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Should you choose Avios or the new 2x Clubcard Boost?

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Tesco has launched another round of Clubcard Boost.  This is the promotion which allows you to spend your Clubcard vouchers instore or online for double their standard face value.

The instore offers are pretty useless, as this page at tesco.com shows.

You can only double up your vouchers if you spend them on:

Boost

Clothing and school uniform

Back to school accessories

Hudl tablets and accessories

Tesco Opticians

The online version is substantially more interesting.

EVERYTHING at Tesco Direct is included.  (Everything as long as it is being sold by Tesco and not by one of their partners, such as Maplin, who also sell via Tesco Direct.)

This opens up a LOT of options.  Want an Xbox?  A new mobile phone?  DVD box sets?  A pram?  A cot?  Garden furniture?  A new bike?  The whole lot is included.

Is this a better deal than converting to Avios?

It is not a slam dunk, but if Tesco Direct is selling something which you are definitely going to buy anyway then it is worth considering.

Let’s assume you want a £100 bike.  That will cost you £50 of Tesco vouchers during Clubcard Boost.  The same £50 of vouchers would get you 12,000 Avios or 12,500 Virgin Flying Club miles.

If you convert to Avios instead, and use hard cash to buy your Xbox or whatever, you are effectively ‘paying’ 0.83p per Avios.

For a lot of people, 0.83p is still a good price.  If your Avios balance is already pretty high, though, you might want to think about whether buying something from Tesco Direct is a better deal or not.  There is no right or wrong answer.

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

Tesco Clubcard

Comments (45)

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

  • Mikeact says:
    22 Jul22 July 08:20

    What was the 30k cap all about again ?
    I’m sitting on way over £300 of vouchers but I don’t see a £50 one in the list, else I’d be happy to give it a go.

    • squills says:
      22 Jul22 July 08:26

      Each account is capped to EARNING 30,000 points (£30) each Tesco quarter. You risk losing anything over 30K – they don’t always impose this.

  • squills says:
    22 Jul22 July 08:28

    Although the doubling up on returned ‘change’ points doesn’t work, this might still be useful for you if you want to save your points for a rainy day and they are coming up to expiry.

    Eg buy a small item with your £30 voucher, get the rest in ‘change’ with a new 2 years expiry date.

  • Tim says:
    22 Jul22 July 10:38

    “It is not a slam dunk”

    I have googled but still am no wiser as to what this expression means. I have lived in 10 UK cities and five EU countries. What is this parochial expression?

    T.

    • Nick says:
      22 Jul22 July 10:52

      A slam dunk is a term used in basketball, so you need to look to the US for its meaning.

      A very quick google search of online dictionaries: North American INFORMAL Something reliable or unfailing; a foregone conclusion or certainty: the film season’s one slam-dunk hit.

      slam dunk noun
      : something that is sure to happen or be successful

    • Rob says:
      22 Jul22 July 11:48

      Interesting – especially as I think we grew up not too far apart in Yorkshire IIRC?

      It must have crept into my vocabulary during my investment banking years! I normally manage to spot it when banker-speak creeps it (bandwidth, face time, low hanging fruit etc).

      • Alan says:
        22 Jul22 July 21:32

        I’ve heard of it quite a lot too and no financial sector employment history for me! Perhaps just US sitcom exposure 😉

      • Susan says:
        23 Jul23 July 09:08

        There’s a special circle of hell for those who “reach out” – unless it’s to pick the low hanging fruit of course 😉

  • swissy says:
    22 Jul22 July 11:20

    Just to confirm.
    I have just purchase £10 worth of goods using a £50 voucher.
    The checkout page stated that only 4,500 points will be returned 🙁

  • Tom says:
    22 Jul22 July 12:01

    Slight note: spend £25 twice for the offer.

  • ankomonkey says:
    22 Jul22 July 12:04

    That’s a beauty!

    • PJK says:
      22 Jul22 July 12:35

      Yes … only if you were probably going to spend at least 1 x £25 at one of the listed online retailers anyway, so the 2nd spend of £25 at another online retailer is effectively free.

      I’ve registered in case I need something soon from Gap or Currys, but I have to say, local outlets and online discounters tend to make my visiting of these 2 online stores unlikely.

      The stores included are: The White Company, Currys, PC World, Achica, Gap, Banana Republic, Virgin Wines, Space NK, Debenhams.

      • ankomonkey says:
        22 Jul22 July 12:42

        Time to investigate which sell gift cards online… I was planning a Virgin Wines purchase anyway and we buy from Achica, Gap and Debenhams fairly regularly, so I’m pretty happy with this…

        • Rob says:
          22 Jul22 July 17:02

          Problem is that gift card purchases tend to involve being diverted to a 3rd party website which may not count. Debenhams and Currys do this.

          • TimS says:
            22 Jul22 July 18:57

            Debenhams should be fine. when i bought Debenhams gift vouchers online for the recent statement credit it showed up as ‘Debenhams.com Southampton’

          • ankomonkey says:
            22 Jul22 July 21:38

            As Tim S says, I see Debenhams gift cards on their own site so should be okay (select £30 for free delivery). Currys and PCWorld seem to become currysgiftcards.co.uk, so I see the risk, Rob… Bang goes my itunes plan!

  • Vardster says:
    22 Jul22 July 12:57

    Is this a good bonus or should I wait to see if there is a triple bonus later this year?

    Also with the £25 credit…can you purchase something from the same store twice for £25?

    Thanks

    • chris says:
      22 Jul22 July 13:09

      i doubt you will ever see triple points via direct,

      as for the same item, you can buy as many copys (within stock limits) of any item you like

      • chris says:
        22 Jul22 July 13:23

        never mind this was not on topic, was replying to the tescos side of it

    • squills says:
      22 Jul22 July 14:23

      Has to be 2 different participating retailers

  • Brian says:
    22 Jul22 July 14:42

    So that’s why it didn’t track for me! As for your question, you can certainly buy more than one with different accounts, but whether you can use both vouchers in one shop? Can’t see why not – but it’s not exactly a deal-breaker if you can’t…

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