Can you re-apply for the Lloyds Avios card via TSB and get a second sign-up bonus?

Assuming that their advertising campaign has worked, UK readers will be in no doubt that Lloyds Bank has split off 600 of its branches to form a new bank, TSB (albeit using a brand that Lloyds acquired some years ago).

Since November 2011, Lloyds TSB, as it was, has been the issuer of the official avios.com credit card.  They were also the issuer of the Air Miles credit card for a period, since winning the contract from NatWest.

I had assumed that the ‘new’ Lloyds Bank would become the issuer of the Avios credit cards. 

It seems I was wrong, as you can see from this picture:

Now, the small print says:

“The TSB Avios American Express Card is issued and administered by TSB pursuant to a licence from American Express”

And TSB, legally, is not part of Lloyds Bank anymore.  It actually uses the banking licence of the old Bank of Scotland (now Lloyds TSB Scotland).  Lloyds Bank uses a different banking licence.

This is important because the Avios credit cards have a strict ‘one sign-up bonus EVER’ rule.  However, is the TSB card actually a ‘new’ card?  It is issued by TSB, not Lloyds.  Can you therefore get another sign-up bonus by applying for this card, if you have already had and cancelled the Lloyds version?

The answer, of course, is “we don’t know”.  However, I am tempted to apply for one as an experiment and see what happens.  The alternative is to wait until TSB is sold off next year, although by then I get a feeling that they will not be offering the Avios cards any longer.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2023)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous 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:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive 30,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 30,000 Avios) with American Express Preferred Rewards Gold. You receive 25,000 points if you spend £3,000 in three months and a further 5,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive a huge 100,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 100,000 Avios) with The Platinum Card. You receive 75,000 points if you spend £10,000 in six months and a further 25,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.