‘Credit Card Offers’ updated for November 2012

UPDATE – APRIL 2024:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.  We produce a monthly directory of the top UK travel credit card offers – please click HERE or use the ‘Credit Cards’ menu above.  Thank you.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

Keep up to date with the latest UK credit card bonuses by signing up for our free daily or weekly newsletters.

The ‘Credit Card Offers’ page at the top of the site has been updated for November to reflect changes over the past month. 

After a quiet start to the month, things have really picked up in the last few days.

Here are the changes over the past month:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold – yesterday I discussed a special 30,000 Membership Rewards points (= 30,000 Avios) sign-up deal, good until 4th November only.  Details here.

British Airways Amex – the sign-up bonuses have been considerably ramped up, and are now at the 2nd-highest level ever.  The free card is offering 9,000 Avios and the £150 fee card is offering 25,000 Avios.  Full details here in this article.

United Airlines Amex – after a couple of months of no bonus, which followed a few months with a paltry 5,000 mile bonus, United has brought back its 15,000 MileagePlus miles sign-up deal.  Click here for my article which discusses this.

Lloyds TSB Duo Avios cards – the news is that there is no news!  The current rather weak offer, which expired on 18th October, has been extended until next April.

Virgin Flying Club cards – the special deal has ended and the bonuses have dropped back to their usual levels of 3,000 miles for the White card and 6,000 miles for the Black card

and, of course,

bmi American Express and Visa cards – both cards were permanently withdrawn last Monday.  Look out for a eulogy later this week on Head for Points!  Full story here.

My top sign-up bonus picks for November

Looking at the special deals currently available, these are my picks.

1.  British Airways American Express cards.  9,000 Avios for the free card and 25,000 Avios for the paid card is about as good as it gets.  And the 2-4-1 voucher for use on Avios redemptions that comes with this card is the most valuable perk in the UK loyalty card sector, as I discuss here.  If you have been thinking about the BA Amex, now is as good a time as any to jump in.

2. American Express Preferred Rewards Gold. Clearly the 30,000 point deal until 4th November is an outstanding deal.  Even after that, the card still looks great.  No fee for the first year and 20,000 Membership Rewards points if you are referred (see here for what 20,000 MR points can get you – 20,000 Avios points for a start!). Apply here.

3. Hilton HHonors Platinum Visa. A free night in any Hilton Group property for spending £750. That could be worth £250 if spent wisely at a Conrad or Waldorf-Astoria branded property.

4. American Express Platinum – if you meet the £40,000 household income requirement and have no other Amex-issued cards, including NO BA Amex then this is outstanding. 50,000 Membership Rewards points (see here for what that gets you), and you can cancel for a pro-rata refund of your £450 as soon as you’ve hit the £3,000 spend target. Apply here.

5. Priority Club Black Visa – this targetted link is good for 40,000 Priority Club points until 18th November.  Despite being targetted, it should work OK for anyone who tries it.  The £99 fee takes away some of the value of the points, but the addition of Priority Club Platinum status for cardholders also has some value.

6. United MileagePlus American Express card – after a few months of no bonus or just 5,000 miles, it is good to see a 15,000 mile deal back.  This card is only really useful if you already collect United miles, though.  I expect this deal to disappear in a few weeks.

My personal portfolio

We did a couple of changes across our household cards.  I cancelled my wife’s Starwood Preferred Guest Amex, that we took out when they offering a 20,000 point bonus earlier in the year.  I also decided to cancel the FlexSelect element of my American Express Platinum card, since it was adding £3,500 to my outstanding credit across all cards despite me never using it.

My wife’s 40,000 Priority Club points are now showing on her card statement, although they have not yet been sent over to Priority Club by Barclays.  I now need to decide whether to cancel the card or whether to spend £10,000 on it to trigger the ‘free hotel night’ voucher, from which we would get £250 of value.  As it is a Visa and so easier to put spending through it, we will probably go for it.

We also triggered her BA Amex 2-4-1 for the year!

Full credit card reviews

Don’t forget that you can see my detailed series of ‘Credit Card Reviews’ posts by clicking on ‘Credit Card Reviews’ under the ‘Reviews’ menu.

---

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2024 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.