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

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

British Airways and Avios

Comments (71)

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

  • Rob says:
    23 Jan23 January 22:04

    Balance transfer is optional, you shouldn’t be concerned.

    • Simon says:
      23 Jan23 January 22:26

      Okay thanks.

      Just tried and after going through the whole process and pressing ‘submit’ got a ‘we are having technical issues’ message. Have no idea if this means they have done a credit check or not! Will try again later.

      thanks for the reply.

  • Yizun says:
    24 Jan24 January 00:23

    If I am meeting none of the a,b,c criteria but I am accepted by Amex instantly on credit card application, how is the chance I can get this cash back? Thanks.

    • Rob says:
      24 Jan24 January 09:15

      You can cancel the card within 2 weeks during the cooling off period and all record of you ever having applied is struck off, so there is no risk.

      • John says:
        24 Jan24 January 11:53

        I’m not sure this is correct, I think you can call them up to remove a credit search but they may not necessarily do it

  • Chris James says:
    24 Jan24 January 01:17

    Hi Guys why don’t you use the eligibility checker on moneysupermarket.com to see your chances of being accepted for the Post Office and other cards?

    • Rob says:
      24 Jan24 January 09:14

      Because fundamentally its rubbish. Someone emailed me about it yesterday, ironically. It told him he would have no chance to getting a pile of cards which he has already been given!

      • Chris James says:
        24 Jan24 January 10:17

        Hi Raffles

        On the contrary this shows that the system works as if you already hold cards from particular providers it would show as ineligible for those cards and perhaps if the applicant had as you say a “pile of cards” then the scoring system probably would also deem as ineligible as they are probably over indebted !

      • John says:
        24 Jan24 January 11:52

        MSE’s checker uses Noddle whereas most lenders use Experian. Data held can be quite different

      • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:
        24 Jan24 January 14:19

        ‘Rubbish’ is a bit unfair. Quality of recommendation varies quite a lot by issuer; for some it’s really quite accurate. I know quite a lot about HD (who power the eligibility checker), so get in touch if you’ve got any questions.

  • Rob says:
    24 Jan24 January 16:36

    Thanks Tim, much appreciated.

  • Londonbus says:
    25 Jan25 January 18:09

    Just applied and got “Thank you for your application for a Post Office Credit Card, you should hear back from us within 5 working days”

    Aaatrgh. Too many bits of plastic.

    • Rob says:
      25 Jan25 January 18:36

      That won’t count for the £45 either I guess.

      • Dominic says:
        26 Jan26 January 15:04

        Do you have a friend who’s a solicitor? If so then any solicitor can certify a copy of a document. If you have a solicitor you use you might just try popping in and asking if they’ll do it, it’s a 5-min job they might not charge for.

  • Rob says:
    30 Jan30 January 08:55

    Yes

  • Nathan says:
    30 Jan30 January 17:06

    Hi,

    I just applied for this and satisfied all the criteria above for instant approval. I have never had any credit issues in the past but my application was instantly declined! I hold AMEX cards as well as other credit cards. Will my unsuccessful application affect my credit on any future applications for credit cards?

    • The Other Steve says:
      30 Jan30 January 23:58

      All credit applications whether successful or not are recorded on your credit file

  • Elt says:
    11 Feb11 February 07:37

    I also applied for PO card, was accepted immediately, cards arrived amazingly quickly.
    But it has not tracked.
    How long should it take?
    what do I do?
    Thanks

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