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

AmityNeon

masonic said:

AmityNeon said:

masonic said:

AmityNeon said:

Zanderman said:

CRISPIANNE3 said:

Decided to take the plunge today and apply for the Barclays current account via the their app. It was approved straight away and then allowed me to apply for the Blue rewards and again all opened immediately.

I have the two dd's in place but will not pay out again until 8 and 20 December. The switch has been confirmed as being the 5 December. I am hoping they may offer some grace and not charge the £5.00 for November as I have just joined. Fingers crossed! I know with Lloyds when I applied for their Club account this was the case and waived the £3 fee.

They don't take the £5 fee in the first month. They take on the 2nd of the second month onwards.

The first month being November, so that means the £5 fee will be taken in December, but there aren't enough days in November now to ensure two direct debits will pay out to earn the £5 reward in December to offset the fee. A chat with support can result in a goodwill gesture of £5 though.

The reason they don't charge in the first month is in case one cannot benefit from all of the rewards in that month. So I am surprised they don't simply point out that the December fee is offset by the rewards earned in December. But if they are willing to relent...

Considering both the reward and the fee are paid on the same day, and the reward pertains to earnings from the previous month, it's reasonable to assume the fee also covers the previous month; earnings are obviously paid in arrears, and the account fee is equally charged in arrears. It would be underhanded for Barclays to then suggest the first fee is offset by the next month's reward payment when the second account fee is also simultaneously charged. If Barclays also charged for the account-opening month (e.g. on the first day), that could lead to customers being charged for two months of fees before their first reward payment offsets the third account fee.

The problem lies with their policy having no regard for the length of the first month resulting in accounts opened later in the month potentially forever net negative. Mention the fairer policies of Lloyds/NatWest/RBS/Santander surrounding the timing of when the initial fee is charged, where grace periods of at least a full month are in place, and Barclays suddenly feels rather guilty charging £5 for an account that has been open for barely a week.

The fee is charged in advance, but the reward is paid in arrears, so if you join at the end of November, qualify in December, but leave Blue Rewards before the end of December, having paid just one fee, you would still get the reward payment in January, but not pay a fee in January. Likewise you'd be paid in February if you left during January after paying the requisite DDs, and so on. Overall that means the fee always entitles you to a month to earn rewards even when one doesn't qualify in the non-fee paying first month. Getting any rewards in the first month is therefore a freebie and under the T&C they are not under any obligation to credit them as you have not met all of the eligibility requirements (which include payment of a £5 fee in that month).

I must say, of all the bank incentives I've come to know of, Blue Rewards is the least well understood, both amongst customers and apparently also bank staff. Yet the T&C are not that difficult to understand in my view.

How can you still receive a reward payment in January if you left Blue Rewards in December?

If we or you cancel your Barclays Blue Rewards:

• We’ll close your Blue Rewards Wallet and you’ll stop earning rewards
• We’ll transfer your available rewards balance back to you
• You will no longer be eligible for any pending rewards that have not yet been shown in your Blue Rewards Wallet

The only occurrence of the term 'pending' in the entirety of the Blue Rewards Terms and Conditions is in that single bullet point. Rewards that are 'shown' in the Blue Rewards Wallet are those that are available to redeem; there is no section for showing pending rewards that are not yet available to redeem. Once Blue Rewards is cancelled, the Wallet is closed, any available rewards balace is transferred, and any pending rewards are lost.

Whether the fee is charged in advance or in arrears is down to a matter of interpretation, but ultimately irrelevant. Based on the current terms, the monthly fee is quite simply, charged.

[You will need to] pay the £5 monthly fee. We’ll take this from your nominated current account on the second working day of the month. The first monthly fee will be taken in the month after you join Barclays Blue Rewards on the second working day of the month.

When and how you’ll receive your rewards

We’ll add the rewards you have earned into your Blue Rewards Wallet on the second working day of each month. Payments will start on the second working day of the calendar month that follows...

The first fee is taken in the second month; the first possible reward payment is in the second month. Indeed, this is simple to understand, and it results in unfavourable conditions for customers joining the scheme later in a calendar month, i.e. net negative in comparison to joining earlier. It's not that Blue Rewards is the least well understood; it's merely the least fair relative to the reward schemes offered by competitors.

masonic said:

Maybe it would be clearer if they charged the first fee on the day you join, and give everyone a £5 credit for the partial month (in acknowledgement that many won't have had time to benefit) on the next payment day (effectively what they do now, but with cash flows). Or alternatively, delay activation of Blue Rewards until the beginning of the next calendar month.

If the first fee was taken on the day of activation in the first month then it would unambiguously be a fee charged in advance, but the current terms allow a range of 2-36 days before the first fee is taken. If Barclays delayed the activation of Blue Rewards until the first day of the next calendar month, it would still be unfavourable relative to competitor schemes, but at least it would be consistent in its unfavourability as all customers would start net negative.

Nasqueron

Johnny-Cage said:

Take it soon as you get the £175 you can drop blue rewards 

You can though if you were going to do it anyway, you can spend £200 this and next month on debit card and get £10 cashback each month - worth doing that and cancelling in January if you were going to spend anyway

Sumof999

Really hoping they are paying the £175 every Monday!! might get some payouts today maybe?

masonic

AmityNeon said:

masonic said:

AmityNeon said:

masonic said:

AmityNeon said:

Zanderman said:

CRISPIANNE3 said:

Decided to take the plunge today and apply for the Barclays current account via the their app. It was approved straight away and then allowed me to apply for the Blue rewards and again all opened immediately.

I have the two dd's in place but will not pay out again until 8 and 20 December. The switch has been confirmed as being the 5 December. I am hoping they may offer some grace and not charge the £5.00 for November as I have just joined. Fingers crossed! I know with Lloyds when I applied for their Club account this was the case and waived the £3 fee.

They don't take the £5 fee in the first month. They take on the 2nd of the second month onwards.

The first month being November, so that means the £5 fee will be taken in December, but there aren't enough days in November now to ensure two direct debits will pay out to earn the £5 reward in December to offset the fee. A chat with support can result in a goodwill gesture of £5 though.

The reason they don't charge in the first month is in case one cannot benefit from all of the rewards in that month. So I am surprised they don't simply point out that the December fee is offset by the rewards earned in December. But if they are willing to relent...

Considering both the reward and the fee are paid on the same day, and the reward pertains to earnings from the previous month, it's reasonable to assume the fee also covers the previous month; earnings are obviously paid in arrears, and the account fee is equally charged in arrears. It would be underhanded for Barclays to then suggest the first fee is offset by the next month's reward payment when the second account fee is also simultaneously charged. If Barclays also charged for the account-opening month (e.g. on the first day), that could lead to customers being charged for two months of fees before their first reward payment offsets the third account fee.

The problem lies with their policy having no regard for the length of the first month resulting in accounts opened later in the month potentially forever net negative. Mention the fairer policies of Lloyds/NatWest/RBS/Santander surrounding the timing of when the initial fee is charged, where grace periods of at least a full month are in place, and Barclays suddenly feels rather guilty charging £5 for an account that has been open for barely a week.

The fee is charged in advance, but the reward is paid in arrears, so if you join at the end of November, qualify in December, but leave Blue Rewards before the end of December, having paid just one fee, you would still get the reward payment in January, but not pay a fee in January. Likewise you'd be paid in February if you left during January after paying the requisite DDs, and so on. Overall that means the fee always entitles you to a month to earn rewards even when one doesn't qualify in the non-fee paying first month. Getting any rewards in the first month is therefore a freebie and under the T&C they are not under any obligation to credit them as you have not met all of the eligibility requirements (which include payment of a £5 fee in that month).

I must say, of all the bank incentives I've come to know of, Blue Rewards is the least well understood, both amongst customers and apparently also bank staff. Yet the T&C are not that difficult to understand in my view.

How can you still receive a reward payment in January if you left Blue Rewards in December?

If we or you cancel your Barclays Blue Rewards:

• We’ll close your Blue Rewards Wallet and you’ll stop earning rewards
• We’ll transfer your available rewards balance back to you
• You will no longer be eligible for any pending rewards that have not yet been shown in your Blue Rewards Wallet

The only occurrence of the term 'pending' in the entirety of the Blue Rewards Terms and Conditions is in that single bullet point. Rewards that are 'shown' in the Blue Rewards Wallet are those that are available to redeem; there is no section for showing pending rewards that are not yet available to redeem. Once Blue Rewards is cancelled, the Wallet is closed, any available rewards balace is transferred, and any pending rewards are lost.

Whether the fee is charged in advance or in arrears is down to a matter of interpretation, but ultimately irrelevant. Based on the current terms, the monthly fee is quite simply, charged.

[You will need to] pay the £5 monthly fee. We’ll take this from your nominated current account on the second working day of the month. The first monthly fee will be taken in the month after you join Barclays Blue Rewards on the second working day of the month.

When and how you’ll receive your rewards

We’ll add the rewards you have earned into your Blue Rewards Wallet on the second working day of each month. Payments will start on the second working day of the calendar month that follows...

The first fee is taken in the second month; the first possible reward payment is in the second month. Indeed, this is simple to understand, and it results in unfavourable conditions for customers joining the scheme later in a calendar month, i.e. net negative in comparison to joining earlier. It's not that Blue Rewards is the least well understood; it's merely the least fair relative to the reward schemes offered by competitors.

They do say that they will close the Blue Rewards Wallet if you leave, but they do not say when they will do that. The natural time to do so is on the second working day of the following month, after rewards previously earned are added, giving significance to the comment "If you do this [cancel] before 5pm on the last day of the month, we won’t charge the next monthly fee." If payment was in arrears, then it would be the current monthly fee, not the next one. I hope we agree that if someone were to leave Blue Rewards on 30th November, they wouldn't be debited a £5 fee on 4th December. So the terms are only internally consistent in this section if the fee is charged in advance. 'Pending' isn't used in association with the standard rewards, but you can have pending cashback rewards, which may be what they are referring to as being forfeit if still pending at the time they close the wallet. Rewards other than cashback rewards are referred elsewhere as being 'earned', which suggests an obligation to pay on their part, and differentiates 'earning' a reward from having it 'added' to the wallet, which is a separate action.

If the alternative interpretation was correct, then, as it would be impossible for some to earn Rewards in the first month, they ought to be waiving the fee for anyone who wasn't a member for a full calendar month (i.e. what I thought they were already doing). I agree with you that if that is the interpretation they are using, then this is unfair (and in my view somewhat misleading). If that is indeed the interpretation they apply to my usage of Blue Rewards, a complaint will swiftly be winging its way to them from me on 3rd January.

Johnny-Cage

My switch completed this morning so just waiting for the dosh to appear 

TOBYTOTS99

Mine completed on the 20th no dosh arrived yet 

Zopa_Trooper

Nasqueron said:

Johnny-Cage said:

Take it soon as you get the £175 you can drop blue rewards 

You can though if you were going to do it anyway, you can spend £200 this and next month on debit card and get £10 cashback each month - worth doing that and cancelling in January if you were going to spend anyway

You get the cashback for spending £200 a few days after the transaction (mine was 5) so spend the money on the 1st, you should have it by the 8th available to redeem so no need to wait until the end of the month.

Nasqueron

Zopa_Trooper said:

Nasqueron said:

Johnny-Cage said:

Take it soon as you get the £175 you can drop blue rewards 

You can though if you were going to do it anyway, you can spend £200 this and next month on debit card and get £10 cashback each month - worth doing that and cancelling in January if you were going to spend anyway

You get the cashback for spending £200 a few days after the transaction (mine was 5) so spend the money on the 1st, you should have it by the 8th available to redeem so no need to wait until the end of the month.

If you spend £200 in one go yes but not everyone does it that way. As of this morning, I have a pending of £6.82 as the purchases I made on Friday and Saturday only processed today and aren't on the total yet. My point was more that rather than switching and immediately dropping the blue rewards after getting the bonus, it's a simple £20 over 2 months provided you spend the £400. My December ones will be done over 2 weekends of shopping as I don't have £200 knocking around just to spend on NI savings (as an example of a qualifying transaction mentioned earlier).

DJSINGH

I have just done £200 to premium bonds. Will this track for November for the £10 cashback? How long has it taken those who did a payment to NS&I?

masonic

DJSINGH said:

I have just done £200 to premium bonds. Will this track for November for the £10 cashback? How long has it taken those who did a payment to NS&I?

I did mine early on a Friday, and it was available on the Sunday. I had to click through to the website as it was not showing within the app at all.