Barclays launches new rewards scheme

Δημοσιεύθηκε: 16 Απριλίου 2015 - 12:17

The battle for current account customers' business is hotting up as Barclays launches a new rewards programme offering customers up to £180 a year in cashback.

For a fee of £3 a month, the Barclays Blue Rewards scheme pays cash incentives to all customers who pay in at least £800 a month into their current account, have at least two direct debits set up and are signed up to online banking.

Customers who hold a mortgage or home insurance with Barclays can earn extra cash rewards and access exclusive cashback deals with retailers such as Expedia and Boots.

The current accounts eligible for the Barclays rewards deal are the Barclays Bank Account and the Premier Current Account and the cash rewards will be paid into a separate digital "wallet".

All customers will receive a £7 monthly "loyalty reward", but anyone with a Barclays residential mortgage will also get £5 a month. Home insurance customers will receive an extra £3 a month, generating a maximum possible gain of £12 after the £3 monthly fee is taken into account.

This means that someone who has their main current account, mortgage and home insurance with Barclays could receive £180 a year, in return for paying £36 in monthly fees.

Andrew Hagger of Moneycomms.co.uk, a price comparison site, said: "It looks as if Barclays has realised it needs to be more competitive to maintain its share of the current account market . . . The current account switching figures show that the bank has seen a net loss of 51,965 customers to competitors in the past three quarters of published data and there's a good chance that the latest set of figures out next week will reveal a similar trend."

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Hannah Maundrell, editor-in-chief of comparison site money.co.uk, added: "Barclays has finally buckled under pressure and introduced a rewards scheme designed to tempt new customers. Unfortunately, the Blue Rewards aren't quite as saucy as they sound. You'll be looking at around £48 cash back a year if you don't have a mortgage or home insurance with them, as the £7 monthly 'loyalty' payment will be degraded by a chunky £3 a month fee.

"While this is a nice perk if you're already a loyal Barclays customer and don't want to switch; in reality it's likely you'll be able to earn more elsewhere."

Other current account providers offering credit interest and cashback on utility direct debits include Halifax, whose customers pay £5 per month for the scheme, and Santander 123, which charges a £2 monthly fee.

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