Barclays Premier Current Account

[Deleted User]

diystarter7 said:

Deleted_User said:

diystarter7 said:

Hi
Some years ago when we worked ie me and Mrs Diy, they offered it to us and we took it. The only advantage i found was the card looked better and easier to get through to help link to uk site. We we took early retire at just over 50 income dropped well below that ie about 9 years ago. Recently they contact us about charging 20 quid a month - i told they to   ....... - they said no to worry as we keep the prem account until card expires sometime in 2026 and the account reverts to standard account

Thanks

They did the same to my old folks when they retired.

Most of the Premier products were very poor value and moving to a competitor product was much better value anyway. 

Thanks. As per my previous post, the only benefit we ever used was their quick to respond to help line based in the uk and nice debit card.

We don't borrow money or take up offers etc.

Thaks

Their Premier investment products were mediocre and Premier savings rates dire (their own online savings were better)
They were moved onto Platinum banking which has higher ATM limit and some other freebies. 

Perksy5

WillPS said:

[Deleted User] said:

I have a thread about an overdraft at Barclays 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6416497/how-long-before-barclays-can-offer-you-an-overdraft#latest

They told me my free account could not have an overdraft and I'd have to upgrade. So there let are two types of Premier account?

Pleb Premier £20 a month

and real Premier?

I was the pleb!

To be eligible for Premier, you need to have a salary of £75,000 or investments worth £100k with Barclays.

To keep your Premier account fee free, you need to either maintain that investment with Barclays or pay in £3300 per month or £40k a year (which is a significant bit of wriggle room on the £75k salary but allows for any PAYE deductions you might have going on). If you don't do these, you'll be charged £20/month.

There's no option to join Premier as a 'non-eligible but fee paying' customer.

I think you can, I don't qualify for Premier in any criteria but I have the upgrade now button there and it takes me through the journey. I imagine I'd have to pay the £20 for it of course per month.
It never used to be there, premier was always invitation only or there was a call up button to discuss it. So based on that I can upgrade without ticking any boxes but pay for the privilege 

TheMightySwordfish

I had a normal Barclays account and moved money in and out to get the required payments in and then upgraded in app. I think you can open it straight away and get a grace period to get the money in of about 12 months.

Marchitiello

As I mentioned early, the latest changes made for the 100,000 Avios promotional campaign have resulted in the possibility of “any customer” applying /being upgraded to Premier, however the wording they have used they will still allow to more strictly enforce the eligibility criteria, that officially are still 75,000 income or £100k saving, and the pay in requirement is then officially an additional layer to ensure people actually use their premier account and do not keep it there unused. 

I am quite confident about this because Barclays already found themselves covered in negative news press  when years ago withdraw the pay for Premier Life Account (that similarly to now carried a fee for non eleggibile people) when they relaunched the Premier as it was until recently, and where extremely carefully in the wording used to respond to the media…

One of the many articles from the time https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-2938475/amp/Barclays-shut-account-don-t-earn-75-000.html

wmb194

WillPS said:

Deleted_User said:

I have a thread about an overdraft at Barclays 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6416497/how-long-before-barclays-can-offer-you-an-overdraft#latest

They told me my free account could not have an overdraft and I'd have to upgrade. So there let are two types of Premier account?

Pleb Premier £20 a month

and real Premier?

I was the pleb!

To be eligible for Premier, you need to have a salary of £75,000 or investments worth £100k with Barclays.

To keep your Premier account fee free, you need to either maintain that investment with Barclays or pay in £3300 per month or £40k a year (which is a significant bit of wriggle room on the £75k salary but allows for any PAYE deductions you might have going on). If you don't do these, you'll be charged £20/month.

There's no option to join Premier as a 'non-eligible but fee paying' customer.

For a while now I haven't been eligible but I still have it and Barclays hasn't charged me a penny. When I asked about having it removed so I didn't run the risk of paying the fee in the future I received a reply saying I hadn't been downgraded and telling me not to worry about it and that if Barclays changes its mind it'll give, IIRC, at least three months' notice. 

Perksy5

wmb194 said:

WillPS said:

Deleted_User said:

I have a thread about an overdraft at Barclays 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6416497/how-long-before-barclays-can-offer-you-an-overdraft#latest

They told me my free account could not have an overdraft and I'd have to upgrade. So there let are two types of Premier account?

Pleb Premier £20 a month

and real Premier?

I was the pleb!

To be eligible for Premier, you need to have a salary of £75,000 or investments worth £100k with Barclays.

To keep your Premier account fee free, you need to either maintain that investment with Barclays or pay in £3300 per month or £40k a year (which is a significant bit of wriggle room on the £75k salary but allows for any PAYE deductions you might have going on). If you don't do these, you'll be charged £20/month.

There's no option to join Premier as a 'non-eligible but fee paying' customer.

For a while now I haven't been eligible but I still have it and Barclays hasn't charged me a penny. When I asked about having it removed so I didn't run the risk of paying the fee in the future I received a reply saying I hadn't been downgraded and telling me not to worry about it and that if Barclays changes its mind it'll give, IIRC, at least three months' notice. 

The decision to charge existing prem customers who are non qualifying was delayed a few more months which is probably why you've had the extra time fee free. I think its coming in Q2/3 this year so don't expect it to last too much longer beyond that 

WillPS

Perksy5 said:

WillPS said:

[Deleted User] said:

I have a thread about an overdraft at Barclays 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6416497/how-long-before-barclays-can-offer-you-an-overdraft#latest

They told me my free account could not have an overdraft and I'd have to upgrade. So there let are two types of Premier account?

Pleb Premier £20 a month

and real Premier?

I was the pleb!

To be eligible for Premier, you need to have a salary of £75,000 or investments worth £100k with Barclays.

To keep your Premier account fee free, you need to either maintain that investment with Barclays or pay in £3300 per month or £40k a year (which is a significant bit of wriggle room on the £75k salary but allows for any PAYE deductions you might have going on). If you don't do these, you'll be charged £20/month.

There's no option to join Premier as a 'non-eligible but fee paying' customer.

I think you can, I don't qualify for Premier in any criteria but I have the upgrade now button there and it takes me through the journey. I imagine I'd have to pay the £20 for it of course per month.
It never used to be there, premier was always invitation only or there was a call up button to discuss it. So based on that I can upgrade without ticking any boxes but pay for the privilege 

I suspect that button's presence is not intended as an assurance that you can get it, but the only way to know would be to try it.

Perksy5

WillPS said:

Perksy5 said:

WillPS said:

[Deleted User] said:

I have a thread about an overdraft at Barclays 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6416497/how-long-before-barclays-can-offer-you-an-overdraft#latest

They told me my free account could not have an overdraft and I'd have to upgrade. So there let are two types of Premier account?

Pleb Premier £20 a month

and real Premier?

I was the pleb!

To be eligible for Premier, you need to have a salary of £75,000 or investments worth £100k with Barclays.

To keep your Premier account fee free, you need to either maintain that investment with Barclays or pay in £3300 per month or £40k a year (which is a significant bit of wriggle room on the £75k salary but allows for any PAYE deductions you might have going on). If you don't do these, you'll be charged £20/month.

There's no option to join Premier as a 'non-eligible but fee paying' customer.

I think you can, I don't qualify for Premier in any criteria but I have the upgrade now button there and it takes me through the journey. I imagine I'd have to pay the £20 for it of course per month.
It never used to be there, premier was always invitation only or there was a call up button to discuss it. So based on that I can upgrade without ticking any boxes but pay for the privilege 

I suspect that button's presence is not intended as an assurance that you can get it, but the only way to know would be to try it.

Sorry I should've rephrased this to be less ambiguous, I know they are introducing it as an option to pay for it if you don't qualify, it'll just be treated differently for new sign ups to pay vs existing customers who no longer qualify and extending the grace period before charging them later this year

WillPS

Perksy5 said:

WillPS said:

Perksy5 said:

WillPS said:

Deleted_User said:

I have a thread about an overdraft at Barclays 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6416497/how-long-before-barclays-can-offer-you-an-overdraft#latest

They told me my free account could not have an overdraft and I'd have to upgrade. So there let are two types of Premier account?

Pleb Premier £20 a month

and real Premier?

I was the pleb!

To be eligible for Premier, you need to have a salary of £75,000 or investments worth £100k with Barclays.

To keep your Premier account fee free, you need to either maintain that investment with Barclays or pay in £3300 per month or £40k a year (which is a significant bit of wriggle room on the £75k salary but allows for any PAYE deductions you might have going on). If you don't do these, you'll be charged £20/month.

There's no option to join Premier as a 'non-eligible but fee paying' customer.

I think you can, I don't qualify for Premier in any criteria but I have the upgrade now button there and it takes me through the journey. I imagine I'd have to pay the £20 for it of course per month.
It never used to be there, premier was always invitation only or there was a call up button to discuss it. So based on that I can upgrade without ticking any boxes but pay for the privilege 

I suspect that button's presence is not intended as an assurance that you can get it, but the only way to know would be to try it.

Sorry I should've rephrased this to be less ambiguous, I know they are introducing it as an option to pay for it if you don't qualify, it'll just be treated differently for new sign ups to pay vs existing customers who no longer qualify and extending the grace period before charging them later this year

If that was the case, why would Barclays themselves state:

Are you eligible for Premier?

To join Premier Banking, open a Premier Current Account and either 

Pay in a gross annual income of at least £75,000 

or

Have a total balance of at least £100,000 in savings with us, in Barclays UK investments – or in a mix of both

This isn't hidden away, it's on their main Premier Banking product page:

Premier Current Accounts | Barclays

Every indication I see is that the monthly/yearly pay in is a step to keep the account fee free once you have it, not an alternative option for getting it.

Richard1212

Barclays are not alone of course. One of my accounts is a NatWest Premier Select account : it seems to have most of the benefits of the Black Card Account but charges nothing instead of the £30 pcm Black Card Account. The shiny black card ( the latest in a long line of silver, gold, platinum, diamond ,ruby, diamond, etc  ) seems a mere status symbol to let people see it "accidentally" in their card wallet when paying for a meal.

I suppose all the banks catch some fish with their gimmicks. I thought the old High Street banks with their clerks who automatically( when they had done their 20 years or whatever) became managers were bad enough, though overstaffed and poor value for money ( there's a pun there somewhere), but at least they were simple . But in this era of online tech I find banks to be more and more crafty in their gimmicks ( including the dreadful "switch bonuses"), especially the myriad range of accounts that attract monthly fees----and they are still IMHO poor value for money ( customers' OWN money).