Barclays Premier switch

[elephanthunt11]

I recently switched my main account from Halifax, which I opened as my first ‘adult’ account, and banked with them since 18.

I’m no stranger to switching - opening secondary accounts purely for switching purposes (until I switched to First Direct and fell in love, thus needing a tertiary account for further switching) and have since pushed various accounts round the carousel of switching offers.

I saw Barclays have a switching incentive going on and as I had regular savers set up with first direct and Lloyds, I decided to switch my beloved Halifax. I applied for the Barclays Premier account (fee free but caveats are £75k+ salary or £100k+ invested with Barclays), account opening was dead easy as you’d expect in 2023, but what I really wanted to share is how impressed I have been with Barclays.

I have banked with Halifax, Lloyds, First Direct, RBS, Monzo, Starling and Nationwide at some point in the last 12 years. The only bank that shares top spot with Barclays for me is First Direct. Barclays premier team have been absolutely exceptional (and I am not an ‘easy’ customers, I’m quite demanding and have regular need to be in contact with my bank).

Barclays and First Direct really are a cut above the rest in terms of customer service. Customer service - 80% of what constitutes good CS is low/non existent wait times.

It’s a shame First Direct only offers very basic banking services but I have no regrets about switching from Halifax to Barclays.

For anyone unsure about whether to switch, I couldn’t recommend Barclays Premier enough and they will even throw you £170 for a switch bonus, access to a 5.12% instant access savings account (up to £5k) and some very respectable Cash isa rates if that’s your thing.

If you go with the premier account you’ll get access to the dedicated Barclays Premier team, better savings rates, better mortgage rates, still all the boons from their standard offering I.e the savings account rates, £170 switch bonus, and you’ll also get a rather fetching black card instead of the typical Barclays blue.

I have no axe to grind here, I was just so impressed and surprised by Barclays I wanted to share this with you all.

[Lootman]

I have HSBC Premier, although frankly it is not worth much at all to me, especially since HSBC de-staffed the Premier area of my local branch and have not reinstated those people.

But that leads me to my beef with Barclays. Of all the bank branches within walking distance for me, and there are about a dozen of them, Barclays is the one that operates with a skeleton staff. It is basically a wall of DIY machines with a clerk to help people use them. There is hardly any personal service, and no cash from a human teller, but those are the services I want from "premier" banking.

At least HSBC has staff on the floor and cashiers, even if there is no longer a dedicated premier area and staff. Same with the other local bank branches. So it seems to me that Barclays has gone the furthest along the path to virtual banking.

[the0ni0nking]

I've previously had the debate with Lootman on another thread about the virtues or otherwise of HSBC Premier (which is where I bank and I've not suffered the same degredation of service as he has - my branch still has a dedicate Premier serivce area for example).

However - and this is now going to test my memory and I may well get it wrong - but in the late 90s I had an online stockbroking account with DLJ Direct (which were great). DLJ Direct I think got bought by TD Waterhouse who were not great.

So I moved to Charles Schwab (back to good to great again) and then Barclays bought Charles Schwab and everything became not great again. I can't recall why it wasn't great but at that time I was Barclay Premier (or equivalent) and they p1ssed me off sufficently to move everything to HSBC which is where my main banking has remained ever since.

As always, we all have different experiences!

[Lootman]

I've previously had the debate with Lootman on another thread about the virtues or otherwise of HSBC Premier (which is where I bank and I've not suffered the same degredation of service as he has - my branch still has a dedicate Premier serivce area for example).

However - and this is now going to test my memory and I may well get it wrong - but in the late 90s I had an online stockbroking account with DLJ Direct (which were great). DLJ Direct I think got bought by TD Waterhouse who were not great.

So I moved to Charles Schwab (back to good to great again) and then Barclays bought Charles Schwab and everything became not great again. I can't recall why it wasn't great but at that time I was Barclay Premier (or equivalent) and they p1ssed me off sufficently to move everything to HSBC which is where my main banking has remained ever since.

As always, we all have different experiences!

Schwab still exists and even has a walk-in office in Ludgate Hill by St. Paul's.

I came to TDW via a different route (Yorkshire/Yorkshare) and I thought they were fine. They even also had a walk-in office (Holborn), which I liked. It was when they moved to ii and then abrdn that the problems started for me.

[Steveam]

I bank with HSBC and it’s ok (nothing special) but I’m a very undemanding customer. I rarely use the branch network. The biggest benefit for me is the free travel insurance provided by Aviva.

Best wishes, Steve

[GeoffF100]

I use Santander. It is a good deal financially, and I can make £50K MasterCard debit card payments and £100K Faster Payments over the phone. The online service is fine. Branch service? Forget it. The downside is that their "dedicated Select team" took about 15 minutes to answer the phone on the last two occasions that I phoned them. They used to be better. Hopefully they will get better again.

I have a Barclaycard Rewards card. I get emails telling me that my statement has arrived. When I log in, it says that my statement will be available soon. Statement downloads have stopped working with Firefox. I rang them once and got a bot. I eventually got put through to a human, who told me that I could not reduce my contactless limit. Not impressed.

Are any of the other banks good for large payments online or over the phone?

[DrFfybes]

Are any of the other banks good for large payments online or over the phone?

Have a look here...

https://www.wearepay.uk/what-we-do/paym ... on-limits/

ISTR Lloyds were the bast for me when sorting mum's Estate but they've dropped their phone limit since.

Paul

[GeoffF100]

Are any of the other banks good for large payments online or over the phone?

Have a look here...

https://www.wearepay.uk/what-we-do/paym ... on-limits/

ISTR Lloyds were the bast for me when sorting mum's Estate but they've dropped their phone limit since.

I am aware of the published limits for Faster Payments. Starling seems to be the only bank that clearly matches Santander without going into a branch, but they do say individual limits apply. I have read that they do a call back, but I do not know how fast they are. It is probably better than hanging on the phone though. I could live with First Direct's £50K limit, and they have a reputation for answering the phone quickly. Metro Bank is listed as having a telephone limit of £250K, but there is nothing on their website about it.

Debit card payments are another matter. Cannot find anything about that. Santander says MasterCard's limit is £50K. Visa's limit? I do not know, but I could not transfer as much when Santander used Visa. Each bank can, of course, can impose further limits.

I have no reason to jump, but it is interesting to know who the competition is. Starling and First Direct, probably.

[DrFfybes]

I am aware of the published limits for Faster Payments.
[...]
Debit card payments are another matter. Cannot find anything about that. Santander says MasterCard's limit is £50K. Visa's limit? I do not know, but I could not transfer as much when Santander used Visa. Each bank can, of course, can impose further limits.

I thought all phone and online payments were using the Faster system?

Santander Debit Card used to be £100k/day, I think it has dropped to £50k although I haven't tried to 'spend' (or rather top up an investment account using a card) that much recently.

Paul

[rhys]

I second the Barclays Premier service. The bank never paid the best interst rates, but client service has been excellent, on personal and biz accounts. LIkewise Barclays Stockbrokers, Glasgow always answered the phone promptly during a 'fast market'. This has been important for me.

My local branch manager (remember them?) recommended it to me in 1995. First name terms with the client teams, both here and IoM. Easy transfers of cash. Recently I had wanted an interest paying US$ account, and my Barclays contact suggested that I transfer my balance on that account out to Lloyds!

I'm not sure about the black debit card, but I do like the facility to upload a family photo and have it on the front of my card. This can be changed once per year.

[the0ni0nking]

Recently I had wanted an interest paying US$ account, and my Barclays contact suggested that I transfer my balance on that account out to Lloyds!

Out of interest, was that to the Lloyds International Instant Saver? (Can have accounts in $, Euro or GBP)

Mildly irritatingly, while I already bank with Lloyds, when I tried to open the account recently because this savings account is provided by Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets, I need to do all the AML/KYC checks again and I didn't have the necessary documents to do that electronically while I'm working in Continental Europe.

I'm back to the UK for a couple of weeks tomorrow so hoping to pop into a branch and get it all set up before I head to Spain for Christmas and New Year.

[GeoffF100]

I am aware of the published limits for Faster Payments.
[...]
Debit card payments are another matter. Cannot find anything about that. Santander says MasterCard's limit is £50K. Visa's limit? I do not know, but I could not transfer as much when Santander used Visa. Each bank can, of course, can impose further limits.

I thought all phone and online payments were using the Faster system?

Santander Debit Card used to be £100k/day, I think it has dropped to £50k although I haven't tried to 'spend' (or rather top up an investment account using a card) that much recently.l

No. Here is a summary of some of the payment systems:

https://fastpayltd.co.uk/blog/what-is-a ... ent/#Part4

MasterCard and Visa have their own payment systems. I recently did a £46K MasterCard payment from Santa to iWeb (as it appears in my notes). Vanguard says that their limit is £100K via debit card, but I do know if any of the banks can do that at the other end. I was able to pay in using CHAPS with Vanguard's old telephone service, but that does not appear to be possible with their current online service.

The best bets appear to be banks that do not have a branch network or have only a pathetic one. Starling and FD are the Which? recommended providers and they top the official customer service satisfaction table, along with Monzo:

https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/personal-ba ... ruary-2023

[the0ni0nking]

Separate from other comments, I did a £40k debit card purchase with my HSBC card (for Premium Bonds) back end of last month.

I already had purchased the first £10k earlier in the month otherwise the amount would have been £50k.

That would seem to align with First Direct which is what you would expect given their overall ownership.