Last chance to earn 12,000 Avios with Tesco Life Insurance

Heads up that Tuesday 11th March is your last chance to earn 5,000 Tesco Clubcard points when you take out Tesco Life Insurance.

Five years ago, Tesco Life Insurance was a licence to print Avios (or BA Miles, as they were then).  You got 4,500 Clubcard points per policy, you could take out as many policies as you wanted, and you only needed to make one £5 payment before you received the points.

Happy days indeed!

The offer today has changed considerably, although it still lets you buy Avios points at 0.5p each.  Note, though, that you no longer get all the points upfront.  You will be waiting a year to get the full lot.

You are also now banned from taking out this deal if you have cancelled a Tesco Life Insurance policy in the last 12 months.  Although that doesn’t stop your partner signing up!  You could also sign up for Tesco Critical Illness or Tesco Mortgage Protection cover if you are blocked from the life insurance deal.

This Tesco webpage is your starting point.

And here are the key things you need to know:

The minimum premium is £5 per month, so £60 over the year

If you are over 50 Tesco may try to steer you towards their separate over-50’s policy which does NOT come with any bonus Clubcard points, only a £50 Tesco gift card.  Make sure you are receiving the mainstream life insurance product.

The 5,000 Clubcard points are awarded in quarterly chunks of 1,250 points, with the first batch awarded after you have paid three premiums

You must be over 18 and a UK resident

Maximum two applications per household – so they are happy for you and your partner to both apply.  Note that the points will only be issued to a Clubcard in the same name as the policy holder, though, so you would both need your own Clubcard.

You may be asked to go for a medical before you policy is accepted if you disclose any existing health conditions.  Even if you disclose no previous health issues, you may be randomly selected to attend a medical.

There is quite a bit of paperwork associated with this promotion.

The application form is here and you need to use code L5KP6 when applying.

Enter £5 per month as the amount you want to pay, and select a short period of, say, 5 years for the policy.  You can still cancel at any time.  However, the price is locked in for the period you select.

You will see from the Tesco website that the same 5,000 Clubcard points offer is also available for Tesco Critical Illness cover and Tesco Mortgage Protection.  The Critical Illness policy has a higher risk of being called in for a medical before they will offer coverage – I would stick with life insurance unless you are blocked under the ’12 months from cancelling last time’ rule.

All in all, it is not a bad deal, although far from the bonanza it was in the past.  Even at the basic Clubcard to Avios conversion rate, you will receive (5,000 x 2.4 =) 12,000 Avios for your £60 of premiums.  0.5p per Avios is pretty good deal.  The downside is the paperwork you need to complete, of course.

As I said at the start, you only have two days left to apply, with the deadline being Tuesday.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (October 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:

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.

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.

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to up to 80,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 80,000 Avios. You will receive 8 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to up to 40,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 40,000 Avios. You will receive 4 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. The card is FREE for your first year. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

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