Preparing for Summer Part 2 – earning miles with your credit card abroad

In Part 1 of ‘Preparing for Summer’ a couple of days ago, I looked at ways to earn points when booking airport car parking.  Today I want to recap the best ways to earn points when using your credit card abroad.

Something I stress on Head for Points whenever I can is the need to keep a clear mind when earning miles or points.

If you are buying a product or service primarily because it offers you miles, you should have a view of how much those miles are worth to you to avoid over-paying.

This is especially true when earning miles from credit cards. Credit card miles are not free miles because you always have the alternative of using a cashback card instead.  The Amazon MasterCard, for example, gives you 1% of your spending back in Amazon vouchers.  Does your non-Amex payment card match that?

It is almost always a bad idea to use a mileage card for overseas spend.  This is because all miles and points cards – and indeed almost all other UK credit and debit cards – charge a foreign exchange fee of 2.75% to 2.99%.  Most card issuers hide this fee so you don’t realise you are paying it, because they simply adjust their exchange rate by 2.75%-2.99% rather than breaking the fee out.

There are a number of credit cards, however, which do NOT charge any foreign loading fees. Your transactions are converted at the wholesale exchange rates set by MasterCard or Visa, which to all intents and purposes are the ‘spot’ rates.

moneysavingexpert.com has a done a lot of work in this area, so the best thing to do is to read this article on their site.

The best offerings are from the Halifax, Saga, the Post Office and Capital One, who have cards with no annual fee and no FX fees on purchases.  Nationwide also offers a good card, but only for its FlexAccount holders.

If you live in London, Metro Bank is another option. They have a free current account which comes with a ‘no FX charges’ debit card. This is a good option if you don’t want to increase the number of credit cards you hold.

What mileage cards ARE a good choice to use abroad?

There are some miles and points cards which are a decent choice for using abroad if you don’t want to go to the trouble of applying for a ‘no FX fees’ card.

The American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card gives you double points when you use it abroad.  This means you get 2 Membership Rewards points per £1, which converts to 2 Avios per £1.  This does not fully offset the 2.99% FX fee, but comes close.  Amex’s home page for the card is here.

The Lloyds TSB Premier Duo Avios card earns double Avios points when used abroad.  This means that the Amex card earns a whopping 2.5 Avios per £1 – so you are probably quits when you’ve paid the FX fee.  You also earn double miles abroad with the fee-free Duo Avios cards, at 2 Avios per £1 on the American Express card.  The Lloyds home page for the card is here.

The Priority Club Black Visa card gives you 4 Priority Club points per £1 spent abroad.  These can be redeemed for free nights at Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, InterContinental etc hotels.  I value these at roughly 0.5p per point, so 2p of value per £1.  This almost offsets the 2.99% FX fee.

Spending abroad also helps you to achieve spending targets

The Priority Club Black card mentioned above also gives you a free night voucher when you spend £10,000 per year.

The Lloyds TSB Premier Duo card mentioned above gives you a 2-4-1 voucher for Economy class Avios redemptions when you spend £15,000 per year.

And of course the BA Premium Plus Amex gives you a 2-4-1 voucher for Avios redemptions valid in any class when you spend £10,000 per year.

You may find it worthwhile paying the FX fee on your credit card in order to achieve some of your spending target.  After all, for most of us our holiday is one of the main expenditures of the year.

Tomorrow, I will look at the relaunched Avios Cash Passport and decide if it is worth a look or not.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2025 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 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 Mastercard

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

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large 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:

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up 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 Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

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