Premium bank account for free travel insurance AA/RAC

roadweary

Hi,

I'm considering which account to get for the above.  For my wife and I, our annual world travel insurance policy is £238 on renewal.  RAC was £145 - they had wanted £215 but I found offers from Green Flag etc, and they lowered the renewal price.....this time.

I'm already a Lloyds customer and it looks like the Club Platinum account provides worldwide travel insurance and AA cover for us.  However, we have pre-existing conditions so I'm not sure whether or not we would be covered I'd have to check.

The account is £24 per month (so £288 pa) which is far less than buying these two insurances separately - if they turn out to be on a par with the existing ones.

That drops to £21 or £252 pa if "you pay at least £2,000 into your account every month" - my question there is, how closely do the watch this.  What if I paid £2000 into the account at the beginning of the month....took it out towards the end.....every month?  On paper this complies, or would they get snotty?  Just that I use Cahoot for my main account and don't really want to get my salary paid into Lloyds and then transfer out to Cahoot......and I don't really want to transfer everything (DDs, standing orders etc) to Cahoot...even if there is some kind of transfer service.

Finally, are there are any better / recommended accounts out there that come with good couples travel insurance / road recovery?

Thanks

Brie

Lots of people do the little dance of money in and then out a day or two later.  

Do check the T&Cs of the insurance & recovery. 

I know that Barclays has an upper age limit for their travel insurance - but potentially that will match when one might need to be getting specialist travel insurance in any case due to health conditions.  The other thing is that while Bs wanted to know about all the medication/health issues me & the OH have they were fine with that until this year when they said they wouldn't cover my OH for anything health related.  I'm pondering at this point if I should continue to pay for it at all - it would cover me but not him, but if he has a separate policy which I'm not on making a claim becomes very complicated and it's not necessarily less ££.  

Also while the travel insurance would cover him previously even though it was my account they wouldn't allow him to use the road recovery bit unless I was actually present.  Found this out when he had to call them out and the RAC guy asked where I was.  OH was confused by this and said I was at home a few miles away.  RAC guy very nicely corrected him and pointedly said "I see, she's gone to the shops and will be back shortly, won't she?"  To which my OH agreed as that was the only way to get things sorted.  

Zanderman

roadweary said:

....

That drops to £21 or £252 pa if "you pay at least £2,000 into your account every month" - my question there is, how closely do the watch this.  What if I paid £2000 into the account at the beginning of the month....took it out towards the end.....every month?  On paper this complies, or would they get snotty?  ....

It's a current account - the primary point of a current account is that you pay in (regularly or irregularly) and then spend the money. There's no requirement to keep a particular sum in it. 

The terms ask for £2k to be deposited each month - it's a vague (and not very good) measure of how well off you are.  There's no need for the £2k to stay in for even 5 minutes, let alone a whole month.

Indeed you don't need £2k. £100 paid in, taken out and repeated 20 times would do the job just as well.

Mark_d

I've previously had a Nationwide FlexPlus account to provide travel insurance and breakdown cover for my partner and I.  I discovered that the service level I received from the breakdown provider was poor - and this was due to their contract with Nationwide.  Needing travel insurance cover for medical conditions also required an additional premium, and even so the policy didn't cover the sporting activities I would have liked.

I now prefer to choose current account provider, travel insurance provider and breakdown provider separately so that I can ensure quality of service and value for money from each.  Maybe it's worth looking in to Starling bank, StartRescue breakdown cover, and AllClear travel insurance.

roadweary

Mark_d said:

I've previously had a Nationwide FlexPlus account to provide travel insurance and breakdown cover for my partner and I.  I discovered that the service level I received from the breakdown provider was poor - and this was due to their contract with Nationwide.  Needing travel insurance cover for medical conditions also required an additional premium, and even so the policy didn't cover the sporting activities I would have liked.

I now prefer to choose current account provider, travel insurance provider and breakdown provider separately so that I can ensure quality of service and value for money from each.  Maybe it's worth looking in to Starling bank, StartRescue breakdown cover, and AllClear travel insurance.

When you say poor service level? I don’t mind paying a bit more or having certain medical conditions excluded - roughly how much extra did you have to pay?

km1500

I have always had a very good experience with Nationwide the cost is 13 pounds a month the upper age limit for travel insurance is 75 

noh

We currently use Nationwide Flex Plus.
The fee is £13 monthly.
Existing medical conditions need to be declared and may incur an extra premium.
They also charge an age extension for over 70s.
Our existing medical conditions now require £110 per annum if they are to be covered.
https://www.nationwide.co.uk/current-accounts/flexplus/travel-insurance/

The Lloyds Platinum insurance is £21 per month but they have a list of pre existing medical conditions that do not need screening also they do not charge an extra premium for over 70s.

The Lloyds offering would be slightly cheaper for us as our pre existing medical conditions are on their no screen list and would not attract an additional premium. I most likely will move to them before I turn 70 in two years time.

No screen medical condition list on page 47 of:
https://www.lloydsbank.com/assets/media/pdfs/current-accounts/platinum_account_welcome_pack.pdf

jimjames

I'm also with Nationwide for £13 pm. You really can't beat it if you have a joint account. Why pay £24 or more for the same products. I've not seen any difference between the handling of a breakdown call with a packaged bank account and a direct customer. I doubt the patrols even know.

jimjames

roadweary said:

Hi,

That drops to £21 or £252 pa if "you pay at least £2,000 into your account every month" - my question there is, how closely do the watch this.  What if I paid £2000 into the account at the beginning of the month....took it out towards the end.....every month?  On paper this complies, or would they get snotty?  

Think about it logically, does your bank specify how long your salary has to be in the account before you're allowed to spend it? There is absolutely no difference in the source of funds as long as you meet the criteria of the total paid in. You definitely don't need to keep the money there for a month, I don't keep it there for more than a minute.

friolento

Have you seen the MSE review? https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/best-packaged-bank-accounts/

We used to have a Nationwide FlexPlus. Luckily we never had to claim but they charge extra for the over 69s, so as we're getting on a bit, we have now moved to the COOP

badger09

Another satisfied Nationwide customer here. Previously had a joint Flex account when that came with free Travel Insurance. Now have the FlexPlus. We pay £65 extra as both over 70 and additional premium for several existing health conditions. 

I checked for an expensive trip to Australia & New Zealand in 2020 & couldn’t get anywhere near what we pay, for similar cover. We had to claim in 2018 when I was hospitalised & husband treated as outpatient in Thailand. Apart from middle of the night phone calls from them 😳 & having to upload various documents, we had no problem with our claim which was paid in full. Haven’t tested either the breakdown or mobile cover yet. 

Always does well in Which? reviews.