Barclays' new Blue Rewards current account offers £12 per month bonus

Barclays have just announced their new current account. It offers a "Blue Rewards" scheme that seems to be designed to rival the cashback schemes being offered by other banks.

The new current account add-on will offer customers the chance to earn up to £180 a year in cash payments. In order to achieve this, customers will need to pay £800 per month into their account. They will also be required to have set up a pair of direct debits and have an activated online banking account.
The offer is open to anybody who currently has a Barclays bank account and is simple to upgrade to.

This account is designed to rival other similar schemes that other banks currently offer. One of the most appealing features of this scheme is that it requires a lower monthly pay-in than most of its competitors.

There is a £3 per month fee that gets paid in towards the Blue Rewards scheme, in return customers are offered £7 per month back; so long as they keep up the required payments. If a customer were to participate fully in this scheme for one year, they would stand to gain £48 overall.

If you are a customer with a Barclays mortgage or with Barclays insurance, you can earn up to £144 overall for one year with the scheme.

Barclays are also teaming up with many big retailers to offer cashback rewards to customers when they pay with their debit card at one of the participating stores.

Customers will receive these reward payments via a virtual "wallet" that can be viewed online. You will then be able to transfer this money into your bank account through your online banking.

Catherine McGrath, who is the managing director of personal banking at Barclays, stated:

'Barclays Blue Rewards is a brand new way for millions of existing and new customers to benefit from banking with Barclays.'

'Building lasting relationships with all of our customers means rewarding everyone, no matter what they earn.'

'The more you bank with us, the more cash you get to use as you choose. With rewards on savings and other Barclays products launching soon, customers can be confident we'll continue to give their monthly earnings a welcome boost.'

The last packaged current account that Barclays had introduced was discontinued in 2012. That account initially offered a variety of add-ons for around £15 per month.

This new account will allow customers to add certain packs to their deal; ranging from home insurance to travel insurance.

It is suspected by many that Barclays are using this account to flagship a new drive towards bettering their switching figures from 2014. Barclays recorded switching losses of 1% last year. Recent research by TNS UK suggests that most people who are looking for a new current account are impressed by rewards schemes such as this one and others like it.

However Barclays did not suffer as many customer losses as some of its competitors. HSBC fared the worst by losing 8% of switching customers. Lloyds and Natwest both suffered similarly by losing around 4% of their customers via switches.

One of the reasons that Barclays has avoided these kinds of figures is that it offers competitive online and mobile banking schemes.

Santander recorded the best switching figures in 2014, gaining 12% of all the people switching banks. After them came Halifax with 6%.

Santander are offering their 123 Current Account which gives customers a 3% interest rate on amounts between £3,000 and £20,000.

This account also offers cashback features and only comes with a £2 monthly fee, its monthly requirement of £500 is also lower than Barclays'.
Halifax's account can offer customers rewards of up to £5 per month and also a £100 lump sum when you switch.

Unlike with the other accounts on offer there is no monthly fee to be paid. You are required to pay in £750 per month in order to receive the bonus. This is lower than the amount required by Barclays.

Make the most of your money by comparing current accounts with MoneyExpert.com.