Ultimate rewards and freebies on current bank accounts

By: Simon Duffy
Submitted: 2008-06-27 14:02:19
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I was in a bank last week waiting to pay in a cheque while the 3 cashiers attended the queue of about 10 people; so 20 minutes after looking around at all the usual 0 per cent credit card offers and low rate loans, I was surprised when the cashier asked me if I had one of their 'new' current accounts.

'New' I thought; I'd only started banking with them in the last 8 months, how could I have an old current account!? "Oh yes" said the cashier, "we have new current accounts that offer travel insurance, mobile phone insurance and motor breakdown cover." I thought I was in a Churchill car insurance advert for a minute!

"Hhmmm, 'new' current account," I thought - doesn't this mean 'monthly fee' current account?? I like the way the current accounts that charge you on a monthly basis have all been named dramatically like the 'Ultimate Reward' or 'Gold Rewards' 'Advantage', 'Premier' etc, etc...But that's all I like about them to be honest.

All the benefits or 'Rewards' for your monthly fee seem to include '* Exclusions apply' even to things like travel insurance. 'Worldwide annual multi-trip travel insurance for you and your family' - read the leaflet; but then a huge '* Exclusions apply - please refer to the terms and conditions.' So you have to trawl through the thousands of 'T's & C's' to make sure you don't fall into any of the exclusions! Who honestly bothers to read absolutely everything?

I would guess that the level of insurance and motor breakdown cover you'd get with a current account doesn't compare to the level of cover you'd receive if you bought the same mobile phone insurance, travel insurance, or motor breakdown cover as separate policies. But then again I might be wrong...

In any case I'm ceratinly not going to start paying for a banking service that I can get absolutely free without all the gimmicks of 'freebies' - You get nothing for free and that's certainly the case here because you're paying a monthly fee, so how can it be free?! One day I might take the time to actually read through all the insurance cover terms to see exactly what you get for your money I bet it's not that much!

Simon Duffy writes for the Financial Blog a UK Finance Blog talking about all aspects of personal finance including loans, credit cards, tenant loans, current accounts, mortgages and lots more personal financial news and PR.

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