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Natwest Premier switch - £500
Comments
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What sort of stuff did they talk about/ask?
I will give it a go next week.
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HSBC spent most of the time reading out the legal text for the account and all the small print for the free travel insurance which (I didn't even really want).
I could have scanned through it and clicked accept on a website in about 10 seconds, but they insisted on a phone appointment which meant the agent had to read pages and pages of T's&C's (which there is no chance I could possibly remember) out to me verbally like it was 1995. 🤦♂️
I expected a lot of upselling, but once I accidentally sniggered out loud when she mentioned their 100.2% APR, £290 per year "Ultimate black platinum premium world mega super ultra mastercard" I think she realised that she wouldn't be getting anywhere.
She did state that I could draw euros out of an overseas cash machine with it. To which I replied "Oh, just like my Halifax Clairty credit card, except it has no annual fee, the interest rate is 1/5th of yours, and it doesn't charge a 2.99% foreign transaction fee"!
….bargin! 😂
• The rich buy assets.
• The poor only have expenses.
• The middle class buy liabilities they think are assets.2 -
When I changed my RBS Reward account to Premier Reward there was a short form in the app I filled in under "Change my account type". Filled it in and got an email a few days later saying the change was confirmed. I didn't get a call as a part of the application, but I did get one a few weeks later from someone purporting to be my new account manager who I politely told I wasn't interested in the marketing/upselling stuff.
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Thanks @PRAISETHESUN.
There was indeed a "change my account type" button in the app which I tried, but they e-mailed me the next day to say they couldn't because "I didn't meet the criteria"… possibly because my 1 day old account hadn't recieved any payments into it yet?
The human chat assistant did get back to me yesterday though and said it would be best to call the Premier Team directy and gave me a phone number, so I will try that today. 👍
• The rich buy assets.
• The poor only have expenses.
• The middle class buy liabilities they think are assets.1 -
Still interested in this and note I still have time
@vacheron - any update from your side. Did the web update? Did you have to go through a torturous interview?
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Hi. So update from my last post.
I rang the Natwest premier number the chat gave me to try and get my select account upgraded, but the premier number must have identified my phone number and basically said "Sorry, our records show you're not a premier customer, **** off!" and promptly hung up on me. 😟
I rang the normal Natwest telephone number and explained the situation, and I spoke to an advisor who stated that the reason my application to upgrade the account from the app was rejected was because my account, (the one opened 4 days earlier with zero payments into it) did not meet the income criteria to upgrade it. 🤦♂️
She then asked me if I qualified for the account, which I said I did. She then asked in what way, so I stated "Income, I will be depositing £15,000 into the account over the next 90 days". to which she replied, "So you don't have £100,000 in the account?" to which I replied "No, I'll be paying about £7,000 per month".
Her response was "In that case, you don't meet the criteria, you need at least £100,000 invested to qualify, so I would suggest you go away and save up, then come back to us later when you have £100,000". 😖
No amount of explainations would sway her from her wholly incorrect understanding.
In the end I convinced her to get a member of the premier team to call me back, which they did, asked me a few questions, and then arranged a zoom call for the following monday (who on earth still uses Zoom?).
Zoom call was an hour or so with a lot of questions about income and investments, pensions etc. Far more in depth than HSBC who were mainly waffling on reading out all the T's and C's of their travel insurance that I didn't really need. But in the end, my app icon changed to Premier and I now seem to finally be up and running!
• The rich buy assets.
• The poor only have expenses.
• The middle class buy liabilities they think are assets.4 -
@vacheron cheers for the update.
Do you qualify because of the £100k income (salary), or have you convinced them you do because you can pay £15k over 3 months? How deep did they delve about your income?
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Appreciate this thank you. Seems like a lot of effort but the main issue for me has always been their understanding of salary.
I’ve had multiple web chats and a phonecall with all but one of those stating they expect to see £100k coming into the account - and could not give me a definitive answer on how they appreciate that £100k might be reduced by tax/ni, even before I got started on explaining the fact I heavily salary sacrifice.
Might be one to swerve for me I think.0 -
Due to a fortunate (and transient) set of circumstances I can currently meet the income requirements. However I have saved my actual salary payment for HSBC as they are the only ones who seem to be specific about this being income from an employer. I'll elaborate in my upcoming replies to @unclebatman below.
Natwest just want to see a total of £15,000 "deposited" (from wherever) into the account over the next 90 days. (AKA £5K per month).
• The rich buy assets.
• The poor only have expenses.
• The middle class buy liabilities they think are assets.1 -
Regarding their understanding of salary, here is what I have experienced so far with the Premier Accounts I've had (have), how I met the requirements, and what to watch out for:
Barclays Premier - My main current account for the last 15+ Years which my salary has always been paid into. Nothing much to offer any more to be honest, It used to be worth having, but they keep removing the benefts with a caveat of "but don't worry, something new and great is coming"…. and it never does! I can't get any switch offers from them as I'm not a new customer, but I get it for free so might as well keep it.
Eligibility met by:- They consider my fully offset mortgage as meeting the £100K of savings criteria.
Incentive Status: N/A (I took this out well before the incentives began).
Lloyds Premier - Applied for this about 4 months ago for the £500 switching bonus. They messed up the switch from my standard Santander account (which they admitted liability for) so I started getting snotograms from my credit card companies about missed payments and had to set up all my DD's again manually.
Eligibility met by:- Switching one of my other bank accounts with at least 2 active direct debits (Santander)
- Transferring at least £5,000 each month from my Barclays Premier account above and then drawing it back out a couple of days later. Watch out though, as if you don't do this at least once per month they will stiff you with their £15 premier fee!
Incentive Status: Recieved the £500 switching bonus about 2 months after account opening.
HSBC Premier - Applied for this a few weeks ago for the £500 switching bonus.
Eligibility met by:- Switching one of my other bank accounts (The Lloyds Premier above). No DD requirements for HSBC.
- Asking my payroll department to switch my salary from Barclays to HSBC to meet the £100K Salary requirement (HSBC seem to be the only sticklers for this coming from actual employment income).
- Having a 1.5 hour telephone appointment with a premier advisor.
Incentive Status: Still pending.
Natwest Premier - Applied for this a few weeks ago for the £500 switching bonus.
Eligibility met by:- Switching one of my other bank accounts (a TSB one I had lying about). No DD requirements for Natwest.
- Paying in at least £15,000 over the next 90 days (transferred from somwhere TBD and then drawing it back out a couple of days later).
- Having a 1 hour Zoom meeting with their premier advisor.
Incentive Status: Still pending.
• The rich buy assets.
• The poor only have expenses.
• The middle class buy liabilities they think are assets.2
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