of income.

Barclays Premier is a different example because the “qualifying” criteria to be able to have the account, are still £75k individual annual salary or £100k in saving/investment held at the bank.

What has changed recently is that they have introduced a charge if you did not pay in a minimum amount monthly and/or over a certain period, because there were many that opened an account with the qualifying criteria, but then they moved their main banking somewhere else. 

So you would still need to meet the Qualifying criteria of £75k gross salary or £100k saving or investment but if you also did not pay at least £3300 into the account monthly, or £40k over 12
months, they would charge you £20 per month fee.

having said all that, apparently Barclays system do some time trigger automatic Account upgrades when a certain income is paid into the account (£3,300 per month is seen as a minim payment for someone on £75k gross that also get deducted a bigger chunk in pension contributions for example), and thus some people that would not strictly qualify did get upgraded, but also I know of at least two people that were automatically upgraded but then month later were requested for proof of income and then downgraded again.

let’s not forget that most banks have access to “real salary” data shared across banks for credit risk assessment and fraud prevention. This is derived from   Regular salary payment from “organization/business” accounts into personal accounts, and specifically esclude payments from/to individuals.

It is behind a paywall, but the following article covered the salary information sharing across banks https://www.telegraph.co.uk/personal-banking/current-accounts/how-your-bank-spies-on-your-exact-monthly-income---and-shares-it/

gt94sss2

Marchitiello said:

The qualifying criteria are often checked upon request, either when applying or even some time later during an account review.

I know with HSBC I had to have a meeting in branch and show proof of income. 

HSBC also allow you to join HSBC Premier based on having savings or investments (including ISAs) of at least £50,000 with HSBC UK (within 6 months of opening your account).

In such cases, you don't need to meet a salary/income requirement.

There is also no monthly fee if you don't meet their criteria (unlike Barclays)

Marchitiello

gt94sss2 said:

Marchitiello said:

The qualifying criteria are often checked upon request, either when applying or even some time later during an account review.

I know with HSBC I had to have a meeting in branch and show proof of income. 

HSBC also allow you to join HSBC Premier based on having savings or investments (including ISAs) of at least £50,000 with HSBC UK (within 6 months of opening your account).

In such cases, you don't need to meet a salary/income requirement.

There is also no monthly fee if you don't meet their criteria (unlike Barclays)

Sure, Barclays also allow you to qualify via Saving or investment (£100k) but the OP had presented the question about feasibility of circulating money through the account to meet the income criteria…

I have HSBC Premier and at the time, I had to book an appointment in branch with a Premier manager. Brought a copy of my tax return along and was immediately approved for both the premier account (offered £10k overdraft facility which I declined for a smaller amount) and Premier World Elite credit card.

Amongst the Premier Accounts, I believe HSBC offers the best perks, as it comes with a very good Travel Insurance for free and as you said, there is not account fee.

Santander Select will be happy to accept anyone paying in £5k per month, without being an actual income level, but also carry a fee (as it needs to have an underling 1-2-3 account). I am happy to also pay the fee because of the cashback  and interest means I end up making some money out of it anyway, and the major perks for me, was free ATM withdrawals at Santander atm in NYC and Spain (both places where ATM operators tend to charge per usage)

edit: once again, Barclays fee is for “not meeting” the paying in criteria, not the qualifying criteria. HSBC has no paying in criteria but it has been reported in the past to have done account reviews and downgrade customers (supposedly either because not enough money were being paid into the account or triggered by real salary data fees as shared previously) for not meeting the qualifying criteria 

WillPS

Marchitiello said:

Santander Select will be happy to accept anyone paying in £5k per month, without being an actual income level, but also carry a fee (as it needs to have an underling 1-2-3 account). I am happy to also pay the fee because of the cashback  and interest means I end up making some money out of it anyway, and the major perks for me, was free ATM withdrawals at Santander atm in NYC and Spain (both places where ATM operators tend to charge per usage)

Any interest you're earning on Santander 123 will actually be costing you money compared to having it in a decent easy access savings account.

I appreciate these are probably piffling amounts in the grand scheme of things, but even so. I'm in no hurry to "upgrade" from my 123 Lite account.

Marchitiello

WillPS said:

Marchitiello said:

Santander Select will be happy to accept anyone paying in £5k per month, without being an actual income level, but also carry a fee (as it needs to have an underling 1-2-3 account). I am happy to also pay the fee because of the cashback  and interest means I end up making some money out of it anyway, and the major perks for me, was free ATM withdrawals at Santander atm in NYC and Spain (both places where ATM operators tend to charge per usage)

Any interest you're earning on Santander 123 will actually be costing you money compared to having it in a decent easy access savings account.

I appreciate these are probably piffling amounts in the grand scheme of things, but even so. I'm in no hurry to "upgrade" from my 123 Lite account.

I only keep my rolling balance for DD in the Select 1-2-3 account  and it is not costing me anything as I have maximised other Avenue due to my profile. The cashback on hh DD is already making money, the interests, monthly, on the balance, are pennies but still adding up.

it is good the 1-2-3 lite works for you though 

comeocome

Marchitiello said:

gt94sss2 said:

Marchitiello said:

The qualifying criteria are often checked upon request, either when applying or even some time later during an account review.

I know with HSBC I had to have a meeting in branch and show proof of income. 

HSBC also allow you to join HSBC Premier based on having savings or investments (including ISAs) of at least £50,000 with HSBC UK (within 6 months of opening your account).

In such cases, you don't need to meet a salary/income requirement.

There is also no monthly fee if you don't meet their criteria (unlike Barclays)

Sure, Barclays also allow you to qualify via Saving or investment (£100k) but the OP had presented the question about feasibility of circulating money through the account to meet the income criteria…

I have HSBC Premier and at the time, I had to book an appointment in branch with a Premier manager. Brought a copy of my tax return along and was immediately approved for both the premier account (offered £10k overdraft facility which I declined for a smaller amount) and Premier World Elite credit card.

Amongst the Premier Accounts, I believe HSBC offers the best perks, as it comes with a very good Travel Insurance for free and as you said, there is not account fee.

Santander Select will be happy to accept anyone paying in £5k per month, without being an actual income level, but also carry a fee (as it needs to have an underling 1-2-3 account). I am happy to also pay the fee because of the cashback  and interest means I end up making some money out of it anyway, and the major perks for me, was free ATM withdrawals at Santander atm in NYC and Spain (both places where ATM operators tend to charge per usage)

edit: once again, Barclays fee is for “not meeting” the paying in criteria, not the qualifying criteria. HSBC has no paying in criteria but it has been reported in the past to have done account reviews and downgrade customers (supposedly either because not enough money were being paid into the account or triggered by real salary data fees as shared previously) for not meeting the qualifying criteria 

Thanks a lot! Really detailed! And in terms of customer service? Which premier banking is better? In terms of staff competence when you have to call them, queue time, app design? 

Also have you tried NatWest? Thanks!

phillw

Salary is one of the things they all report to National Hunter, when applying for any financial product (not just credit)

So if you are going to try to lie, then you need to make sure that your lie is consistent 

Marchitiello

comeocome said:

Marchitiello said:

gt94sss2 said:

Marchitiello said:

The qualifying criteria are often checked upon request, either when applying or even some time later during an account review.

I know with HSBC I had to have a meeting in branch and show proof of income. 

HSBC also allow you to join HSBC Premier based on having savings or investments (including ISAs) of at least £50,000 with HSBC UK (within 6 months of opening your account).

In such cases, you don't need to meet a salary/income requirement.

There is also no monthly fee if you don't meet their criteria (unlike Barclays)

Sure, Barclays also allow you to qualify via Saving or investment (£100k) but the OP had presented the question about feasibility of circulating money through the account to meet the income criteria…

I have HSBC Premier and at the time, I had to book an appointment in branch with a Premier manager. Brought a copy of my tax return along and was immediately approved for both the premier account (offered £10k overdraft facility which I declined for a smaller amount) and Premier World Elite credit card.

Amongst the Premier Accounts, I believe HSBC offers the best perks, as it comes with a very good Travel Insurance for free and as you said, there is not account fee.

Santander Select will be happy to accept anyone paying in £5k per month, without being an actual income level, but also carry a fee (as it needs to have an underling 1-2-3 account). I am happy to also pay the fee because of the cashback  and interest means I end up making some money out of it anyway, and the major perks for me, was free ATM withdrawals at Santander atm in NYC and Spain (both places where ATM operators tend to charge per usage)

edit: once again, Barclays fee is for “not meeting” the paying in criteria, not the qualifying criteria. HSBC has no paying in criteria but it has been reported in the past to have done account reviews and downgrade customers (supposedly either because not enough money were being paid into the account or triggered by real salary data fees as shared previously) for not meeting the qualifying criteria 

Thanks a lot! Really detailed! And in terms of customer service? Which premier banking is better? In terms of staff competence when you have to call them, queue time, app design? 

Also have you tried NatWest? Thanks!

I have had little interaction with the banks over the last two years but I would say Barclays Premier telephone line was excellent before that; calling from the app (so bypassing most of the security) meant quick response by the premier team that took ownership of the query and made sure it was dealt with promptly. I have since had some issues with Premier Avios Rewards and took a while for them to admit there was an underlying system issue (since July and still ongoing). HSBC was equally good, probably better in branch experience,  but I have had close to zero interactions for a while aside of a Credit Card query that was handled in an excellent way (also Premier Credit Card).

Santander Select suffer from the general Santander issues, like having to visit a branch to make an account switch as an existing customer, but the telephone team does try to go the extra mile and work around the bank system limitations as much as they can.

No experience with NatWest but as I have banked in branch with RBS at both Child & Co, and Drummonds, I have had a personal account review and assigned a personal banker that I can call and email directly. I know the Branch Manager at Drummonds very well as well and can also call her directly if needed (one of the businesses I am involved with bank with RBS business and we had some issues that she helps to resolve). However, I think the experience you used to get/still get at Child&Co /Drummonds is quite unique and not general of RBS Premier.

Lloyds does not really offer any longer a Premier account, however for what other banks consider Premier customer level, they assign you a Personal Banker, which has been excellent in the past when I really had few issues to get resolved.

In terms of Apps, I probably find the Barclays one the easiest to use, followed by RBS, HSBC and Santander let, albeit both HSBC (more) and Santander (slower) have improved in the last 2-3 years.