Barclays Blue Rewards review: Earn 5.12% on savings

Is it worth adding the fee-paying extra to your Barclays current account?

Barclays customers generally get a poor deal for bonuses and freebies, and the Blue Rewards scheme has been pretty poor compared to other banks.

Since 2022 the bank has offered a 5.12% AER rate on savings for account holders, and now added up to 15% cashback. I’ve taken a look at whether it’s worth signing up.

** UPDATE 1/11/23 – There’s a new £175 bank switch offer running until the end of the month. Here’s more **

What are Barclays Blue Rewards?

Barclays Blue Rewards is an add-on you can choose to put on your Barclays current account.

You’ll get a monthly reward, money back on specific Barclays products (mortgages, home insurance and loans) if you meet some basic criteria and pay a monthly fee. There are also extras such as prize draws and exclusive savings accounts.

Barclays Blue Rewards requirements

First, you have to have a Barclays current account. You can’t get Blue Rewards if you already have Barclays Avios Rewards, though you can change over.

You’ll need to pay a monthly fee, which is currently £5 a month. This makes it one of the most expensive add-ons for current accounts.

You also need to have two Direct Debits leave the account each month. I’ve written here about some easy and fast ones you can set up if you’re short of these, though I’ve always put some ongoing charity donations on my account.

There’s also the need to pay in £800 a month to the current account, but this doesn’t need to stay in there so you can withdraw it or spend it.

5.12% savings on up to £5,000

This new Rainy Day Saver offers an exclusive rate of 5.12% for Blue Rewards members. Though you can hold up to £10 million there, you’ll only earn the rate on the first £5,000. At the time of writing, this makes it the best paying place to keep your cash.

  • Save £500 for 12 months to earn £25.60
  • Save £1,000 for 12 months to earn £51.20
  • Save £2,500 for 12 months to earn £128
  • Save £5,000 for 12 months to earn £256

It’s fully easy access, so you can take out and deposit the money as and when you want. There’s only one account per person, whether that’s in sole or joint names.

To find and open the account in the app, go to the Products tab at the bottom of the screen, click savings, then “see all accounts”. You’ll then see the Rainy Day Saver account to open. You can also open it online, over the phone or in branch.

Note this is different from the Blue Rewards Saver which pays just 1.26% interest as long as you don’t make withdrawals (which can easily be beaten elsewhere).

Other Rewards

A monthly Reward (kind of)

The main earner used to be the Reward payment. When it launched in 2015 you got £7 back for a £3 fee, worth £48 a year. Then in 2019 the fee increased to £4, leaving an annual profit of £36.

But since March 2022 you’ll get a £5 reward for a £5 fee, so zero profit. It’s a strange way of doing things!

Extra Rewards if you have other Barclays products

An extra reward is given for having a Barclays mortgage, which currently stands at £3 a month. Those customers will get an extra £36 each year.

There’s 3% cashback on home insurance and £1 life insurance held with Barclays.

Exclusive offers

When Barclays dropped the cashback feature of Blue Rewards in 2021, it launched some ‘exclusive offers’. These haven’t been particularly exciting so far. There was an offer for one-to-one money coaching, but numbers were very limited and places went very fast. Otherwise it was just a handful of prize draws.

How to get Blue Reward payments

Interest from savings is paid straight into the savings account, so if you have the full £5,000 saved you’ll want to withdraw the extra on top each month and move it to a better paying account.

It’s different however for the other Rewards. If you meet all the requirements, the £5 bonus cash and any mortgage or insurance cashback is not paid directly into your current account. Instead it goes into a digital Rewards Wallet. To access this money you need to transfer it out of your Rewards wallet. You do this via your online or app banking.

I think the Blue Rewards wallet is all a bit complicated. Surely it would be a lot easier to just give customers the money straight into their account, as Halifax does with its Reward account? Just remember to move this money each month too.

Are Barclays Blue Rewards worth it?

Andy’s Analysis

Blue Rewards have always been the poor cousin to better schemes from Halifax and Lloyds, and even Natwest/RBS.

The changes earlier in 2022 put not just Blue Rewards, but also Barclays, right at the bottom of the pile.

But the new 5% savings account could be worth up to £256 a year, making it the most profitable offer from the banks – as long as you have £5,000 to save.

So, yes if you can take advantage of the high interest it’s worth signing up. Just be aware that other accounts could match or beat that rate, so keep an eye on your options.

Of course, if you’re worried about the ethics of banks you save with, then Barclays is one of the worst out there.

How to sign up for Barclays Blue Rewards

First, you need to have a Barclays current account. Once you’ve got this, you need to sign up for Blue Rewards, which you can do from your online banking or the app.

How to cancel Barclays Blue Rewards

If you decide you don’t want to continue with Blue Rewards you can easily cancel it in your online or app banking. I did in on the app in just a few seconds.

  • Open up your app and choose Blue Rewards from the home screen
  • Scroll down to the bottom of the screen
  • Select “Leave Barclays Blue Rewards”
  • Tick the box at the bottom of the screen
  • Press the “Confirm” button

Any money you have left or pending in the Blue Rewards wallet will be moved to your current account. If you wish to rejoin you’ll have to wait at least two days.

Alternatives to Blue Rewards

Barclays isn’t the only bank to offer extras, and many have benefits without having to save any money. You could choose to switch your account to a different bank (and maybe nab a switching bonus) or you can simply open up extra current accounts. Here are my picks and links to reviews with further details:

23 thoughts on “Barclays Blue Rewards review: Earn 5.12% on savings

  1. May I ask, paying in 5k, what interest did they give you ?

  2. Hi, very useful information. Just joined and wondering the £800 that need to go into the account every month, can it come from another bank account in my name ie hsbc, nationwide etc?
    Thanks for any help on the matter.

  3. I’m surprised at the number of comments from people experiencing issues with opening the Rainy Day account – I already had Blue Rewards, as part of my Barclays account, and a few clicks later I’d opened the Rainy Day account, deposited £5000, which appear instantly, and the first monthly sum of interest appearing at end of the first month.
    As it pays a tiny amount of interest on any sum over £5000, I sweep the interest out of the account on the 1st of each month.
    Best interest rate ever !!

    1. May I ask, paying in 5k, what interest did they give you ?

  4. Once you’ve opened the rainy day saver account, do you need to keep the blue rewards open? Or can you close that down and still keep getting the interest rate on the rainy day?

  5. anyone know cut-off times for payments in?

    just transferred £1400 into rainy day save (10pm) and it’s dated tomorrow (£0.00 available balance)

  6. Thanks for an excellent article Andy. I was tempted. You mention Barclay’s poor ethics record, so I went and read about it here — https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/money-finance/whats-wrong-hsbc-barclays — and decided it wasn’t for me.

  7. On Blue rewards, do you receive cash back on purchases not related to Barclays products?

    1. Sadly not

      1. Andrew scrimshaw April 22, 2023 at 8:52 pm

        Can you please tell me ,when I pay £800,in my blue reward account,by standing order,how many days ,I have got to keep in the account,for me to get, the 5.12% interest in my,rainy day account,?.

  8. Is it worth waiting to see if Barclays launce a switch incentive?

    1. Possibly… I was surprised this interest rate wasn’t dependent on switching

  9. I have cancelled my blue reward on line but noticed they are still taking £5. Fee out every month..I have retried cancellation but there is no option available…

  10. I would mention that Blue Rewards Savings Account now pays 0.40% not 0.15% as mentioned in Previous post

  11. Sarah Louise Neave February 2, 2021 at 6:32 pm

    If you leave your rewards in your reward wallet will they pay you interest, like you get with a savings account?

    1. Nope! Sadly it just sits there so you need to transfer it out.

  12. Just tried to join Barclays. I saw there was mention of CASS on the application page which seems to be a bit indirectly located (https://www.barclays.co.uk/current-accounts/bank-account/) – went with “Apply with Blue Rewards”, followed all the way through to successful completion, seeing the option to switch accounts at the end, only to discover it starts up a whole new current account application all over again. On contacting their help I’m told I have to go to a physical branch to complete the switching application. Complete mess and waste of time.

    1. That’s a nightmare. If they want new customers they should make it easier to join, not harder!

      1. Indeed! And I can’t even cancel the application without visiting the branch, which means they could charge their £3 fee in any case, hardly convenient for rural customers. Never had this when opening and switching with other banks.

  13. If you sign up to Barclays Blue Rewards before 29th June 2018 the usual £7 per month reward for paying in £800 per month and having 2 direct debits is doubled to £14 per month for first 12 months. Against the monthly fee of £3, this gives a profit of £11 per month….£132 over the 12 month period. After that it would reduce to £7 monthly rewards against the £3 fee: still a profit of £4 per month.

  14. Its worth mentioning Barclays offer cashback, and an impressive 10% from Currys and Argos, so if you are splashing out on a say a big tech purchase, its worth it. If you are with Blue, it goes up to 11% (whoopee).

  15. Pingback: The best bank switching, cashback and interest offers: Includes new M&S Bank £220 bonus - Be Clever With Your Cash
  16. Pingback: Barclays Blue Rewards: Does the advert add up? - Be Clever With Your Cash

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