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HfP ‘Credit Cards’ page updated for July 2017 – what are the best deals this month?

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UPDATE – APRIL 2024:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.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.

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It is time for our monthly round up of what is coming and what is going in the world of UK airline and hotel credit card sign-up deals.

Our updated directory of all 23 UK travel credit cards can be found by clicking the ‘Credit Cards’ tab at the top of the site or – for email, Flipboard, Apple News or mobile readers – by clicking here.  This article is a summary of the recent changes, and will hopefully be a useful starting point for new readers.

MBNA American Airlines credit card

What’s changed this month?

There’s a lot going on at the moment, and it gives you a sign of how the industry is changing.

The big development is that, overnight, MBNA scrapped its existing American Airlines cards (free, a dual Amex / Visa package) and replaced them with something completely different.

The American Express card has gone.  You now have a package which looks like this:

  • £70 annual fee
  • 15,000 American Airlines miles for signing up by 22nd August
  • an excellent 1.25 miles per £1 spent
  • Visa only

Full details, and my view on whether to apply, are in this article here.

In other news:

Virgin Flying Club dropped the increased bonus on its two Virgin Atlantic cards as scheduled.  The bonus is now back down to 3,000 miles on the free card and 18,500 miles on the £140 Black card.

The special deal on the two Emirates credit cards has also ended.  The bonus is back to 5,000 miles on the free card and 10,000 miles on the Elite card.

British Airways is still running an improved sign-up bonus on its two British Airways American Express cards.  No closing date has been given for this deal.

There is a slight tweak this time.  The Premium Plus card is back to 25,000 Avios for signing up.  The free BA Amex, however, is only up to 5,000 Avios from the usual 3,000 Avios – this is usually increased to 9,000 Avios.

I would guess that Amex is trying to encourage more people to take the Premium Plus card by widening the gap in the sign-up bonus.  Frankly, you shouldn’t get the free BA Amex if you are planning to earn the 2-4-1 Avios flight voucher – this article explains why.

Tesco is offering a £50 Tesco gift card if you sign for the Tesco Premium Credit Card before the end of August.  My review of the card is here.  If you convert your Clubcard points from purchases into Avios it works out at 0.6 Avios per £1 which is very good for a Visa or MasterCard.  My full article on the deal is here.

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

15,000 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

American Airlines and AAdvantage, American Express Gold card, American Express Platinum card, British Airways American Express, Tesco Clubcard

Comments (101)

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

  • Optimus Prime says:
    10 Jul10 July 06:44

    Hi,

    If you take out Amex Plat in March 2017 and cancel now, do you keep hotel elite benefits until February 2018 or just till December 2017?

    Thanks.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      10 Jul10 July 07:02

      You will keep the benefits until the normal programme expiry rules. For most that will mean all of this year and next year so Dec 18 but can vary by programme.

  • Roger says:
    10 Jul10 July 07:17

    Rob,

    Any hunch or guesses regarding MBNA AA Visa card signup bonus to go up towards the offer end date in August?
    I am guessing after the current offer closes MBNA may come out with an even better miles sign up offer. What do you think?

    • Alan says:
      10 Jul10 July 07:59

      Given the current climate for cards I’d imagine a worse offer was more likely than a better offer, unless they’ve had a really poor response…

    • Optimus Prime says:
      10 Jul10 July 10:24

      Speaking of MBNA : additional cardholders get same card number as main one which prevents them from linking it to their own Curve card.
      Is there any workaround?

      • Roberto says:
        10 Jul10 July 11:26

        Not that I figured out. Additionally I could not link a second curve to a card I had already linked to a previous curve and in the end opted for linking a second MBNA (virgin white) card for SWMBO’s curve.. A second curve doubles the ATM threshold of course but offers little other benefits.

  • Richard says:
    10 Jul10 July 07:34

    Just for info, I recently applied for the Amex gold and didn’t add a supplementary card. Then about 2 weeks later received an email offering 3,000 bonus points for the first supplementary card added. Added one Friday and the points hit my account over the weekend.

    • Wally1976 says:
      10 Jul10 July 09:51

      Yes it’s worth holding-ff initially on adding supplementary cards. Sometimes just asking for a bonus to add one does the trick if they don’t offer it…

  • Brian says:
    10 Jul10 July 08:43

    Re the Hilton Barclaycard, couple of questions, hoping someone may be able to advise.

    Does the rule of only getting the voucher once apply to everyone now?

    Or if you previously cancelled the card before a certain cut off date when the rules changed, could you get the voucher again?

    Thanks

    • Rob says:
      10 Jul10 July 08:52

      You are bound by the current rules but they do not seem to be enforced too strictly.

  • Rob says:
    10 Jul10 July 08:57

    The big news, by the way, is the that the European Court of Justice has told Amex that it must cap interchange fees on co-brand cards at 0.3%. This was the final appeal.

    It is an unbelievably stupid judgement since Amex – being vertically integrated – doesn’t even have stand-alone interchange fees.

    Even more stupid is the logic:

    * the law says that cards which involve 4 parties (which are meant to be customer – retailer – processimg intermediary – issuer) are capped at 0.3%

    * Amex has no processing intermediary so should be exempt

    * BUT the BA logo on the card means, according to the EUCJ interpretation, that there IS a 4th party in this marriage and, even though they have nothing to do with being a payment intermediary, it makes the BA Amex a ‘4 party card’ and so Amex must cap its fees at 0.3%

    This may be the end of the road for the free card, despite the fact that BA Amex billings are over £1 billion per month.

    • Lumma says:
      10 Jul10 July 10:25

      Couldn’t amex get around this by just removing the BA logo from the cards but having avios as the rewards currency?

      • Alex W says:
        10 Jul10 July 12:10

        I doubt the logo itself is the sticking point, just a visible representation of the involvement of a 4th party.

  • Alan Hunt says:
    10 Jul10 July 09:12

    Quick question if anyone knows – my MBNA AAdvantage Amex/VISA was renewed from 06/17 until 06/20. Any idea when they may be likely to cancel it or will it retain a legacy status until June 2020?

    • Rob says:
      10 Jul10 July 09:50

      The expiry date on your card has nothing to do with it, there will be a cut-off date and everyone will get a letter on the same day. No idea when.

  • Dave says:
    10 Jul10 July 09:46

    If I already have the free BA Amex, do I still qualify for the sign up bonus if I want to get the gold amex?

    I would cancel the free one but amex told me I need it to keep the 241 voucher active in that account

    • Rob says:
      10 Jul10 July 09:48

      Amex lied, you can cancel.

      However, irrespective, you will still get the bonus on Gold – that is 100% certain.

  • Wally1976 says:
    10 Jul10 July 09:55

    Has anyone got any recent experience of asking for a bonus for upgrading Amex Gold to Platinum charge card? Thanks in advance.

    • PaulW says:
      10 Jul10 July 15:22

      Yes I did ask that this weekend via the contact us link. I got a polite no and told would be £450 fee immediately on next statement. Which ironically means better to wait and churn via my wife. Do sup card holders get hilton gold etc too?

    • Alex W says:
      10 Jul10 July 21:20

      Got 20k bonus for upgrading gold to plat about a month or so ago.

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