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

PRAISETHESUN

Nasqueron said:

SVts said:

MikeJXE said:

Ah ha the the £800 is to qualify for the blue rewards not part of the £175 incentive conditions 

So no need to sign up for Blue Rewards? 

You need to sign up for blue rewards to get the bonus for switching.

Blue rewards charges £5 a month, this is refunded to you if you pay in £800 and have 2 DD taken each month, so you can join, get the £175, pay the £5 and then cancel blue rewards (so net £170 profit) or pay in/out the £800 and get the extra £5 back. As rewards is taken on the second working day of the month, it'll be difficult to get the switch bonus without paying that £5 but it's easy to get it credited back. Hope that helps

In addition to paying in £800, you would also need 2x DD payments to be taken from your Barclays before the end of Nov in order to get the £5 reward credit this month. Bit of a tight one, but not impossible. But £170 net profit is still very nice either way.

PRAISETHESUN

friolento said:

Saltrams said:

The Blue Rewards cashback offer looks a bit naff for most people as there is only a very limited list of retailers which pay cashback. It's good, however, for the limited time 5% offer, from which you can make a tenner a month in November and December if you can spend £200 with your debit card on genuine purchases. So another max £20 possible.

How can one see the list of retailers please? I can’t find the link 🙄
The companies on it are really the deal breaker for me as otherwise the slog of the hoop-jumping just isn’t worth it.

Once you have signed up for the Cashback Rewards (in addition to Blue Rewards), you can see the current list of retailers. I am afraid I can’t link to the list but it currently includes for example Deliveroo, Jo Malone, Clarins, Dominos, Toolstation, Decathlon. None of the approx 30 on the current list are of interest to me but Barclays are still running a 5% cashback offer under which you can get up to £10 back per month. This offer now only runs  for November and December - so you can earn up to another £20 if you get your skates on. 

There is also a separate thread about the Cashback offer https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6476904/cashback-from-barclays-blue/p1

I've been having a quick skim of the cashback thread, and thanks to the posters over there I've seen a few notable things that seem to count towards the cashback offer. Haven't tested these myself, but figured I'd share anyway

Deposits by debit card into NS&I + Premium Bonds
Payments by debit card to HMRC
PayPal F&F using debit card

Nasqueron

PRAISETHESUN said:

Nasqueron said:

SVts said:

MikeJXE said:

Ah ha the the £800 is to qualify for the blue rewards not part of the £175 incentive conditions 

So no need to sign up for Blue Rewards? 

You need to sign up for blue rewards to get the bonus for switching.

Blue rewards charges £5 a month, this is refunded to you if you pay in £800 and have 2 DD taken each month, so you can join, get the £175, pay the £5 and then cancel blue rewards (so net £170 profit) or pay in/out the £800 and get the extra £5 back. As rewards is taken on the second working day of the month, it'll be difficult to get the switch bonus without paying that £5 but it's easy to get it credited back. Hope that helps

In addition to paying in £800, you would also need 2x DD payments to be taken from your Barclays before the end of Nov in order to get the £5 reward credit this month. Bit of a tight one, but not impossible. But £170 net profit is still very nice either way.

Oh for sure but I'll keep the £175 as it's easy to bounce in 800 every month, I did it for a year basically £2000 from current account to TSB, Lloyds, Halifax and back to get the bonuses and keep the Lloyds account for the extra 1% saver and free cinema tickets

miller

PRAISETHESUN said:

friolento said:

Saltrams said:

The Blue Rewards cashback offer looks a bit naff for most people as there is only a very limited list of retailers which pay cashback. It's good, however, for the limited time 5% offer, from which you can make a tenner a month in November and December if you can spend £200 with your debit card on genuine purchases. So another max £20 possible.

How can one see the list of retailers please? I can’t find the link 🙄
The companies on it are really the deal breaker for me as otherwise the slog of the hoop-jumping just isn’t worth it.

Once you have signed up for the Cashback Rewards (in addition to Blue Rewards), you can see the current list of retailers. I am afraid I can’t link to the list but it currently includes for example Deliveroo, Jo Malone, Clarins, Dominos, Toolstation, Decathlon. None of the approx 30 on the current list are of interest to me but Barclays are still running a 5% cashback offer under which you can get up to £10 back per month. This offer now only runs  for November and December - so you can earn up to another £20 if you get your skates on. 

There is also a separate thread about the Cashback offer https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6476904/cashback-from-barclays-blue/p1

I've been having a quick skim of the cashback thread, and thanks to the posters over there I've seen a few notable things that seem to count towards the cashback offer. Haven't tested these myself, but figured I'd share anyway

Deposits by debit card into NS&I + Premium Bonds
Payments by debit card to HMRC
PayPal F&F using debit card

I've had a punt making a deposit to my YBS savings account, nothing showing yet on Cashback Rewards, but will let you know how I get on. I guess it all depends on the excluded list of Merchant Category Codes (MCCs).

georged123

I've read a few posters mention that once they pay the £800 into the Blue Rewards account, that it is stuck there for four days. Is that a normal feature of the account or just because of the weekend, issue when opening the account?

PRAISETHESUN

georged123 said:

I've read a few posters mention that once they pay the £800 into the Blue Rewards account, that it is stuck there for four days. Is that a normal feature of the account or just because of the weekend, issue when opening the account?

It's not that the money is stuck per se, it's that you don't have permission to move money around online at first. There seems to be a 4 day waiting period before the mobile PIN sentry thing activates and you have permission to transfer money around. If you wait until the 4th day after you open your account, you should be free to transact as normal after that.

Keep in mind that rapidly paying + transferring out might get you clocked by the anti-fraud squad, as a few posters mentioned earlier.

ChocolateWombat

I’ve just opened a Barclays acc in the app.  I have also requested a switch from my TSB.  It says it will complete on 16th. I have also opened the Blue light thing.  All good.

When do I need to have paid £800 in by please?  Is there an advantage of doing it today (same day as opening acc) or there any merit in waiting to set up a SO for £800 each month?

And how do I know which type of CO has been opened?  I don’t recall being offered a choice of different types.  The App just refers to my current account.

Many thanks.

Oh and following on from reading this thread, I went back into my TSB acc and closed the linked savings acc, so that shouldn’t be a barrier to the acc switching, which someone referred to upthread.

Anything else that those of you who are further along the process found to be traps, steps to take to make things smoother etc?

Many thank

friolento

I would recommend you wait for a week or so with depositing your entire £800, unless you don't mind having £800 locked up for a few days. For reasons only know to Barclays, your Barclays current account needs to be at least 4 days old before you can make online payments. In any case, I would test withdrawals with a smaller deposit amount first.

pedrodelgado

ChocolateWombat said:

I’ve just opened a Barclays acc in the app.  I have also requested a switch from my TSB.  It says it will complete on 16th. I have also opened the Blue light thing.  All good.

When do I need to have paid £800 in by please?  Is there an advantage of doing it today (same day as opening acc) or there any merit in waiting to set up a SO for £800 each month?

And how do I know which type of CO has been opened?  I don’t recall being offered a choice of different types.  The App just refers to my current account.

Many thanks.

Oh and following on from reading this thread, I went back into my TSB acc and closed the linked savings acc, so that shouldn’t be a barrier to the acc switching, which someone referred to upthread.

Anything else that those of you who are further along the process found to be traps, steps to take to make things smoother etc?

Many thank

Hi, I've opened account for myself and the Mrs did one, this morning. Can't get the blue rewards activated, just keeping giving me error code 001 . Am I missing something? Got the switches sorted (TSB too like you). 

PRAISETHESUN

pedrodelgado said:

ChocolateWombat said:

I’ve just opened a Barclays acc in the app.  I have also requested a switch from my TSB.  It says it will complete on 16th. I have also opened the Blue light thing.  All good.

When do I need to have paid £800 in by please?  Is there an advantage of doing it today (same day as opening acc) or there any merit in waiting to set up a SO for £800 each month?

And how do I know which type of CO has been opened?  I don’t recall being offered a choice of different types.  The App just refers to my current account.

Many thanks.

Oh and following on from reading this thread, I went back into my TSB acc and closed the linked savings acc, so that shouldn’t be a barrier to the acc switching, which someone referred to upthread.

Anything else that those of you who are further along the process found to be traps, steps to take to make things smoother etc?

Many thank

Hi, I've opened account for myself and the Mrs did one, this morning. Can't get the blue rewards activated, just keeping giving me error code 001 . Am I missing something? Got the switches sorted (TSB too like you). 

See some discussion on this from over the weekend, in particular the workaround described by @FFHillbilly. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6482594/barclays-175-switch-offer-new-customers-only-nov-1-30-2023/p10

Seems to be issues with the Android version of the app - you should be able to back out of the UD001 error message by clicking the back button on your phone instead of clicking OK on the error message, and from there navigate yourself through the menus to set up Blue Rewards