NatWest Premier – any experience?

[rum]

Has anyone got any experience signing up to a NatWest Premier account? How strict are they with their criteria? Are they better than Barclays at customer service? Wondering if I could switch my Barclays account to make use of the £200 bribe.

[YC]

U don’t need to switch to premier. Even standard products get the £200. I definitely find the customer service better vs Barclays and the switch payout was within a few days

[WillPS]

I’ve no complaints about the customer service I’ve received from Natwest Group, even at the mere mortal level I’ve held with them (don’t meet their high premier requirements).

[rum]

Thanks for the comments guys. Really appreciate your responses.

I know I could just take the basic account and switch to that but either way it’s not my main account. I suppose they could let me upgrade to Premier in future if I end up having a good relationship with them.

I’ve been more than happy with HSBC Premier but I also have accounts with the FinTechs and keep Barclays open purely for the avios supplement. It’s just not worth staying with them for the grief they cause…

Is NatWest as strict as Barclays when it comes to paying your salary into your account held with them?

[sloth]

Been with them for 31 years for main current ac and no complaints. Have switched mule accounts to most of the other banks for the bonuses but wouldn’t switch my main account. Like anything im sure there will be some that think they are terrible from their experience but for me I’m perfectly happy

[sloth]

rum wrote:

Thanks for the comments guys. Really appreciate your responses.

Is NatWest as strict as Barclays when it comes to paying your salary into your account held with them?

I cant comment on how strict they are with regards paying your salary in as I do pay it in as it’s my main account, however my salary has varied quite wildly recently due to salary sacrifice and there haven’t been any complaints. I think being with them for so long helps in that regard

[rum]

It’s really interesting hearing everyone’s experiences as it’s not a bank that is mentioned a lot on here. Perhaps the positive experiences explain why.

sloth wrote:

I cant comment on how strict they are with regards paying your salary in as I do pay it in as it’s my main account, however my salary has varied quite wildly recently due to salary sacrifice and there haven’t been any complaints. I think being with them for so long helps in that regard

Thanks @sloth. Are you specifically referring to NatWest Premier?

[sloth]

Yes. I agree it’s weird they don’t get much coverage in here especially when you can convert the rewards to avios…

[BuildBackBetter]

The contrast with Barclays is an interesting one. Barclays CS couldn’t ‘see’ the credit card even though the app was telling me I had it. Probably because Barclaycard uses different systems, but that’s their problem to sort out.
Never had an IT or CS problem with NatWest. Their staff at branches were also very helpful. They are just extra cautious when it comes to suspicious transactions- they don’t allow large withdrawals without further questioning and block transactions if they are suspicious. Give them a call and after a couple of checks, the block will be removed.

[rum]

I’m really liking what I’m reading. I think it’s a matter of which account to go for rather than if…

There’s the option of a standard rewards account or Premier. Both require salary to be paid in to the account each month and both cost £2 a month. Standard gives rewards up to £5 per month, Premier up to £10. Barclays costing me £12 a month so quite tempting.

How easy is it to convert rewards to Avios? And what is the conversion rate? Is anyone able to post a sanitised (= no personal information) screen shot?

[sloth]

BA £10 1170 avios
Emirates £10 770 skywards

Is easy to convert (baec), no experience of emirates but sure it’s similar

[jj]

Been with them several years with few complaints. 14,040 Avios for free each year is pretty good, but be aware that BA sometimes disappears as a transfer partner for a few months.

I had one customer service problem where a promise given by my account manager wasn’t honoured and I was out of pocket by about £1K. I struggled to get the complaint registered, perhaps because the people needing to register it had made the mistake, but I got the cash back from the third party in the end and gave up. Left a sour taste, though.

[rum]

Thanks, @jj – I assume in mentioning account manager you are Premier with them?
If so, how strict are they with the income requirement. I think I am just hovering below the mark so I’m not sure if they’re likely to accept me.

Or I could just go for a standard account and look to move it to Premier in the future. Any thoughts?

[jj]

@rum, yes, Premier. I have no idea how flexible they are with the income requirement. Why not book an appointment to open the account and try? The worst that can happen is that you are refused.

[rum]

jj wrote:

@rum, yes, Premier. I have no idea how flexible they are with the income requirement. Why not book an appointment to open the account and try? The worst that can happen is that you are refused.

I spoke to someone on their premier line. They didn’t seem very sure so confirmed with a colleague that it needs to be bang on 100K. Maybe I’ll try the best of 3 answers? 🙂

Actually the worst that could happen is that I’ll end up with no Premier account and a big fat hard search on my credit file which I don’t want to have unless there’s a good reason.

Premier makes a lot more sense as there’s 0% on foreign spend with their debit card and you get higher rewards than the standard account.

Does anyone know which retailers are included in the 1% cashback on debit card spend?

[PIL]

NatWest Premier – Strict on eligibility criteria, worth it though due to enhanced rewards compared to standard account. Managed to get one following an account review (was rejected initially although I was north of £100k), totally worth it in my opinion due to the above reason.
You also have access to debit cashback offers similar to the Visa barclaycard offers.

[rum]

Do they do spot checks/regular reviews to see if you are paying in the amount stated, as per Barclays?

[BuildBackBetter]

rum wrote:

Actually the worst that could happen is that I’ll end up with no Premier account and a big fat hard search on my credit file which I don’t want to have unless there’s a good reason.

There wont be a hard credit check unless you opt in for an overdraft facility.

[Tracey]

The benefits are good – dragon pass, insurance for 4 mobile phones, high rated annual travel insurance, emergency household cover.
Haven’t had any problems with the account and the app is very good.

[NigelHamilton]

I had NatWest Premier from 2006 until last year, when I switched to the Barclays account. Three things made me switch, the 100k Avios, they’d just made my excellent premier manager redundant (I’ve had some great ones and some you never hear from) and NatWest had just decided to close my local branch and I occasionally like to speak to a person. Lo and behold, Barclays have just decided to close their branch before the regulator will stop them doing so, and I’ve received the 100k Avios, so I might look again for another bank!

With NatWest, Ive had both the paid account but you couldn’t go too wrong with the reward premier, which gave you £10 back a month. I tended to convert this to avios (you do very slightly better if you do it in £20 amounts – 2,380 from memory.)

[PIL]

BuildBackBetter wrote:

rum wrote:

Actually the worst that could happen is that I’ll end up with no Premier account and a big fat hard search on my credit file which I don’t want to have unless there’s a good reason.

There wont be a hard credit check unless you opt in for an overdraft facility.

Had a hard search even without an overdraft facility

[rum]

PIL wrote:

Had a hard search even without an overdraft facility

Yeah, I’d expect a hard search given that I don’t have any relationship with them whatsoever.

[BuildBackBetter]

Tracey wrote:

The benefits are good – dragon pass, insurance for 4 mobile phones, high rated annual travel insurance, emergency household cover.
Haven’t had any problems with the account and the app is very good.

Sounds like a decent package. If only the dragon pass came with some free passes for kids…

[trient]

FWIW the upgrades to Premier for NWG (incl. RBS and Ulster) are automated (you apply by filling in a form and then an algo validates you a few days later – if declined you’re referred to CS for follow up). But if they see a legit BACS net salary confirming gross income of 100k+ you’re upgraded automatically no question asked. Only later will the assigned PRM reach out to you for cross-selling…

I tried upgrading an account before proof of income and was told computer says no try again later, although that was Ulster so maybe they’re less willing to allow manual reviews, even if the decline email said so.

NatWest and RBG (having received salary already) went through in about a week just fine. I agree NWG are quite good.

[rum]

That’s brilliant. Thanks for all your comments. I think I’m just going to go with a regular account, pay salary in and over time might try to upgrade it that way. Once they’ve seen salary and so on going in, that might help things out in the future.

Will try to apply soon (trying to time it well with various payments going in/out). Hopefully it’ll all be a smooth process. Meanwhile, happy to hear about any other NatWest experiences going forward, so do keep them coming. Thanks again!