Barclay's Blue Rewards Removing £5 Reward

anoukis

Just a reminder - if you are a premier current account holder, Barclays will cancel the Blue Rewards account for you from 4 September, but you get to keep some of the perks of the blue rewards, as a premier account holder (Apple TV, MLS season pass, and the Rainy Day Saver interest rate at 5.12%).

WillPS

anoukis said:

Just a reminder - if you are a premier current account holder, Barclays will cancel the Blue Rewards account for you from 4 September, but you get to keep some of the perks of the blue rewards, as a premier account holder (Apple TV, MLS season pass, and the Rainy Day Saver interest rate at 5.12%).

For clarity - you don't need to have had Blue Rewards ever in order to get the above - they're already available to Premier customers regardless of Blue Rewards status.

I presume Blue Rewards will be closed off to Premier customers completely from tomorrow, it'll be interesting to see if we can benefit from this promised cashback or not.

vacheron

anoukis said:

Just a reminder - if you are a premier current account holder, Barclays will cancel the Blue Rewards account for you from 4 September, but you get to keep some of the perks of the blue rewards, as a premier account holder (Apple TV, MLS season pass, and the Rainy Day Saver interest rate at 5.12%).

I've just this minute had a notification on my phone that barclays have taken the £5 out of my Premier account for the blue rewards fee.

Seems somewhat cheeky if they are cancelling it tomorrow, but being Barclays, hardly surprising! 

anoukis

@vacheron They're paying the loyalty reward today though - the last one. 

From‌ ‌4 September 2024, we’re removing the £5 monthly loyalty reward you get with Blue Rewards for having two or more Direct Debits, along with all other cash rewards, like £3 a month for having a mortgage with us. If you currently receive any of these, you’ll get your last payment on‌ ‌3 September.

From‌ ‌4 September, you’ll no longer need to be a member of Blue Rewards as we’re making all of its features available to you with Premier. We’ll therefore cancel your Blue Rewards membership for you in ‌September.

If you already have any of these with Blue Rewards, they’ll continue as normal with Premier:

Barclays Cashback Rewards
Blue Rewards Saver
Rainy Day Saver

anoukis

So I paid the last £5 and got my last £8 in blue rewards. Made a decent amount in rewards over the years with the blue rewards scheme (remember the days of triple rewards, anyone? ): £1,667 showing in my soon-to-be-closed Blue Rewards account. Not too shabby, considering this amount doesn't include any cashback for purchases. 

vacheron

anoukis said:

So I paid the last £5 and got my last £8 in blue rewards. Made a decent amount in rewards over the years with the blue rewards scheme (remember the days of triple rewards, anyone? ): £1,667 showing in my soon-to-be-closed Blue Rewards account. Not too shabby, considering this amount doesn't include any cashback for purchases. 

Aah, you just reminded me of the triple rewards!  I think at the time the fee was £3 and I received the £7 loyalty fee plus £5 each month for having a Barclays mortgage, which was then tripled each month to £36 for a £3 investment! 

I even think I got another £2 or £3 for a short while for having Barclays home inusrance (the first and last time it was competitive), which added another £6 or £9 for a bit. 

My app says i've earned £383 so far, but the transaction stop at March 2021, I'm sure I made far more before then. 

Mind you that was back when Premier was worth something. I used to take advantage of the free English Heratage membership frequently, and the free daily coffee / pastry from Patisserie Valerie and random free Thorntons treats.

Pretty much everything is gone now. Replaced with the yearly predictable e-mail of:

"Dear Premier Customer: We regret to advise you that we are stopping <insert premier benefit> to make way for a new exciting (yet currently undefined) premier benefit coming soon." ... Which then never materialises!   

Premier isn't worth the money now.... and it's free.   

WillPS

vacheron said:

Premier isn't worth the money now.... and it's free.   

I disagree actually, I think these changes and the fall in interest rates have made Premier more worth having. I was previously ready to add the account to my 'switch away list', there was a marginal amount to be made from Avios converted in to Nectar but the most recent conversion rate nerf killed that. We don't fly so there's no better value redemption to be had from that.

Apple TV and a 5% easy access savings account for 'nothing' is a good deal, IMHO. Not quite the bonanza of doubled/tripled up Blue Rewards switching bonuses but enough to make it worthwhile having.

anoukis

@WillPS agreed, the rainy day saver at 5% is still a good perk. Also, international payments via the app/online banking are fee-free for Premier - it's a good transfer option for small, regular amounts. There is also £500 fee-free overdraft and some other minor perks like higher daily cash withdrawal limits or online transfer limits. And Apple TV and MLS season pass for those who care... I'm not one of them. 

@vacheron that's right, £36/month for more than 2 years for me. And free weekday coffees at Patisserie Valerie, prosecco at Christmas, etc. It was short-lived  

vacheron

anoukis said:

@WillPS agreed, the rainy day saver at 5% is still a good perk. Also, international payments via the app/online banking are fee-free for Premier - it's a good transfer option for small, regular amounts. There is also £500 fee-free overdraft and some other minor perks like higher daily cash withdrawal limits or online transfer limits. And Apple TV and MLS season pass for those who care... I'm not one of them. 

@vacheron that's right, £36/month for more than 2 years for me. And free weekday coffees at Patisserie Valerie, prosecco at Christmas, etc. It was short-lived  

I agree that the rainy day was (and still is) pretty decent, but I am not using it now as I had £15K in a 1 year NS&I bond  at 6.2% which matures any day now and pretty much nuked my £1K nil rate savings threshold for the year.

NS&I have also offered to renew it at 5.15% for the this year too, so that is where any taxable savings will be sitting for another 12 months.

Apple TV I absolutley don't care about, plus I have about 5 other things that make me eligible for enough Apple TV free trials to see me through into 2026, I never used it when I did have it, and I'm almost annoyed at how many times I'm being pestered with Apple TV now to be honest! 

The one thing that has been genuinely useful (which I never thought it would be) is the £2K cash machine daily limit when friends / family need to pay builders etc. as it saves them about 7 different day trips to the cashpoint to obtain the same amount (providng you know where the machines are that arent limited).

WillPS

I appreciate that Apple TV+ trials are ten a penny but they involve a fair bit of babysitting - you have to remember to cancel them (they're the only trials I've experienced where cancelling early ends the service immediately).

I'm happy to 'set and forget' now, and even if I go months without using it it's just there whenever I (or anyone else in my Apple Family account) wants it.

I suspect the plurality of Apple TV+ trials will reduce rapidly in months to come anyway, as they did with Now a few years back. They all go through this phase of burning cash early on.