Barclays Premier now available to all?

[Deleted User]

So I was browsing the Barclays account offering and noticed that Premier eligibility criteria seem to have changed. One can now open a Premier account irrespective of wealth – if one doesn’t meet the criteria in terms of income/assets they just get charged £20 a month. I asked chat who also confirmed the same. 

What do people think? I don’t see what it offers that’s worth £20 a month. Be interesting if they’ll slowly revamp the offering. 

ForumUser7

[Deleted User] said:

So I was browsing the Barclays account offering and noticed that Premier eligibility criteria seem to have changed. One can now open a Premier account irrespective of wealth – if one doesn’t meet the criteria in terms of income/assets they just get charged £20 a month. I asked chat who also confirmed the same. 

What do people think? I don’t see what it offers that’s worth £20 a month. Be interesting if they’ll slowly revamp the offering. 

I think the £20 a month has been available for quite a long time? It isn’t worth it imo though

wmb194

It's been like this for a while. I no longer meet the criteria but I'm still a Premier customer and I haven't been charged so far and Barclays told me that I'll be given good notice if this changes.

You can get some preferential though still uncompetitive rates on a couple of things, some sort of Premier advisor to call and a higher ATM daily withdrawal limit but it's uncompelling.

[Deleted User]

It’s been available to upgrade as an existing customer but it appears it’s now open to all. Not that it makes a massive difference but an interesting point nonetheless 

IanManc

ndrw said:

It’s been available to upgrade as an existing customer but it appears it’s now open to all. Not that it makes a massive difference but an interesting point nonetheless 

As others have said, it has been like this for quite a while. Premier is not worth paying £20 a month for, and the fee was probably introduced to help them weed out the current holders who no longer qualify, so that rather than taking Premier off people they now say they can keep it but will be charged £20 a month, so it is the customer who then chooses to downgrade. 

WillPS

The language has certainly changed, a mere couple of weeks ago it was clear the fee was an alternative way of maintaining the account, rather than means of getting the account. Good spot @[Deleted User]

Worthwhile if they offer 100,000 Avios again, otherwise £32/month (if you add on Avios rewards) is a very expensive way of getting 1500 Avios points per month and a BA upgrade every year.

Marchitiello

The introduction of the £20 fee it is fairly recent and has been discussed previously here. Initially, Barclays T&C were suggesting that you still had to qualify by meeting the published income/saving criteria’s, but if you then did not deposit enough into the account, they would charge a fee. This was initially confirmed via direct enquires from customers reported here and in other sites. Since the launch of the Avios promotion last September (or thereabouts) there have been several revisions of the wording regarding the qualifying criteria and fee, and the one above is one that I had not seen before, that definitely suggest a permanent change.

In any case, the letter they send to new customers (which has been published here before) clearly state that before they start to charge you the £20 fee for not meeting the pay in criteria, they would wait 12 months  (as in theory you could do a one off pay in of £40k in the 12th month and not being charged for the next 12th.

The letter I have received as an existing customer, informing me of the change, also stated that as I met the criteria, I would continue to have the account for free. I am assuming that if I stopped suddenly paying in my income there, after 12 months they would start charging me the fee.

I had this account since it was free but also came with fee daily coffee, free wine (once or twice per year, cannot remember exactly, Free English Heritage Membership, as well as £2k ATM limit and access to preferential rates. The current version is massively devalued with only the ATM limit and preferential rates as well as access to (by paying the monthly fee) to Avios Rewards. I would never pay the £20 for it to be honest. If you qualify for the income criteria (plus taking a small additional product), needs to consider that HSBC Premier is also free, but give you a free, family, fully comprensive multi trip, travel insurance, that I personally value at the moment at £180 for my scenario (as explained in a different thread recently).

Alex9384

I'm wondering if it does have to be a salary or if you can pay-in £3,330 from your other account, then send it back.

[Deleted User]

Alex9384 said:

I'm wondering if it does have to be a salary or if you can pay-in £3,330 from your other account, then send it back.

I believe they ask you for your salary details. Most Premier offering rely on salary payments matching the declaration rather than just movement of funds. 

[Deleted User]

I was told in branch the only way to get an overdraft was to upgrade. The overdraft was refused on the standard account. Barclays have little interest in their customers who earn less than 75K

Marchitiello

Before the change the T&C clearly stated that eligibility was based on Income and that would be verified within 12 months. The new wording (and reports elsewhere) suggest that you need to simply pay in, not necessarily in a form of salary.