What else does Barclays Premier offer apart from Avios?

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During May we spent some time looking again at the new Barclays Premier and Barclays Avios Rewards partnership, so you can see if it is worth signing up.

This article was meant to run as part of that group but got pushed back due to heavy news flow, primarily the changes to the British Airways American Express credit cards. If you are not keen on paying the new £250 fee for the Premium Plus Amex card, Barclays Avios Rewards could be an alternative.

When we first covered this in March, it was being slowly rolled out. Barclays Avios Rewards is now fully up and running and Barclays is now allowing you to open a Barclays Premier account online – click here.

There is a 25,000 Avios bonus for signing up. You will earn a total of 43,000 Avios in your first year.

What do you get from Barclays Avios Rewards?

If you qualify for Barclays Premier and complete a full current account switch, plus activate Barclays Avios Rewards (£12 per month fee) you will receive:

a sign-up bonus of 25,000 Avios – which seems to be posting promptly for those who switched at launch

a monthly bonus of 1,500 Avios

an annual British Airways upgrade voucher, allowing you to upgrade 2 x one-way flights or one return flight, booked on Avios, by one class

Here is our main introductory article:

Get 43,000 Avios and an upgrade voucher with Barclays Avios Rewards

This article explains how the British Airways upgrade voucher works:

How does the BA upgrade voucher from Barclays Avios Rewards work?

There is more to Barclays Premier Banking than just Avios

For obvious reasons, our coverage of this offer has focused on Barclays Avios Rewards, the generous 25,000 Avios sign-up bonus and the annual British Airways upgrade vouchers.

You get far more, of course. Barclays Premier Banking has a lot more to offer than just Avios.

To join Barclays Premier Banking, you require either:

a gross annual income of £75,000 or more, paid into your account, or

£100,000+ saved or invested with Barclays

Whilst most readers have focused on qualifying via the salary option, those with considerable liquid assets may want to look at the savings route and compare Barclays with their current provider.

How does the Premier current account work?

Full details of the Barclays Premier current account are on their website here.

It is important to note that there is no fee for a Barclays Premier currrent account.

There is a £12 month fee for joining Barclays Avios Rewards, but this is offset by the 1,500 monthly Avios you earn. Indeed, you would get £12 back by converting your 1,500 Avios into Nectar points and spending them in Sainsbury’s, Argos or eBay. The annual British Airways upgrade voucher is just the icing on the cake.

Your Premier current account comes with:

an interest free arranged overdraft of up to £500
ability to withdraw £1,000 per day from cash machines
access to a 24/7 Premier relationship team
fee-free international payments when made via the app or online, with all major currencies supported

You also get access to a range of exclusive products:

Premier mortgages, with exclusive rates for high-value loans
Premier landlord mortgages
Premier Barclayloan
Premier insurance and, for high value items, premium home insurance
Premier Cash ISA and savings products

Some of these products come with an extra Avios incentive if you are enrolled in Barclays Avios Rewards:

Mortgage – 700 Avios per month, with a one-off bonus of 2,000 Avios when taking out a mortgage
Life cover – 150 Avios per month for the first 12 months (500 Avios if critical illness cover is included)
Home cover – 75 Avios per month for contents insurance, 75 Avios per month for buildings insurance, 150 per month for combined cover, all payable for the first year of cover only

Barclays Wealth may also be an option

Whilst we focus on Barclays Premier Bankings, Barclays Avios Rewards is also available to Barclays Wealth customers with a current account.

Barclays Wealth requires you to hold investible assets of over £500,000. As well as standard banking services, you can access a range financial planning and investment options, depending on your situation and the level of support that your are looking for. This could include investment advice, discretionary portfolio management and financial planning.

You can learn more about Barclays Wealth on its website here.

Conclusion

If you are a high earner, it makes sense to move your current account to a ‘premium’ offering. You will get better service and access to more relevant products and services.

The Barclays Premier current account is free so you won’t even be paying for the privilege. Once you have an account, you can choose to add Barclays Avios Rewards and pick up your 25,000 Avios joining bonus as well as your 1,500 monthly Avios and your annual British Airways upgrade voucher.

You can learn more about Barclays Premier current accounts, and apply online, on its website here.

Category

Barclays Avios Rewards

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

NeilP1234 says:

11 Jun11 June 05:14

I have had this Barclays Premier account for a number of years but have chosen not to opt for the Avios option.

However, I do make use of the Travel Pack Plus pack for which I pay £11:50/mth which provides me with a decent travel insurance, RAC breakdown and 6 lounge passes.

I feel this is decent value.
- Ls says:
  
  11 Jun11 June 06:41
  
  Yes not a bad price. If the travel insurance works for you (it almost certainly work at the moment…) and you can use the lounge passes (probs worth £15 each).
  I assume you can’t get the avios in addition?
  - Neil says:
    
    11 Jun11 June 07:53
    
    I believe I can get the Avios if I pay the the £12 extra, but I will also have to turn off the Blue Rewards that gives both myself and my wife a net £3/mth (total £6/mth), so I personally do not see the value in doing that. I am currently in XS of 400K Avios and 3 unused 241 vouchers. Not sure I see too much value in collecting anymore without a clear sight of how I will redeem them.
    
    I am starting to wonder whether I just abandon Avios, spend the 400K Avios on wine via Sainsbury/Nectar (25% off when you buy 6 bottles or more etc) and then just buy the tickets I want in the Airline sales. That way I can fly where I want, with whom I want and when I want.
    
    As you get a bit older, and the pension has stretched a little further that you expected, then sometimes it is worth paying a premium for convenience. It really is a pain to ring Japan at midnight to book the return leg of flight back from say South Africa!
    
    I was also looking at a trip to Perth, but instead of flying to Perth with Airlines that fly to Perth, you start exploring routings that utilise Avios and vouchers. Life is sometimes too short for all this hassle.
- Keely says:
  
  11 Jun11 June 09:04
  
  I just cancelled the travel pus pack . Had it for many years but the travel insurance in my experience isn’t worth much. You are meant to update them with every medical condition and they then exclude you from claiming even though you already had cover with them before the medical condition started ..! My husband has been unfortunate to have had two major health issues in last 18 months and they won’t cover him even though we’ve had the travel pack in excess of 8 years. They also charge a hefty excess fee too so when hubby was mugged in Portugal and we claimed for watch , phone , money etc , what we got back didn’t touch our losses. Please be careful
  to check you are actually covered …
  - Neil says:
    
    11 Jun11 June 16:48
    
    Keely, I appreciate your comments. I will have a review but as a reasonably healthy couple, I feel that this insurance is to cover medical emergencies and cancellation through unexpected events. But I will have another look.
    
    I am not a big fan of Insurance (too many pigs in the trough) and only want it for disaster events. I am happy to self insure for smaller risks.
Tim says:

11 Jun11 June 06:47

‘What else does Barclays Premier offer apart from Avios?’ A bundle of pain.
- Doc says:
  
  11 Jun11 June 06:51
  
  Please explain Tim?
Shamrock says:

11 Jun11 June 07:00

I just received my BA upgrade voucher but don’t want to pay the £250. Do I have to use and complete my travel before cancelling the BA card? Or do I just need to book my travel using the voucher and then I can cancel? Thanks for replies
- Sam G says:
  
  11 Jun11 June 07:25
  
  You just need access to an Amex to pay the taxes and fees when you book. BA stores the voucher so you can cancel the card (Amex may tell you otherwise, ignore them)
  - Shamrock says:
    
    11 Jun11 June 08:40
    
    Thanks Sam.
    Also on 25k from Barclays. Have 2 months salary paid in but no points yet.
    - Marc says:
      
      11 Jun11 June 10:25
      
      “You will then receive your joining bonus in the fourth month of Barclays Avios Rewards membership”
      Source: https://www.barclays.co.uk/premier-banking/barclays-avios-rewards/#ref5
Stuart says:

11 Jun11 June 07:05

A question for those who have received the bonus – I have made 3 monthly payments of £12 for the Avios element of this account. Is it after the 4th payment that I received the 25,000 Avios? Thanks
- Craig says:
  
  11 Jun11 June 07:50
  
  Same position as you, the 25000 is showing in the earned Avios section under rewards in the app. I’m assuming after month 4 that will transfer over.
  - Stuart says:
    
    11 Jun11 June 08:03
    
    I don’t even have the 25,000 showing in the app, though met all the criteria and did everything that was asked of me!
  - Sussex bantam says:
    
    11 Jun11 June 08:15
    
    Same as you Craig. The 25k is showing in the app but not transferred yet. My 3rd lot of monthly avios transferred a few days ago.
- Cinimo says:
  
  11 Jun11 June 08:17
  
  I asked Barclays CS on the chat last week, and they said the bonus is paid in the 4th payment.
- Marc says:
  
  11 Jun11 June 10:26
  
  They also state this in the footnotes of their product overview page: “You will then receive your joining bonus in the fourth month of Barclays Avios Rewards membership”
  
  https://www.barclays.co.uk/premier-banking/barclays-avios-rewards/#ref5
Gary says:

11 Jun11 June 07:30

Has anyone successfully used the current account switch service via Barclays App in last week or two? Tried a few times, but app just said “don’t have an eligible account with us” [to switch to] which I do…. hoping not have to ring or attend a branch.
- Toppcat says:
  
  11 Jun11 June 08:50
  
  Yes, I successfully processed a switch in the last 24h.
- Roger says:
  
  11 Jun11 June 10:58
  
  Mate – it’s a nightmare. It’s because you have a joint account.
  
  The only way they can do the switch is in a video call. However, they set it up and they missed the time, then when I did get connected the woman wanted to do a whole financial review. I hung up.
  
  I signed up for Avios, got so frustrated that I cancelled.
  - Gary says:
    
    11 Jun11 June 11:54
    
    you are right and thanks for the heads up as have all that to look forward to!
Paul says:

11 Jun11 June 07:31

As with Stuart, I would disagree with the comment that the 25k posts promptly. It appears in the Barclays app but has not yet transferred to BA even after three months.

The account opening process was far from seamless, the app can’t do things that my previous bank did (eg delete old payees), and as you have to switch banks I have just had to pay £5 to get paper copies of my old bank statements. Yes you get some Avios but there is nothing premier at all
Karm says:

11 Jun11 June 07:42

All.. looking at the website it says you have to be earning at least 75K and have 100k invested in Barclays… However it says OR above.. which is correct please
- Rob says:
  
  11 Jun11 June 09:08
  
  Or
TheInsiderFly says:

11 Jun11 June 08:43

OH currently has neither HSBC Premier nor Barclays Premier but looking to switch to one. Is there a best approach to take with this? I.e. HSBC for 2 years, then switch to Barclays (or vice versa). Or is one significantly better than the other in people’s view? TIA
- Doug M says:
  
  11 Jun11 June 09:29
  
  All I can offer is that in the process of opening accounts with both HSBC and Barclays I’ve had to make formal complaints with both. If you want service then I honestly couldn’t recommend either.
- Memesweeper says:
  
  11 Jun11 June 10:27
  
  I did HSBC first. They seemed marginally less fussy than Barclays, but I have had a long history of business banking with HSBC, which probably decomplicated things.
- HH says:
  
  11 Jun11 June 15:05
  
  I went Premier with HSBC in March 2019 and with Barclays in October 2019. Both done in-branch in Canary Wharf with no issues. It depends on your OH’s priorities, e.g.
  – the travel insurance from HSBC is my most worthwhile perk so far (at least until I get a BA upgrade voucher from Barclays)
  – nothing feels Premier about HSBC’s service, while Barclays gave me a dedicated manager who has proven useful
  – Barclays beats HSBC for daily cash withdrawal limits and in-app cheque deposit limits, which makes it a more useful account