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HSBC Premier Mastercard cuts its rates but is still the best non-Amex Avios card

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The devaluation of loyalty credit cards, at least those with a Visa or Mastercard logo on them, continues.  This is driven by the new EU regulations on interchange fees, which will cap the amount shops can be charged for accepting Visa or Mastercard at a pitiful 0.3%.  These come into force on 9th December.

We have already seen Tesco halve the earnings rate on the Tesco Clubcard Mastercard.  Marriott has also closed its Mastercard to new applicants.  Examples of changes to non-airline cards include NatWest closing Your Points and House of Fraser halving the voucher earning rate on its Mastercard.

HSBC Premier has become the next to fall into line.

For spending in the UK, the earning rate will halve on 21st January.  The rate for overseas purchases will remain unchanged, but the card does have a 3% fee on foreign transactions.

Under the new structure, the HSBC Premier rewards scheme will give 1 point for every £1 spent in the UK.

You will be able to transfer your HSBC Premier points into the following airline schemes:

0.5 Avios per point

0.5 Asia Miles (the Cathay Pacific scheme) per point

0.5 Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles per point

0.5 Etihad Guest miles per point

The irony is that, even after the earning rate is halved, the HSBC Mastercard will remain the easiest way to earn Avios via a Visa or Mastercard at 0.5 Avios per £1.

The Tesco Clubcard Mastercard now only offers 0.312 miles per £1 (and you actually receive less because of the way it rounds down transactions).  The Lloyds and TSB cards do not offer more than 0.25 Avios per £1.

Here’s the snag ….

The HSBC Premier Mastercard can only be obtained if you have a HSBC Premier bank account.

HSBC Premier has tough eligibility criteria.  See here and click on the Eligibility tab.

As well as opening a HSBC Premier current account, you must ALSO have £50,000 invested with HSBC, either in a savings account or via an investment product.  Alternatively, if you earn over £100,000, you qualify if you just have a HSBC mortgage or any investment or insurance product.

I’m not sure what the minimum investment is in an ‘investment product’ but I’m sure you could find something which would accept £1,000 or so.  They may even treat ISA’s or fixed rate bonds as ‘investment products’ – the definition is not clear online.

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Category

HSBC Premier Mastercard

Comments (51)

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

  • Dave says:
    24 Nov24 November 05:44

    “The irony is that, even after the earning rate is halved”

    That’s not ironic

    • Waribai says:
      25 Nov25 November 06:28

      Within the context of the sentence it’s not ironic but within a wider context it is!

  • Paul says:
    24 Nov24 November 06:08

    Hoping they still do their annual transfer bonus next month

    • PeteT says:
      24 Nov24 November 16:30

      I thought the annual bonus happened in October, in previous years? I’m waiting too…

  • Tom C says:
    24 Nov24 November 06:15

    Well that sucks. I expected it, but was hoping it would last longer.

  • RichT says:
    24 Nov24 November 06:52

    Off topic…

    But an epic use of Amex to collect points readers here might appreciate… http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/24/billionaire-earns-first-class-travel-for-life-by-putting-modigliani-nude-on-amex

    • Alan says:
      24 Nov24 November 07:37

      I’m impressed Christie’s let him use an Amex, now here’s hoping he knows to transfer them to airline miles and not just use them to get money off his statement or catalogue items – I suspect those might not be quite up to his expensive tastes though 😉

      • JQ says:
        24 Nov24 November 08:03

        He probably paid the fee for using Amex, so why not?

      • CV3V says:
        24 Nov24 November 10:15

        Cant compete with that but my OH got Arnold Clark to waive the fee for paying for car purchase on a BA Amex, enough avios for 2 domestic flights sorted. Before anyone pipes up, the balance was promptly paid off!

        • Alan says:
          24 Nov24 November 11:00

          Nice work!! I’ve only ever been able to get a car dealership to put the deposit through on a CC, never the whole amount.

          • CV3V says:
            24 Nov24 November 11:24

            Yeah i didnt think it would work either and had been moaning about pushing it too far! There was a lot of umming and calcs on a notepad about how best to pay which i think was frustrating the salesman and he eventually offered to waive the fee – he didn’t realise we were trying to work out the best method of points accrual!

            Also Amex were fine with taking the credit limit from a cancelled SPG card and adding to the BA card to allow the transaction to go through.

          • Alan says:
            24 Nov24 November 13:17

            Hehe even better! Good tip re Amex doing that too.

          • Pr99 says:
            24 Nov24 November 22:16

            Always what is the maximum deposit you are allowed to pay on the car BEFORE you ask what credit cards they take.

        • jb says:
          25 Nov25 November 10:26

          In other words its the equivalent of getting a discount or of negotiating more money off the car !

  • Stuart Evans says:
    24 Nov24 November 07:23

    I have a sizeable balance of HSBC points. Does this mean I need to transfer them to Avios before the valuation takes place?

    • Ziggy says:
      24 Nov24 November 07:39

      According to the letter that HSBC sent out, any points that have already been earned will not be affected by the devaluation. It’s only points earned after 21 Jan that will convert at the new lower rate.

  • James R says:
    24 Nov24 November 07:51

    Bad news. How long will the BMI MasterCard hold out for!

    • Sebastian says:
      24 Nov24 November 07:59

      Well the thing with the BMI is that you’ve got to pay £60 a year for it, so it may hold out, as unless you’re doing reasonable amounts of spend on it, they’re probably still making money on it, as the rate they pay for Avios is probably low. Although if they decreased this to 1.5 avios most people would probably still keep it.

      The card I am most worried about is the Hilton, even with the low 0.3p value per point it is currently giving 0.6p per pound spend an additional 2.5k points for your first four stays and a free night for £750 spend. That for me is surely a gonna.

  • AviosNewbie says:
    24 Nov24 November 08:10

    The insurance requirement is a good way to get this. I have a life insurance that costs me £6.50 per month and gives me Premier status. If you meet the income criteria and have life insurance elsewhere, it might be a good idea to cancel the other life insurance and move to HSBC.

    • Rich says:
      24 Nov24 November 09:49

      This is useful, thanks

    • Nick M says:
      24 Nov24 November 11:46

      Be very careful about cancelling life insurance!! Conditions on a lot of policies may have changed, plus you will be older and health may not be the same as when you took the original out… worth speaking to an independent financial adviser before disturbing a policy!

  • Akkers says:
    24 Nov24 November 08:58

    I missed the news on “House of Fraser halving the voucher earning rate on its MasterCard”. Anyone know when it is effective from / provide a link? Many thanks.

    • Rob says:
      24 Nov24 November 11:20

      You should have had a letter – my wife did. Can’t remember off the top of my head what the effective date will be, if indeed they haven’t already done it.

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