Barclays Premier now available to all?

WillPS

Marchitiello said:

I have had it for years, it used to have proper perks and was completely free.

now they have a min pay in requirement, but what they offer is basically slightly better customer service (with the loosening of qualifying criteria and customer numbers increasing this has already deteriorated) , higher ATM limits and access to some Premier Mortgage rates. Obviously it also gives you access to Avios Rewards (which you need to pay extra for) but that is it basically. Some other Premier accounts are still completely free but have stricter/higher income criteria 

One perk I wasn't aware of, and is probably very hard to make use of, is they have tickets to certain events they can giveaway if you have a chat with one of the 'relationship managers' (or whatever they're called). When I last spoke to one in December I was offered tickets to a stand up comedian or Disney on Ice, both at the Dome.

Apparently they also have box tickets to some football matches too.

Not of interest to me, but nice offer all the same.

d63

many years ago without asking i was upgraded for free to a premier account and since at the time they were offering a debit card with a background picture of your choice, ever since i've had a (mostly) black card with a picture of my now long-departed for kitty-heaven pussycat on the front. 

Marchitiello

WillPS said:

Marchitiello said:

I have had it for years, it used to have proper perks and was completely free.

now they have a min pay in requirement, but what they offer is basically slightly better customer service (with the loosening of qualifying criteria and customer numbers increasing this has already deteriorated) , higher ATM limits and access to some Premier Mortgage rates. Obviously it also gives you access to Avios Rewards (which you need to pay extra for) but that is it basically. Some other Premier accounts are still completely free but have stricter/higher income criteria 

One perk I wasn't aware of, and is probably very hard to make use of, is they have tickets to certain events they can giveaway if you have a chat with one of the 'relationship managers' (or whatever they're called). When I last spoke to one in December I was offered tickets to a stand up comedian or Disney on Ice, both at the Dome.

Apparently they also have box tickets to some football matches too.

Not of interest to me, but nice offer all the same.

I was invited to a Cinema Premiere screening  few times, last in 2021/22, 4 tickets at the time, but without asking, just an email invitation to sign up to. I never asked for anything but the kids enjoyed it last time around 

[Deleted User]

Just to confirm for those reading the thread. I have now received a premier bank card without requesting a new card. So the upgrade appears to be legitimate. I will await the £20 charge. 

SupaSava2000

I haven’t received the black debit card since my upgrade to premier. I had a damaged card replaced and they sent another blue one. When I queried via twitter I was told the black card wasn’t automatic and I needed to call to apply. Not sure what that will involve. Perhaps there’s an additional threshold to meet since it has a higher cash machine limit?

[Deleted User]

That I’m not sure about. But I can’t see it, because I am not eligible for a Barclays overdraft. So you’d think if there was a restriction it would apply to me. Unless it’s income based. I earn less than 75k however, so again unless your income is extremely low I can’t see it. More likely a glitch on Barclays end? I’d go into branch and try again. 

wmb194

SupaSava2000 said:

I haven’t received the black debit card since my upgrade to premier. I had a damaged card replaced and they sent another blue one. When I queried via twitter I was told the black card wasn’t automatic and I needed to call to apply. Not sure what that will involve. Perhaps there’s an additional threshold to meet since it has a higher cash machine limit?

What colour card does it show when you look at the 'Card' section of the app under 'More'? For me it shows a picture of the black one.

[Deleted User]

wmb194 said:

SupaSava2000 said:

I haven’t received the black debit card since my upgrade to premier. I had a damaged card replaced and they sent another blue one. When I queried via twitter I was told the black card wasn’t automatic and I needed to call to apply. Not sure what that will involve. Perhaps there’s an additional threshold to meet since it has a higher cash machine limit?

What colour card does it show when you look at the 'Card' section of the app under 'More'? For me it shows a picture of the black one.

The have black one and the blue one. I assume the blue one will vanish once I have used the new card.

[Deleted User]

The mystery deepens......

IMPORTANT INFO FOR EXISTING PREMIER CUSTOMERS Apparently, Barclays are now (according to the staff member I spoke to) removing the option to pay the £20PCM fee to maintain the account and their accounts will likely be downgraded to the ‘standard’ account after 12 calendar months have lapsed if they don’t meet the income threshold. (They previously did this a few years ago)… This is only a very recent thing & branches apparently had a meeting about this a few weeks ago. (Please, anyone feel free to correct me on the above if this is incorrect…)
In my case - said staff member also said I’d need to have my salary paid directly into the Barclays Premier Account in order to keep it… 

https://www.reddit.com/r/UKPersonalFinance/comments/120ivxf/running_hsbc_barclays_premier_concurrently_advice/

Marchitiello

[Deleted User] said:

The mystery deepens......

IMPORTANT INFO FOR EXISTING PREMIER CUSTOMERS Apparently, Barclays are now (according to the staff member I spoke to) removing the option to pay the £20PCM fee to maintain the account and their accounts will likely be downgraded to the ‘standard’ account after 12 calendar months have lapsed if they don’t meet the income threshold. (They previously did this a few years ago)… This is only a very recent thing & branches apparently had a meeting about this a few weeks ago. (Please, anyone feel free to correct me on the above if this is incorrect…)
In my case - said staff member also said I’d need to have my salary paid directly into the Barclays Premier Account in order to keep it… 

https://www.reddit.com/r/UKPersonalFinance/comments/120ivxf/running_hsbc_barclays_premier_concurrently_advice/

Would not be the first time branch staff got the message wrong. Also, after initial uncertainty when the £20 charge was launched, Barclays has officially changed the marketing material and T&C which makes it clear that you will be charged if not meeting the criteria..

what they did some years ago, when they reshuffle of the pay for accounts, was to remove the Premier as a pay for account, relaunched as a proper Premier account for people earning £75k, with no fee and some real perks. As the Perks have now gone, they may have review it further and decided (as evidenced here) that some people would pay for just having a Balck card and feel somehow affluent.. maybe they have since realised that some people will avoid the fee by circling money around various banks and will indeed further review it but the T&C have not yet been changed again.

as a side note, Lloyds also offered a pay for Premier account in the past, that has been long gone.

but my real question for you @[Deleted User] is did you get the overdraft facility you wanted after the upgrade or are they still refusing it?