Best Premier bank accounts in the UK
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Ruslan - 30 Jun, 2025
Premier bank accounts come with additional perks and benefits that regular current accounts simply don’t have: travel insurance, free subscriptions, 24/7 telephone support, etc. Moreover, these benefits are usually offered without any additional fees. The only catch - you need to meet certain qualification requirements (more on that below).
Today we’re running a side by side comparison of Premier bank accounts from 3 different providers in the UK: Barclays, HSBC and Lloyds. Let’s figure out if Premier banking is actually worth it or it’s just a marketing gimmick devised by banks to lure you into their financial ecosystems.
Eligibility criteria
Banks use Premier accounts to target higher earning customers. This means there’re certain eligibility criteria you need to meet:
- Either have an income above a certain threshold deposited into your bank account monthly
- … or a certain sum saved or invested with the bank.
| Income | Savings & investments | |
| Barclays Premier | £75,000+ annual salary (before tax) | £100,000 |
| HSBC Premier | £100,000+ annual salary (before tax) | £100,000 |
| LLoyds Premier | £5,000 paid into your account monthly
Equivalent to £85,000 annual salary (before tax) |
£100,000 |
Based on the table above, Barclays Premier seems like the easiest of the 3 to qualify for with its £75,000 annual income requirement.
Income - this usually needs to be a monthly salary payment deposited via Direct Credit. E.g. HSBC explicitly spells this out in the T&Cs. It’s not clear whether simply transferring £5,000 into the Lloyds Premier account from an account you have in another bank would satisfy the income criteria.
Savings - this includes balances across savings accounts, ISAs, general investment accounts and SIPs.
Remember, you’re only required to meet one of the criteria: income or savings.
Benefits
I tend to put benefits provided by Premier accounts into one of two buckets:
- Better banking - this is stuff like 24/7 support, preferential mortgage terms, free overdrafts, etc.
- Lifestyle perks - these are things like free travel insurance or entertainment subscriptions.
Let’s dive deeper into each category below and see how useful these benefits actually are.
24/7 support
All 3 accounts (Barclays, HSBC and LLoyds) give you access to a dedicated telephone line that is open 24/7. You can use this for queries related to your account or other banking needs.
Personally, I’ve found this helpful on a number of occasions. Having your call be answered quickly at any time of the day or night, without navigating endless call center menus, takes a lot of the stress out of dealing with your bank. I normally use this for things that can’t (yet!) be accomplished online, e.g. ordering a certified bank statement for a visa application.
All 3 banks also offer access to so-called financial guides.I’ve used this service once with Barclays when I was considering getting a second mortgage. The person I spoke to walked me through Stamp Duty implications, how my existing mortgage would affect affordability considerations and even encouraged me to shop around in case I can get a better rate at another bank. While that was definitely a good experience, and I appreciated the ease of getting this advice, I generally remain skeptical about this service and definitely wouldn’t use it to e.g. manage my investments.
Banking benefits: boosted savings, cashback and cheaper mortgages?
While all 3 banks promise Premier exclusive rates on savings, loans and mortgages, in practice, this lacks real value (with some exceptions - keep reading for details). By “exclusive” they often mean adding 0.01% extra interest on top of their standard (and uncompetitive) savings account rate.
Having said that, Barclays and Lloyds do have a few benefits in the banking category that potentially offer real value, while HSBC lean into their global footprint to provide easy access to international banking.
| Barclays | HSBC | Lloyds |
| Rainy Day Saver savings account - 4.52% on balances up to £5,000 | When relocating to a destination with HSBC presence, you can open a bank account before arriving as well as bring your credit history with you from selected countries. | 1% cashback on debit card spending (up to £10 / month)
0.2% off standard mortgage rates |
Personally, I use the Rainy Day Saver from Barclays to keep spare cash (e.g. something I wouldn’t put in the investment account as I plan to spend it soon-ish). The rate is quite competitive and it’s convenient to have access to this money in the same app where my current account is.
I have no first hand experience with Lloyds but their benefits look quite intriguing. Let’s say you’re on the market for a mortgage and decide to go for one of Lloyds’ public rates (e.g. because it’s cheapest for your LTV). The additional 0.2% off the rate could mean hundreds of £s saved per year. There’re lots of assumptions here though and I’m not sure how often this works out well in practice. The 1% cashback on the Lloyds debit card is interesting as well. It’s quite uncommon for debit cards to offer cashback, let alone at the 1% rate. By the way, I do have a video on my Youtube channel going over various cashback debit and credit cards in the UK.
Finally, the international HSBC benefits do look useful if you’re planning to relocate but as far as I can tell, these are available to all HSBC customers and not just Premier account holders.
Lifestyle
This is where things start to get interesting. All 3 providers offer different (and potentially valuable!) non-banking related perks.
| Barclays | HSBC | Lloyds |
| Apple TV+ subscription - worth £8.99 / month. | Health benefits: unlimited online GP appointments, limited physio and mental health appointments. Annual health check. | Health benefits: unlimited online GP appointments, limited physio and mental health appointments.
Annual choice of lifestyle benefit:
|
Lloyds seems most generous here. First, there’re all the health related online appointments that can be used not only by you but also by your partner and children. On top of this, you can pick an extra lifestyle benefit every year. Sadly, Lloyds Premier is the only account out of the 3 that I’ve never had. Otherwise I would have gone for the cinema tickets as my lifestyle benefit.
HSBC mirrors the health benefits we’ve seen with Lloyds but also adds an annual health check on top for either yourself or your partner. This is essentially a blood test that you can do at home, post the sample and get the results online.
Barclays looks a bit bleak in comparison. But personally, I love the free Apple TV+ subscription. It’s a service I use anyway, so this benefit represents a genuine saving for me.
Travel
| Barclays | HSBC | Lloyds |
| Access to Avios Rewards program. | Worldwide travel insurance.
Access to HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard. |
No fees on international debit card spending. |
Barclays Avios Rewards
This benefit, unlike everything we looked at so far, has a monthly fee of £12. In exchange you get:
- 1,500 Avios deposited into your BA account (Or a bit more, depending on whether you have any other Barclays products. E.g. I get 2,200 thanks to having a mortgage with them.)
- An Upgrade Voucher after each anniversary in the program. This is the same voucher that comes with the Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card and it can be used to book an Avios ticket in Premium Economy or Business Class while only paying the Avios required for the previous cabin (i.e. premium for the price of economy or business for the price of premium).
Personally, I’ve been using Avios Rewards ever since the program launched in 2022: £144 a year in exchange for 26,000 Avios and an upgrade voucher is a no brainer for me. But the math may work differently for you, depending on how much you value Avios and how exactly you use the voucher (booking long haul business class provider highest value potentially)
HSBC Premier World Elite MasterCard
Another paid benefit, this time with HSBC, is their World Elite MasterCard which is available exclusively to HSBC Premier and Private Banking customers. This card costs £290 a year and in exchange grants you:
- Unlimited access to airport lounges via Priority Pass
- Fast track security at select airports
- 3 HSBC points / £ spent (equivalent to 1.5 Avios.) Points can be transferred to 10 ariline programs (including BA / Avios) or 2 hotel programs (IHG and Wyndham).
- 40,000 HSBC points (equivalent to 20,000 Avios) as a welcome bonus when you spend £2,000 in the first 3 months with the card.
Lounge access and fast track are only available to the main card holder by default. You can add supplementary cardholders at £60 per year per person and share these benefits with them. The card also earns transferrable points equivalent to 1.5 Avios per £ spent. There’s a welcome bonus equivalent to 20,000 Avios if you spend £2,000 in your first 3 months with the card. Apart from Avios, you can transfer your points to X other airline programs and Y hotel programs.
I had this card in 2021 back when the fee was below £200. Today I can’t justify it anymore since there are cards like Lloyds World Elite MasterCard (available to anyone, not just Lloyds Premier customers) that give you the same lounge access and fast track for £180 a year. Having said that, the welcome bonus on the HSBC card will partially offset the annual fee and may change the math for year one.
On top of the credit card (which you obviously don’t have to get), HSBC Premier comes with complimentary worldwide travel insurance that covers yourself, your partner and children.
Putting it all together. Which account is best?
I don’t think there’s a clear winner here, it will be all down to your individual preferences and circumstances. However, here are a few things to consider:
- There’s a reason banks offer free benefits to high earners - they’re looking to pull you into their financial ecosystem. Basically, the hope is you come for the perks and then end up taking out a mortgage with them, starting an investment account, parking your savings, etc. It’s better to always do your research and compare multiple options rather than by default going with financial products offered by your bank.
- If you’re a high earner, chances are you already have private health insurance, e.g. through your employer. People with larger discretionary budgets and interested in travel are also likely to have travel insurance, e.g. through a premium credit card like the Amex Platinum. This means some of the benefits provided by Premier accounts will add little value for them.
Finally, here’s a table where you can compare all 3 accounts and their benefits at a glance:
| Barclays | HSBC | LLoyds | |
| Eligibility | £75,000 annual salary or £100,000 saved or invested. | £100,000 annual salary or £100,000 saved or invested. | £5,000 paid into your account monthly or £100,000 saved or invested |
| Support | 24/7 telephone support. Access to financial guides. | ||
| Banking | Rainy Day Saver savings account - 4.52% on balances up to £5,000.
Marginal rate discount on some mortgage products + free early repayments of up to 25% of the balance annually. |
When relocating to a destination with HSBC presence, you can open a bank account before arriving as well as bring your credit history with you from selected countries.
Marginally better savings rates compared to HSBC’s standard savings accounts. Marginal rate discount on some mortgage products. |
1% cashback on debit card spending (up to £10 / month)
0.2% off standard mortgage rates (check website for eligibility criteria) |
| Lifestyle | Free Apple TV+ subscription | Health services (online GP, physio therapy and mental health appointments) | Health services (online GP, physio therapy and mental health appointments)
Annual choice of lifestyle benefit:
|
| Travel | Access to Avios Rewards Program | Worldwide travel insurance
Access to HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard |
No fees on international debit card spending |
I hope you found this article useful. Check out the Loyalty Llama YouTube channel for more personal finance and credit card content.