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Still having trouble getting Lloyds to award your credit card sign-up Avios?

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Back in July, I published this long article about the problems that Head for Points readers have had getting Lloyds Bank to give them the credit card sign-up bonus they were due.

To summarise, the recent promotion involved spending £500 per month on your card for the first three months.  You would then receive a 20,000 Avios bonus.  

However, Lloyds was arbitrarily defining ‘month’ based on the date you were accepted for the card, which was NOT the date you applies and NOT the statement month.  The best bit is that it was impossible to find out, even if you called them, what dates they were working to.

I was just contacted by another reader who had been refused his 20,000 Avios, despite spending over £500 in each of his first 3 statement periods.  He then took his complaint to the ombudsman.

These facts came out during the subsequent discussions with Lloyds, who assigned a manager to liaise with the HFP reader:

Lloyds admitted that this promotion was ‘ill-thought out’ and ‘badly enacted’

‘Heads are rolling’ within Lloyds over the implementation of this promotion

The outcome of the ombudsmans intervention was:

Full receipt of the 20,000 Avios points

“Not insubstantial” financial compensation on top

So, if you have not received your 20,000 Avios points from the Lloyds Premier Duo credit cards promotion, I strongly suggest that you escalate your complaint.

Send a final complaint letter to Lloyds, warning them that you will escalate the complaint if it is not resolved within x weeks.  After that point, file your complaint.  Contact details for the ombudsman are in the literature that Lloyds sent you with your card.

My understanding is that Lloyds is fined £500 as soon as the ombudsman receives your letter – this covers the cost of the service – and they are then obliged to act.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

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:

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

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

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

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

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.

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

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.

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.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (21)

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

  • Dudeabides says:
    23 Nov23 November 07:26

    I was refused the bonus as they said i needed to spend only on the Amex card, spend on the Mastercard wouldn’t count towards the bonus. This is where i done the bulk of the spending during the 3 month’s.

  • sandgrounder says:
    23 Nov23 November 07:35

    I applied towards the end of the offer period. I called and I was told the ‘opening date’ which started the promotional spend month. I also spent all of the 500 in one go on the same day of each month. I should get the bonus three statements after the promotional spend period- my statement day is the 4th so we shall see what happens in a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed!

  • thesaver79 says:
    23 Nov23 November 07:46

    Is there anyone that has received the bonus without having to complain or escalate it?

    • Rich says:
      23 Nov23 November 07:58

      Yes. It arrived for me with the points from my third statement. No issues at all.

    • Simon says:
      23 Nov23 November 08:38

      I applied in May and the bonus points appeared on my October statement as I manual adjustment, I hadn’t complained or escalated though.

      If you are waiting for bonus points to arrive make sure you spend at least £1 a month on your card, I believe you need to generate a statement for any bonus points to be added.

    • Stephen says:
      23 Nov23 November 08:45

      Yep, my bonus miles were also received OK, with no intervention from me (surprisingly – I was ready for a fight!)

  • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:
    23 Nov23 November 08:01

    A bit picky, but the £500 FOS bill that they will pick up is not a ‘fine’. It’s a fee levvied regardless of the merit of the case.

  • NohoMan says:
    23 Nov23 November 09:25

    They wrote to me explaining whi I didn’t get it. I had spent enough in each statement period. I closed my account in disgust. Is the above option open to me still?

    Many thanks

    • Raffles says:
      23 Nov23 November 09:41

      Yes, should be. You haven’t signed anything saying that you accept full and final settlement of anything.

    • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:
      23 Nov23 November 18:07

      FOS will take your complaint almost unconditionally (for example they will take a complaint even if you never had the product that’s the subject of the complaint).

  • totisaver says:
    23 Nov23 November 11:26

    I applied for the card, got the points 3 months after i had completed the 3 months of £500 spend. I then asked to close the account and asked for a refund – they gave me back the £50 membership fee.

  • Londonbus says:
    23 Nov23 November 13:20

    I had the fee free cards. Spent over £900 on Amex in each of the first two months and £680+ in the the third. No 15,000 bonus.

    I’ve called Lloyds three times and have now raised a formal complaint with them. They aren’t clear on the opening approach – the 40/30/30 days for online vs 30/30/30 for branch appl. My complaint is:
    * They did not tell me the opening date when I got the card.
    * They did not have clarity therefore in terms of periods (including the mystical 40 days)
    * I can evidence spend within the billing cycles which is over £500 per cycle on Amex.

    I am pressing for the bonus. I’m not seeking any financial compensation beyond that – I just want the bonus.

    Customer services to call me back Mon or Tue. If they don’t call I will write to them setting this out (and their previous non-returned calls) and push they if they don’t resolve the issue in appropriate timescales I shall go to the Ombudsman.

    • Me says:
      24 Nov24 November 14:21

      When did the *40*/30/30 days come about? That means almost all my second month spend has happened within the first month!

      Can anyone provide a copy of the T&Cs that point to this?

      • Rob says:
        24 Nov24 November 15:02

        No. That’s the point. Lloyds had a secret set of rules for this promotion which no-one ever sees, and which count from a starting date they will never tell you. That is why it was almost impossible to earn the sign-up bonus, unless you were putting huge chunks of money through the card every week and thus were assured of having spent £500 however they chose to define each period.

        • Me says:
          24 Nov24 November 16:44

          Thanks – I was hoping to get some kind of written confirmation of this 40 day malarkey – *even if it’s only secondhand confirmation*.

          I can then use that if they deny my bonus points.

          I’ve just put a £500 spend through today on the basis of the 40 day (instead of my earlier purchases that were based on the 30 day rule. Still awaiting the third month to start which could either be now, or next week…

    • Londonbus says:
      29 Nov29 November 12:41

      The outcome:

      The complaint handler at Lloyds agreed that I should have had the avios. She couldn’t give them to me directly so Lloyds are giving me the full retail price of them (£205) plus £50 for aggro. They offered to pay reasonable telephone costs – but as I called on the mobile (where I have more minutes than I can use) I didn’t ask for these.

      Tips:
      * Be polite but firm. Lloyds have screwed up but it isn’t the fault of the person on the other end.
      * Be clear on what you want. I asked for Avios or a deadlock letter I could take to the Ombudsman.
      * Be clear on what your grounds are. Mine were that Lloyds could not be clear on spend periods and that I had achieved the relevant monthly thresholds (£500) on the relevant card (Amex).

      • Londonbus says:
        29 Nov29 November 12:42

        Sorry – that should have said £255 for Avios plus £50.

        So £305 in total.

  • Bob says:
    23 Nov23 November 16:24

    Applied for this card for my Wife and have just got the 3rd statement this week & have spent more than enough, so how long does anyone reckon it should take to get the bonus (or start arguing) also thought i’d apply for the new lloyds card (£24) just for the overseas benefit (& double points for 6 months) no issues as yet just a question as to wether or not they will still give double Avios abroad after the 6 month promotional period?

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