Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Earn 11,340 Avios for getting the free & ‘no FX fees’ Post Office credit card

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On Tuesday, I wrote about the generous new sign-up bonus of 500 Clubcard points when you join cashback site TopCashback via a referral.

The core benefit of TopCashback for Avios or Virgin Flying Club miles collectors is that you can convert up to £50 of cashback each year into Tesco Clubcard points.  They even give you a 5% bonus for doing it!  That £50 of cashback will therefore earn you over 12,000 Avios points, which is a far better deal than taking your cashback as money.

By coincidence, there is one very good deal on TopCashBack at the moment which can get you very close to this £50 target in one go.  It is also a deal that will continue to make you money throughout the year.

I published this article on credit cards which do not charge foreign exchange fees a couple of weeks ago.  Whenever you use 99% of UK credit or debit cards abroad, an extra 2.99% fee is added.  This is a poor deal, even if you are earning reward points for the transactions.

There are a handful of cards which do NOT have this 2.99% fee.  The Post Office credit card is one of them.  If you take out this card and use it abroad, you will save 2.99% on every transaction you make.  No, you won’t be accruing any miles or points, but you will be saving a lot of real money.

The Post Office credit card is FREE.  More importantly, TopCashback is currently offering £45 cashback if you take it out.

Transfer this £45 to Tesco Clubcard and you should receive, with the 5% bonus, 4,725 Clubcard points.  That will get you 11,340 Avios points or 11,812 Virgin Flying Club miles.

This is our refer-a-friend link to TopCashback.  This article from Tuesday has some more information on them.  Once you have signed up, you can use their link to click through to the Post Office credit card application page.

IMPORTANT:  Note that you must be accepted immediately in order to receive the TopCashback cashback.  If your card application is NOT accepted immediately, then TCB will not be paid.  I would therefore only apply if a) you have lived at the same address for three years and b) have not had any credit issues in the past and c) are on the electoral register.  This maximises your chances of immediate acceptance.

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:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

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.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

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.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

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.

Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card

1% cashback uncapped* on all your business spending (T&C apply) Read our full review

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (71)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • ian says:
    23 Jan23 January 10:23

    I got the message:

    hank you for your application for a Post Office Credit Card, you should hear back from us within 5 working days.
    In the meantime, if you have any questions on your application please contact our Customer Service Team.

    Does that mean I do not get the bonus as I was not approved online?

    • John says:
      24 Jan24 January 11:50

      Unlikely to get it, if it doesn’t track do a manual claim and expect nothing.

  • Chang says:
    23 Jan23 January 10:30

    Hmm I applied and this is what I got at the end of the process :-
    Thank you for your application for a Post Office Credit Card, you should hear back from us within 5 working days.
    In the meantime, if you have any questions on your application please contact our Customer Service Team.

    Post Office offers a number of products and services that may be of interest to you, you can find out more on our website.

    Does this mean it was not an IMMEDIATE acceptance? Darn!

  • Ian says:
    23 Jan23 January 10:43

    I got the Halifax Clarity Card and it’s perfect for FX spending.

    On the issue of getting new cards.

    If you and your partner have already got the bonus for the SPG, Gold and Virgin Atlantic MBNA, what’s left to grab some sign up bonus, Avios or other?

    Cheers.

    • Rob says:
      23 Jan23 January 12:01

      Cancel Gold and SPG and apply again in 6 months! BA Amex bonuses extended to May. I have a soft spot for the Hilton Visa if you can find somewhere expensive to use your free night. See our ‘Credit Cards Update’ pages here https://headforpoints.com/best-uk-avios-airline-hotel-credit-cards/ for details.

      • Ian says:
        23 Jan23 January 12:21

        Only waiting for the SPG points to go through. About the Gold, will I lose the Membership points if I cancel the gold card or do I have to transfer it somewhere else, they were all earned via the Gold Card? I still have a BA Amex.

        Cheers

        • Rob says:
          23 Jan23 January 12:54

          If you still have your BA Amex, you get a 6 month grace period (IIRC) to move your Membership Rewards points. It is in the small print to the MR scheme that they sent you. I would clarify this, though, if you intend to leave a balance.

          If you have no other Amex cards, your MR account is closed when you close your Gold or Platinum card.

      • Nick says:
        23 Jan23 January 16:22

        Does anybody know what Amex think of this practise of cancelling and reapplying? I imagine they are OK with it for the SPG given the £75 fee, but as the gold card is free, I do wonder. The last thing I want to do is piss Amex off, but on the other hand I don’t really use the SPG any more and I’m focussing on hitting the £10k on the BAPP currently, so the gold amex rarely comes out of the wallet at the moment either.

        • Rob says:
          23 Jan23 January 16:42

          I know, because I have been to see them to discuss it. At present, they are happy to tolerate it. That may change in the future.

          The risk, of course, is that if / when it does change, your past behaviour will count against you ….

  • Farringdon says:
    23 Jan23 January 10:51

    Don’t get me started on credit card FX fees. Why does the UK Amex Platinum charge these fees, while the US card doesn’t (as well as the UK card having a much higher annual fee)?

    • Ian says:
      23 Jan23 January 10:52

      A bigger sign up bonuses too in the US

    • Mike says:
      23 Jan23 January 20:52

      Amex just sent me an online survey with a big focus on foreign spend… I made sure to make it very clear that the FX fees put me off spending on my Amex. Maybe if enough people do the same they’ll get the message.

  • Jorge says:
    23 Jan23 January 11:26

    Has anyone ever booked an Avios reward with Avianca? What’s the procedure? Do I have to to this over the phone?

    • Rob says:
      23 Jan23 January 11:57

      Can only be booked using Iberia Plus Avios so you’d need an account with them. It must be over 90 days old and have earned 1 Avios before you can transfer. No idea what routes are included.

  • Jorge says:
    23 Jan23 January 12:11

    Thanks Raffles. I have an account with Iberia and got 15 points at the moment, but can transfer from BA or Avios or Amex. You can also buy miles directly from Avianca and for the route I’m checking this is cheaper than buying a cash ticket!

  • Mark says:
    23 Jan23 January 12:20

    That doesn’t mean they can’t improve further of course so no guarantees you won’t do better later on.

    These days I just use the Halifax Clarity to withdraw from overseas cash machines and pay off the cash advance immediately. As well as the convenience benefit that offers pretty much unbeatable rates at any given point in time.

    • John says:
      24 Jan24 January 11:49

      OK, but it hasn’t reached the highest point by far. I’m not changing any GBP until USD to reaches 1.7, EUR 1.25, and AUD 2 (though I am expecting 2.1 later on, but need to take profit)

  • Will says:
    23 Jan23 January 13:36

    the post office card isn’t bad. I have had it for years. I only use it abroad as the method to pay the balance off is awful. you cant pay on their website only via your own bank and to get the entire breakdown you need to receive a paper statement. its very clunky

    have thought about getting Halifax clarity CC (have banked with them for 20 years) to replace it, for a while now

    • craig says:
      23 Jan23 January 14:28

      I have Clarity Card and am happy with it. The other benefit it offers is fee-free cash withdrawals as well as spending, although they’re subject to interest if you pay the whole balance each month you’ll probably just pay around £1 for £100 withdrawal.
      One word of warning – they tried to reduce my credit limit to a silly amount due to lack of consistent spending, so it you save it just for holidays this might happen to you, unless you’re abroad frequently?

    • Alan says:
      23 Jan23 January 15:26

      I’ve just got mine set to pay the full amount by Direct Debit every month so no issues. The exchange rates are superb – not far off what you see on xe.com! I’ve had it for years now, shame as I’d love a cheeky wee £45 sign up bonus!

      • John says:
        23 Jan23 January 21:18

        Actually the Mastercard exchange rates are occasionally better than the midpoints shown by xe.com!

        Never the case for Visa (Nationwide Select) unfortunately

    • Mark says:
      23 Jan23 January 15:51

      As a Halifax account holder you should also be entitled to the £5 reward when you spend at least £300 in a statement period.

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