NEW: Get 25,000 Avios points for opening a Barclays Premier Account

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

British Airways Executive Club and Barclays Bank have launched a limited-time offer.

Until 19th November, you will receive 25,000 Avios if you open a Barclays Premier Current Account.

Full details are on this page of the Barclays website.

Note that 19th November is NOT the last date to apply. Your switch must be completed by then, and it will take seven working days to complete. You need to apply by early November to be guaranteed the Avios.

How do I qualify for Barclays Premier?

The good news is that Barclays Premier is FREE.

The bad news is that there are relatively high eligibility criteria for opening a Barclays Premier Current Account.

You must have:

an annual gross income of £75,000 or more paid into a Barclays current account

£100,000 or more saved or invested with Barclays

If you are self employed or not on PAYE for some other reason, you can probably get away with a lower income requirement. £75,000 gross is the equivalent of £50,000 net, and as long as £50,000 is going into the account each year I assume they will be happy.

You must also do a FULL switch in order to earn the Avios. This means that you must use the official switching service jointly run by the banking industry, which will automatically transfer over all of your existing direct debits and standard orders.

What are the benefits of Barclays Premier?

Very little it seems, looking at the website. This compares badly with HSBC Premier which offers comprehensive travel insurance.

You will, however, get paid for keeping your account open!

Register for Barclays Blue Rewards and, in your first year, you will be paid £21 per month (£252 over the year) as long as two direct debits leave your account each month. There is a £4 monthly fee for Blue Rewards, so your net gain over the year is £204.

After the first year, this drops sharply. You receive £7 per month for having two active direct debits, but the £4 monthly fee reduces this to a net £3. You are therefore being paid £36 per year for keeping your account open.

You can find out more about Barclays Blue Rewards here.

Do I earn Avios going forward?

Er, no.

This is the odd thing about this promotion.

HSBC Premier offers two fantastic credit cards to its customers which are the most generous way of earning Avios from a Mastercard or Visa.

The free HSBC Premier Mastercard, reviewed here, earns 0.5 Avios per £1 spent

The paid-for HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard, reviewed here, earns 1 Avios per £1 spent and gives you free airport lounge access

Eligibility criteria for HSBC Premier are very similar to Barclays Premier.

Where should I switch?

If you had been thinking of upgrading your current account to a ‘Premier’ package, you now have a couple of options.

You can move to Barclays Premier before 19th November and pick up 25,000 Avios, but not earn any Avios going forward – you will, however, earn £204 net over the first year via Barclays Blue Rewards as long as you register and have two active direct debits

You can move to HSBC Premier and pick up a £175 switching bonus (see here) and earn Avios via their generous credit cards – you also benefit from free HSBC Premier travel insurance

You could do both, of course. Move to Barclays Premier now to pick up the 25,000 Avios and £204 ‘profit’ from Blue Rewards in Year 1 and then, in 12 months, move to HSBC Premier to access their generous credit cards.

You can find out more about the Barclays Premier / Avios offer here. Remember that the closing date of 19th November is NOT the real closing date – your full banking switch must be completed by then and this could take seven working days.

PS. If you already have a Barclays Premier account, you should have been emailed a special BA discount code worth £75 off a £400 long haul booking. Full details are on ba.com here.

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)

Category

British Airways and Avios

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Gin and Tonic Please says:

24 Oct24 October 08:17

I’m a Barlcays Premier account holder, but no sign of a voucher in my email. Will see if it appears sometime in the next week.

On a different note, there are other benefits to BP through their Premier Rewards app. Used to include a free coffee each day at a bunch of places (which saved me a tonne on my morning commute), but that has sadly now gone. Now you get a free Gourmet Society card (I use at Pizza Express), discounted Picturehouse Cinema membership (I use this too), free entry to English Heritage sites, discounted APH parking and regular discounts at Majestic (currently £5 off £20 on beers/spirits) – oh and a steady flow of events/competitions. Nothing too exciting, but the discounts have added up for me over the years.

There are also allegedly various ‘exclusive’ banking products only available to Premier customers (mortgages, loans, etc), but I’ve never used any of these as I haven’t found them competitive.
Chris H says:

24 Oct24 October 08:21

You do get English heritage membership for free which if you’re paying for the family already has some benefit – especially if you have a joint account since each card admits 2 adults you can take other people in too (and as many kids as you like). They also throw in the odd bottle from majestic now and then
Anna says:

24 Oct24 October 08:32

Is the income requirement household or just the account holder?
- stevenhp1987 says:
  
  24 Oct24 October 09:22
  
  The website just details £75k income into the account. It doesn’t say individual income like the HSBC Premier account does so I’ve read it as household income.
  
  I applied this morning on the basis of our household income (we currently hold Santander Select with this which isn’t worth anything…).
  
  Just got a standard email response “Thank you for applying for a joint current account with Barclays on 24/10/2019. We’ll write to you both in the next few days with the result of your application. If we need any more information, we’ll get in touch with you.”
  - RWJ says:
    
    24 Oct24 October 11:27
    
    Interested in how this goes. Was told by webchat that one of the joint applicants needed to meet the criteria.
    - stevenhp1987 says:
      
      24 Oct24 October 11:47
      
      I was told by the webchat so long as the equivalent of £75k income goes into the account then it’s fine. They literally copy and pasted the requirement and didn’t divulge from their script despite repeated requests for confirmation.
    - stevenhp1987 says:
      
      24 Oct24 October 17:45
      
      Rang up the Premier Team. They said if it was an upgrade, then he would do it no problem as our combined salary is way above £75k.
      
      The agent was super friendly (which I’m not used to with Santander Select…) and will call me back tomorrow with an update. Might need to go to branch with payslips etc. They might end up opening a regular account, and then simply upgrading to get around the automated system.
      - RWJ says:
        
        27 Oct27 October 06:48
        
        Thanks Steven. Again, interested if you are able to get the Premier account open. An update would be appreciated once known.
        Thanks
Seb says:

24 Oct24 October 08:34

Does anyone know whether the salary requirement is for one person or if you’re opening a joint bank account can this be across two people?
- RWJ says:
  
  24 Oct24 October 11:21
  
  Their webchat yesterday said at least one of the joint applicants has to qualify
- A says:
  
  24 Oct24 October 11:41
  
  +1
IanMac says:

24 Oct24 October 08:57

Barclays Premier account used to be worthwhile when they had the relationship with Patisserie Valerie.
One free hot drink every day = £3.00 / £3.50 every day (if near a PV – it was a nice mid-afternoon break to stroll down to the nearest PV to my office).
Unfortunately when PV went into administration then the arrangement ceased.
(Earlier it had been 2 free drinks Saturday and Sunday; then drink plus cake on Friday).
Still get Gourmet Society discounts – quite useful and Thorntons free choc Easter egg and Xmas box (that also used to be free 2 scoops ice cream weekly during summer !!)
- Lady London says:
  
  24 Oct24 October 17:58
  
  With I’d known about that deal with Patisserie Valierie @IanMac! I would defnitely have looked into an account had I known.
  
  Shocked to hear Patisserie Valerie collapsed. Was private equity heavily involved with them, perchance? Wondering what happened to their restaurants. I used to absolutely Love their iced Apple Pie at their original Old Compton Street branch.
Troll Basher says:

24 Oct24 October 09:04

Am I way off here, or am I getting better value with the added Avios by using my BA Amex on a £2700 ticket to SYD than I am saving £75 by booking with my Barclays Premier, not forgetting the extra protection afforded by the fact Amex is credit and Barclays is debit..?
- AJA says:
  
  24 Oct24 October 09:37
  
  I’d use BA Amex every time. Are you buying directly from BA? Also assume it’s the BAPP? If so you’d get 2700 x 3 = 8100 Avios which at 1p value is £81 plus the S75 protection of the credit card v debit.
Braiden Woodward says:

24 Oct24 October 09:34

I completed the online application but it wants me to go into a branch to verify my identity, but I need to make an appointment. Anyone know what is involved?
- Anna says:
  
  24 Oct24 October 10:38
  
  Last time I opened an account in a branch (a Halifax Young Saver account for my son!) they had me there for 45 minutes filling in forms and watching a video on the perils of money laundering. It would put me off doing it again, even for the avios!
Elguiri says:

24 Oct24 October 09:42

Barclays premiere also gives you free English heritage entry, great if you like to visit castles and ruins. Around Oxford you also got free cinema tickets and membership to the independent cinema club.