Barclays Premier £400 switch incentive

7sefton

https://www.barclays.co.uk/current-accounts/premier-switch-offer/

Generous.

But I’m not sure if I qualify… I claimed the joint Barclays Premier/Barclaycard Avios bonus about two years ago. Not sure if this counts as a ‘CASS bonus’. Anyone got any ideas?

wmb194

7sefton said:

https://www.barclays.co.uk/current-accounts/premier-switch-offer/

Generous.

But I’m not sure if I qualify… I claimed the joint Barclays Premier/Barclaycard Avios bonus about two years ago. Not sure if this counts as a ‘CASS bonus’. Anyone got any ideas?

It says it's for customers who before today didn't have a Barclays current account and haven't received a CASS switching bonus: did you close the current account? Google suggests that Barclays Avios bonuses are often linked to CASS switches.

Having a Barclaycard, savings account and a couple of other things is okay, you'd qualify.

From the T&CS:

"You’re not eligible if:

• You don’t have a mobile number to use the Barclays app to open the Premier Current Account with.
• You already have any open Barclays Current Account on or before this offer started on 7 October 2025. This includes but isn’t limited to a Barclays Bank Account, student or graduate account, or a Premier Current Account
• You’re only eligible for a Barclays Basic Current Account
• You’ve received a CASS bonus from us in the past.
• You’re opening a joint account
• You requested to switch in an account before this offer was made available or after it closed
• You requested to switch in an existing account from Barclays."

danny13579

Seems like a fairly exclusive account. £75k annual income needs to be paid in or a balance of over £100k in "eligible investments". Don't know if you could just pretend you earn that much, get the bonus and close/switch out the account? It's grounds for them to close the account and not pay the bonus (misleading them) but how would they know?

Ed-1

danny13579 said:

Seems like a fairly exclusive account. £75k annual income needs to be paid in or a balance of over £100k in "eligible investments". Don't know if you could just pretend you earn that much, get the bonus and close/switch out the account? It's grounds for them to close the account and not pay the bonus (misleading them) but how would they know?

Committing application fraud and risking a CIFAS marker over a switch bonus isn't the wisest thing to suggest. National Hunter may hold information on salary details that an applicant has previously told a provider they earn and any inconsistencies of this nature would lead to problems.

danny13579

Ed-1 said:

Committing application fraud and risking a CIFAS marker over a switch bonus isn't the wisest thing to suggest. National Hunter may hold information on salary details that an applicant has previously told a provider they earn and any inconsistencies of this nature would lead to problems.

I'm not suggesting anyone does this. Merely asking a question.

la531983

danny13579 said:

Ed-1 said:

Committing application fraud and risking a CIFAS marker over a switch bonus isn't the wisest thing to suggest. National Hunter may hold information on salary details that an applicant has previously told a provider they earn and any inconsistencies of this nature would lead to problems.

I'm not suggesting anyone does this. Merely asking a question.

I suspect they would soon realise when salary payments less than £75k/12 start landing in the account.

vacheron

danny13579 said:

Seems like a fairly exclusive account. £75k annual income needs to be paid in or a balance of over £100k in "eligible investments". Don't know if you could just pretend you earn that much, get the bonus and close/switch out the account? It's grounds for them to close the account and not pay the bonus (misleading them) but how would they know?

I've had a Premier account with them for the last 15 years purely because I have an offset mortgage with them and the savings which are offsetting it are counted as "eligible investments".

Well worth the switch for the £400 if you were looking to move anyway. Not worth it for the "Premier" features which have been steadily watered down over the last 10 years and are basically total garbage now. 

danny13579

la531983 said:

I suspect they would soon realise when salary payments less than £75k/12 start landing in the account.

A rather simplistic view given the various ways people work and get paid in the modern age.

vacheron

danny13579 said:

la531983 said:

I suspect they would soon realise when salary payments less than £75k/12 start landing in the account.

A rather simplistic view given the various ways people work and get paid in the modern age.

Exactly. as many people earning over £75k aren't salaried, they take this into account. 

They even have a page which shows a number of examples (which even account for tax), such as 

Priya

Priya is self-employed and on average has a gross annual income of £85,000 a year.

What she pays into her current account varies – some months its £5,000, while others it’s closer to £3,000.

Although Priya doesn’t meet the requirements for Premier every month, the amount she’s paid in over the last 12 months on a rolling basis is over £40,000, so she's eligible for Premier Banking.

la531983

danny13579 said:

la531983 said:

I suspect they would soon realise when salary payments less than £75k/12 start landing in the account.

A rather simplistic view given the various ways people work and get paid in the modern age.

Well yes but by the same token how long will they leave it before they declare someone totally inappropriate for it, who had only switched to avail themselves of £400?

danny13579

la531983 said:

Well yes but by the same token how long will they leave it before they declare someone totally inappropriate for it, who had only switched to avail themselves of £400?

I don't know, once I got the £400 I'd get rid of it. The bonus has to be paid within 28 working days of meeting the switch criteria, so like Priya in the example above it may be months before I get my next larger payment. Do they close it down so soon when they've given an example of someone who receives irregular payments over the year and qualifies for the account?

This is why I asked the question. How can they tell you're genuinely making £75k+ a year within the timeframe of the switch offer?

I don't qualify for it anyway as I've received two CASS bonuses from Barclays in the past and I don't like them as a bank.