Blue Rewards

poshrule_uk

Quick question and I can't seem to find the answer.

I have two direct debits set up on Barclays and they show on my account but the first payment might not come out until December due to them being early in the month.
If I join Blue Rewards now will I still get the £5 reward to counter the £5 debit?

changearound1

The DDs have to pay out to get the £5 reward. It can be the same DD twice if that helps.

poshrule_uk

I thought that was the case. Thanks

grizzlegrizzle

Going to ask my question here to save starting a new thread: I've transferred more than £800 into my Barclays current account this month (actually £5000 to max out the Rainy Day Saver) but I still got an email warning me that I haven't met the £800 pay in requirement. It seems fairly clear to me that it's an error on their part but when I checked with Barclays cs on chat I got a series of strange responses - that the amount couldn't include cash deposits (I've made none), that it didn't relate to the Rainy Day Saver (I never mentioned this), that I shouldn't worry as I'd only be charged next time (which is what I want to avoid happening).

So to confirm, can I just pay £800 into the account from another bank and move it straight out? Or am I missing something? 

NedS

grizzlegrizzle said:

Going to ask my question here to save starting a new thread: I've transferred more than £800 into my Barclays current account this month (actually £5000 to max out the Rainy Day Saver) but I still got an email warning me that I haven't met the £800 pay in requirement. It seems fairly clear to me that it's an error on their part but when I checked with Barclays cs on chat I got a series of strange responses - that the amount couldn't include cash deposits (I've made none), that it didn't relate to the Rainy Day Saver (I never mentioned this), that I shouldn't worry as I'd only be charged next time (which is what I want to avoid happening).

So to confirm, can I just pay £800 into the account from another bank and move it straight out? Or am I missing something? 

Yes, you can move £800 in from another account and straight back out again. I do this every month, cycling £1500 around through a whole bunch of accounts to meet their monthly pay-in requirements, including the £800 Barclays requirement (my Lloyds and Halifax accounts require £1500)

I think the comment about not relating to the Rainy Day Saver account probably means you can't just transfer £800 from the Rainy Day Saver account to your current account and back again - any transfers from the Rainy Day Saver account would not be counted, and neither would cash deposits from what they have said.

mab3000

grizzlegrizzle said:

Going to ask my question here to save starting a new thread: I've transferred more than £800 into my Barclays current account this month (actually £5000 to max out the Rainy Day Saver) but I still got an email warning me that I haven't met the £800 pay in requirement. It seems fairly clear to me that it's an error on their part but when I checked with Barclays cs on chat I got a series of strange responses - that the amount couldn't include cash deposits (I've made none), that it didn't relate to the Rainy Day Saver (I never mentioned this), that I shouldn't worry as I'd only be charged next time (which is what I want to avoid happening).

So to confirm, can I just pay £800 into the account from another bank and move it straight out? Or am I missing something? 

There was discussion on a few other threads on here about this issue receiving the email saying about having not  paid in £800+ to qualify even though people had paid it in. This includes myself. Looks like this was just an error. Should know soon enough next week when the rewards payments due in 

ForumUser7

I have a similar query to OP.

I have the Ecology DDs that tend to charge on the 2nd working day.

Therefore, I'm planning to upgrade to blue rewards on 1st may, so everything is done by calendar month (2DDs PCM, £800 pay in PCM). I have an appointment a few days before the end of April to upgrade my non blue rewards compatible account to one that is compatible.

My question is, when you upgrade to Barclays Blue Rewards, is this processed immediately please? I.e. If I applied for Blue Rewards and submitted it at 00:01 on 1st May, could I then open the Rainy Day Saver at 00:02 on 2nd of May please? And should my DDs etc. count for the may month?

Just querying as NatWest/RBS have a wait period of up to 2 weeks according to their website, although it is usually processed in 1-2 days.

Thanks!

datz

ForumUser7 said:

I have a similar query to OP.

I have the Ecology DDs that tend to charge on the 2nd working day.

Therefore, I'm planning to upgrade to blue rewards on 1st may, so everything is done by calendar month (2DDs PCM, £800 pay in PCM). I have an appointment a few days before the end of April to upgrade my non blue rewards compatible account to one that is compatible.

My question is, when you upgrade to Barclays Blue Rewards, is this processed immediately please? I.e. If I applied for Blue Rewards and submitted it at 00:01 on 1st May, could I then open the Rainy Day Saver at 00:02 on 2nd of May please? And should my DDs etc. count for the may month?

Just querying as NatWest/RBS have a wait period of up to 2 weeks according to their website, although it is usually processed in 1-2 days.

Thanks!

I seem to recall my Blue Rewards being opened immediately, but it was quite a while ago. You can likely open the Rainy Day Saver immediately after adding Blue Rewards to your account, as long as the platform allows the application through. And the DDs on the 2nd May will count for the month of May, with the reward credited in June.

Though in your case, I'd probably have been tempted to apply for and open a new account online that does allow for Blue Rewards to be added, instead of going the branch appointment route - unless there is a reason you need to do it this way. Might still even be enough working days left in the month to meet the requirements for April, if setting up a mandate, for example, via Paypal and pulling a couple of 1p debits through it. Although, with only 10 working days left, maybe it's now a bit tight.

Edit: Nevermind, just read your posts in another thread. I assume you are trying to avoid unnecessary hard searches.

If you stick with the appointment to upgrade the account, and have already had those Ecology DDs pull payments in April, might be worth asking the advisor if they would make you retroactively eligible for the April reward, offsetting the May fee (assuming you also pay in £800). Maybe you don't have to wait for the 1st May.

ForumUser7

datz said:

ForumUser7 said:

I have a similar query to OP.

I have the Ecology DDs that tend to charge on the 2nd working day.

Therefore, I'm planning to upgrade to blue rewards on 1st may, so everything is done by calendar month (2DDs PCM, £800 pay in PCM). I have an appointment a few days before the end of April to upgrade my non blue rewards compatible account to one that is compatible.

My question is, when you upgrade to Barclays Blue Rewards, is this processed immediately please? I.e. If I applied for Blue Rewards and submitted it at 00:01 on 1st May, could I then open the Rainy Day Saver at 00:02 on 2nd of May please? And should my DDs etc. count for the may month?

Just querying as NatWest/RBS have a wait period of up to 2 weeks according to their website, although it is usually processed in 1-2 days.

Thanks!

I seem to recall my Blue Rewards being opened immediately, but it was quite a while ago. You can likely open the Rainy Day Saver immediately after adding Blue Rewards to your account, as long as the platform allows the application through. And the DDs on the 2nd May will count for the month of May, with the reward credited in June.

Though in your case, I'd probably have been tempted to apply for and open a new account online that does allow for Blue Rewards to be added, instead of going the branch appointment route - unless there is a reason you need to do it this way. Might still even be enough working days left in the month to meet the requirements for April, if setting up a mandate, for example, via Paypal and pulling a couple of 1p debits through it. Although, with only 10 working days left, maybe it's now a bit tight.

Edit: Nevermind, just read your posts in another thread. I assume you are trying to avoid unnecessary hard searches.

If you stick with the appointment to upgrade the account, and have already had those Ecology DDs pull payments in April, might be worth asking the advisor if they would make you retroactively eligible for the April reward, offsetting the May fee (assuming you also pay in £800). Maybe you don't have to wait for the 1st May.

Thanks for confirming @datz, Barclays have now confirmed that is the case too.

You're right - I was told by their chat team that if I upgrade from the Young Person's Account to the Barclays Bank Account there will be no credit search, but maybe I should run it by another agent in case. If there would be a hard search anyway, then provided I can get the DDs on in time, I suppose there is no harm applying for a new one. Would leave me with a free donor account. How long does PayPal usually take to pull through the funds please?

That's a great idea - I've noted down to ask - thanks!

datz

ForumUser7 said:

How long does PayPal usually take to pull through the funds please?

Just checked the April dates - requested debits into my paypal account on the 1st and 2nd (both were weekend days), and they all left my bank accounts on the 5th, and Paypal credited them on their side on the 12th (after the long easter weekend). Note that this is with the mandate already in place and active. It will take longer to set up the initial direct debit mandate, and with the limited number of days, you are trusting Paypal not to mess it up.

Worth noting that you can go as low as 1p per direct debit payment through Paypal. You have to use the app (Wallet > Add Money) if you want to use DDs to add funds to your own Paypal account (if you go via the browser, you can only send to others). Also they have a limit of 4 DD requests per 24 hours - if you try more than that you are met with a non-specific error message.

ForumUser7

datz said:

ForumUser7 said:

How long does PayPal usually take to pull through the funds please?

Just checked the April dates - requested debits into my paypal account on the 1st and 2nd (both were weekend days), and they all left my bank accounts on the 5th, and Paypal credited them on their side on the 12th (after the long easter weekend). Note that this is with the mandate already in place and active. It will take longer to set up the initial direct debit mandate, and with the limited number of days, you are trusting Paypal not to mess it up.

Worth noting that you can go as low as 1p per direct debit payment through Paypal. You have to use the app (Wallet > Add Money) if you want to use DDs to add funds to your own Paypal account (if you go via the browser, you can only send to others). Also they have a limit of 4 DD requests per 24 hours - if you try more than that you are met with a non-specific error message.

The lady who did my appointment checked and said that as the DDs were taken before I would enrol for blue rewards it didn't count for this month. They advised the best thing to do would be apply on 1st may to ensure the currently active Ecology DDs are taken. I think I'll just wait till then, in case Paypal happens to mess up, as there is not much time to fix any problems before 1st May.

In the end, turns out I was misinformed by the chat service who booked my appointment - they couldn't upgrade the account. It auto upgrades in December, and nothing can be done before then. But as I was misinformed, the lady kindly helped me apply through the app (for example she suggested I put unemployed rather than student - as sixth form doesn't count as student, and it would've tried to give me the student account otherwise), and then switched my DDs from the old account across to the new account. Apparently Ecology won't be made aware of the new details, but it is an internal thing Barclays do. I will apply for BR on the new account on 1st May. I checked in the app, and the DDs correctly switched, and I trust she's done the right thing. I mentioned clearly my requirements, so I'll be able to claim back the charge if it is taken and not re-credited as cashback. As things stand, I have 2 current accounts with Barclays now. The YPA is not eligible for CASS, but once this matures, it'll create a handy donor account.

Unfortunately this means I have received another hard search. It's incredibly annoying there is no distinction made between credit application hard searches, and current account hard searches - if I want credit in the next year, Lenders will think I've been desperate for credit and get wary, when I've actually not applied for any credit.