Barclays £175 switch offer - new customers only, Nov 1 - 30 2023

Sallyforth

Okay our experience.

My switch went through on 17 November from NW with two new DDs (not listed on switch letter but understand that’s because they hadn’t been pulled yet from NW). Paid £800 into account, joined Blue Rewards and the Cash back rewards before switch. Received £10 cash back in November and December by buying x2 £200 PBS. My two DDs left the account on 1st December and (drum roll!) I was charged £5 for Blue Rewards on 2nd December BUT also paid £5.  So I am effectively £195 up and a happy bunny.  There were hiccups at the start of the process plus Barclays freezing my account when I tried to withdraw the £800.  All sorted but not confident so cancelled the Blue Rewards and will use the account for a future switch.

My husband’s experience is almost identical however his DDs are not due to leave the account until next week so he was charged the £5 Blue Awards fee but did not receive £5 in return for having two DDs set up - presumably because they haven’t been taken yet despite being listed on the original switch letter. So he is £190 in front. We can’t be bothered to fight for a gesture of goodwill for the £5 “loss” ad we’re jointly £385 in front just before Christmas which is nice!

SF

masonic

Sallyforth said:

Okay our experience.

My switch went through on 17 November from NW with two new DDs (not listed on switch letter but understand that’s because they hadn’t been pulled yet from NW). Paid £800 into account, joined Blue Rewards and the Cash back rewards before switch. Received £10 cash back in November and December by buying x2 £200 PBS. My two DDs left the account on 1st December and (drum roll!) I was charged £5 for Blue Rewards on 2nd December BUT also paid £5.  So I am effectively £195 up and a happy bunny.  There were hiccups at the start of the process plus Barclays freezing my account when I tried to withdraw the £800.  All sorted but not confident so cancelled the Blue Rewards and will use the account for a future switch.

My husband’s experience is almost identical however his DDs are not due to leave the account until next week so he was charged the £5 Blue Awards fee but did not receive £5 in return for having two DDs set up - presumably because they haven’t been taken yet despite being listed on the original switch letter. So he is £190 in front. We can’t be bothered to fight for a gesture of goodwill for the £5 “loss” ad we’re jointly £385 in front just before Christmas which is nice!

The £5 reward is for having two direct debit payments in the preceding month (these can be from the same DD mandate or two different ones), but it is interesting that your payments on 1st December were counted towards the November reward. Your husband's experience is what should happen, i.e. no reward because no DDs payments were made in the preceding month.

phillw

masonic said:
The £5 reward is for having two direct debit payments in the preceding month (these can be from the same DD mandate or two different ones), but it is interesting that your payments on 1st December were counted towards the November reward. Your husband's experience is what should happen, i.e. no reward because no DDs payments were made in the preceding month.

I have had a similar experience with natwest, I had a DD that should have gone out by the end of the month (according to when I was told it would be taken) but it didn't actually go out until monday the 1st. It still counted.

But ignoring that issue where you might get lucky, you should make sure you have 2 x DD already go out in the preceding month when you join blue rewards. I used this scenario to try to convince them that I should get a £5 payment for the preceding month s 2 X DD when I left blue rewards. They wouldn't accept that they pay the £5 in arrears.

masonic

phillw said:
But ignoring that issue where you might get lucky, you should make sure you have 2 x DD already go out in the preceding month when you join blue rewards. I used this scenario to try to convince them that I should get a £5 payment for the preceding month s 2 X DD when I left blue rewards. They wouldn't accept that they pay the £5 in arrears.

Yes, but the switching offer required that Blue Rewards was activated before the end of November, so those taking up the switching offer in the final weeks didn't have the luxury of being able to delay. It was also a pre-requisite of the Cashback Rewards, which could not have been earned in November unless Blue Rewards was active.

There is perhaps an argument that having to activate Blue Rewards to benefit from the switching incentive forced some people to take the £5 hit without a reasonable opportunity to benefit in the first month.

harz99

masonic said:

phillw said:
But ignoring that issue where you might get lucky, you should make sure you have 2 x DD already go out in the preceding month when you join blue rewards. I used this scenario to try to convince them that I should get a £5 payment for the preceding month s 2 X DD when I left blue rewards. They wouldn't accept that they pay the £5 in arrears.

Yes, but the switching offer required that Blue Rewards was activated before the end of November, so those taking up the switching offer in the final weeks didn't have the luxury of being able to delay. It was also a pre-requisite of the Cashback Rewards, which could not have been earned in November unless Blue Rewards was active.

There is perhaps an argument that having to activate Blue Rewards to benefit from the switching incentive forced some people to take the £5 hit without a reasonable opportunity to benefit in the first month.

@masonic yes, i've just accepted that I'm only going to get £170 net, and glad to get out from this lot in a few days time. 

worriednoob

masonic said:

Ponchos said:

From reading several messages on here over the last couple of pages, it seems to me that actually getting the £5 rewards from Blue Rewards for paying in £800 and making two DD payments essentially doesn't happen - it is paid to you on the same day (2nd of the month) as the charge for having Blue Rewards is taken. If you cancel Blue Rewards then you have already made the payment but cannot receive the rewards - in short, you're always £5 down overall.

With that in mind, the maximum switching bonus anyone can expect is £170 (you'll have £175 transferred in but you're already £5 down).

Well that isn't true. If you can pay in the £800 and pay out two direct debits in the first calendar month your account is open, you will receive the £5 reward when the first £5 fee is taken. Only those who open the account late in the month, or struggle to get their direct debits to pull in time, will lose out on the first £5 reward. There is also the cashback reward worth £10 that is easier to achieve in the first month and is paid independently of the other eligibility criteria being met.

I opened my account in the middle of November, and could have met all of the criteria for the £5 reward, but didn't pull out all the stops, Instead I went for the £10 cashback in both November and December, so I will end up £190 better off.

Ponchos said:

Looking at the original steps listed on MSE to qualify for the switching bonus it stated to sign up to Barclays via the app, join Blue Rewards, switch from another account including 2x DDs, then wait 28 days for the bonus. It doesn't saying anything about fulfilling the monthly Blue Rewards criteria. Being as you will essentially be £5 down due to having Blue Rewards, it seems to me that it is not worth completing the Blue Rewards criteria, as you won't receive the rewards for it regardless.

Can anyone tell me if I'm wrong about this?

It is true that if the only reward you receive is the £5 direct debit reward, then there is nothing to gain from the scheme and if you end it in the second month, there is nothing to gain in meeting the criteria. Just make sure you leave Blue Rewards before the end of the month to avoid paying another fee.

Ponchos said:

Also...
I made the Barclays account, joined Blue Rewards and started the switch (with two DDs of my CC and eBay) on 30th November, paid in £800 on 4th December, set up a new DD with PayPal and made a payments through this on 10th and 15th December (yet to be taken from Barclays account, which Paypal says is normal), and my CC payment is due to be taken 29th December (so I would meet all Blue Rewards criteria, if it mattered).

Has anyone else who made the switch on the 30th November received the switching bonus yet? There was some talk on here about a batch of payments going out in early January. If that is the case then I feel like I can close my Blue Rewards by the end of December (just having opened it should be enough to meet the switching bonus criteria) and wait for the £175 sometime in January, and then leave ASAP. This is the most complicated switch there is!

If you haven't yet received the incentive, it would be risky to leave Blue Rewards, so you may have to fulfil the criteria to avoid being down another £5 if you have to keep it active into January. There is no requirement in the T&C to keep it open, but it may be the lesser of two evils vs pursuing a complaint with an evasive member of staff (see previous discussion about difficulties making complaints).

Well my latest switch was on 27th Nov, so 28 working days from there would take it to 9th Jan.  I'm not fussed with Barclays charging me £5 for the Blue Rewards, but I am worried in case they don't pay me the switch incentive.  Horrible bank and if / once I receive my switch incentive, I'm going to immediately withdraw it and close the account down.

MikeJXE

I'm not sure Barclays even know whats going on, My switch was completed and I received my £175 on the 20th November

Since then I have used the card a few times but have now withdrawn most of the funds

My switch out to Chase completes on the 19th December yet not heard a word from Barclays except today I received an email asking be to set up my digital wallet 

Maple08

Will likely downgrade to the free account now and forget about this account until I'm eligible for the Premier account to get Avios.

Ponchos

worriednoob said:

masonic said:

Ponchos said:

From reading several messages on here over the last couple of pages, it seems to me that actually getting the £5 rewards from Blue Rewards for paying in £800 and making two DD payments essentially doesn't happen - it is paid to you on the same day (2nd of the month) as the charge for having Blue Rewards is taken. If you cancel Blue Rewards then you have already made the payment but cannot receive the rewards - in short, you're always £5 down overall.

With that in mind, the maximum switching bonus anyone can expect is £170 (you'll have £175 transferred in but you're already £5 down).

Well that isn't true. If you can pay in the £800 and pay out two direct debits in the first calendar month your account is open, you will receive the £5 reward when the first £5 fee is taken. Only those who open the account late in the month, or struggle to get their direct debits to pull in time, will lose out on the first £5 reward. There is also the cashback reward worth £10 that is easier to achieve in the first month and is paid independently of the other eligibility criteria being met.

I opened my account in the middle of November, and could have met all of the criteria for the £5 reward, but didn't pull out all the stops, Instead I went for the £10 cashback in both November and December, so I will end up £190 better off.

Ponchos said:

Looking at the original steps listed on MSE to qualify for the switching bonus it stated to sign up to Barclays via the app, join Blue Rewards, switch from another account including 2x DDs, then wait 28 days for the bonus. It doesn't saying anything about fulfilling the monthly Blue Rewards criteria. Being as you will essentially be £5 down due to having Blue Rewards, it seems to me that it is not worth completing the Blue Rewards criteria, as you won't receive the rewards for it regardless.

Can anyone tell me if I'm wrong about this?

It is true that if the only reward you receive is the £5 direct debit reward, then there is nothing to gain from the scheme and if you end it in the second month, there is nothing to gain in meeting the criteria. Just make sure you leave Blue Rewards before the end of the month to avoid paying another fee.

Ponchos said:

Also...
I made the Barclays account, joined Blue Rewards and started the switch (with two DDs of my CC and eBay) on 30th November, paid in £800 on 4th December, set up a new DD with PayPal and made a payments through this on 10th and 15th December (yet to be taken from Barclays account, which Paypal says is normal), and my CC payment is due to be taken 29th December (so I would meet all Blue Rewards criteria, if it mattered).

Has anyone else who made the switch on the 30th November received the switching bonus yet? There was some talk on here about a batch of payments going out in early January. If that is the case then I feel like I can close my Blue Rewards by the end of December (just having opened it should be enough to meet the switching bonus criteria) and wait for the £175 sometime in January, and then leave ASAP. This is the most complicated switch there is!

If you haven't yet received the incentive, it would be risky to leave Blue Rewards, so you may have to fulfil the criteria to avoid being down another £5 if you have to keep it active into January. There is no requirement in the T&C to keep it open, but it may be the lesser of two evils vs pursuing a complaint with an evasive member of staff (see previous discussion about difficulties making complaints).

Well my latest switch was on 27th Nov, so 28 working days from there would take it to 9th Jan.  I'm not fussed with Barclays charging me £5 for the Blue Rewards, but I am worried in case they don't pay me the switch incentive.  Horrible bank and if / once I receive my switch incentive, I'm going to immediately withdraw it and close the account down.

Absolutely, can't wait to switch out for another offer! Terrible bank.

Ponchos

Just gone into the Barclays app, into Blue Rewards and the rewards details section (near the bottom of the BR screen), and it says "To stay eligible, each month you'll need to - Pay the £5 fee, - Have at least £800 paid into your chosen Barclays account monthly." It doesn't say anything about Direct Debits! I assume this is shown on other people's accounts, and  makes me wonder that they've changed their terms again. I mean this makes things much easier for meeting BR criteria each month.