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Are these the possible changes to the Lloyds Avios Rewards credit card?

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On Monday I ran a piece about why I thought the Lloyds Avios Rewards credit card could not continue in its current form.

I was then handily emailed some draft marketing documentation currently being used as part of some market research.  This shows a Lloyds Avios Rewards Card that would be different to the one we have today:

the American Express card has gone, either because the Amex licence has ended (which is going to happen in the medium term) or Amex has agreed a deal with Avios to be the sole American Express issuer of Avios points in the UK

the earning rate on the Mastercard is improved, from 0.25 Avios to 0.3 Avios per £1

the annual fee remains at £24

The future of the upgrade voucher and the 0% foreign exchange fees was not clear.  I don’t believe that the latter is sustainable.

If this turned out to be the finished relaunched product, my recommendation would be entirely driven by whether the upgrade voucher and FX benefits remained.

After all, the Tesco Clubcard Mastercard offers the same 0.3 Avios per £1 – albeit impacted by rounding down – and has no annual fee and has the benefit of diversification.  If Avios devalues again, you can use your Clubcard vouchers elsewhere.

You would need to spend £800 abroad on your Lloyds card before the foreign exchange fee saving would overtake the £24 annual fee.  However, you could link the Tesco card to Supercard or Curve to remove or reduce that 3% fee anyway so the FX fee should not be the driving factor.

If this new card does turn out to be the one that is launched, it may be the upgrade voucher (or lack of it) which swings your decision.

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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

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If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

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Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (81)

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

  • Talay says:
    13 Jan13 January 07:23

    If the voucher allows upgrade to business then potentially fine as we a a family of 3 but the cost of a premium economy for the 3rd person (2 others going on Amex 241) and then the upgrade Avios would need to competitive as with a child, we make best use using the adults on the 241 and then buying, for cash (shock horror !) a BA business return for a child at circa £1600.

  • Aliks says:
    13 Jan13 January 08:09

    The voucher appears on your Avios.com account, so I would think Avios.com rules apply, not Lloyds rules

  • John G says:
    13 Jan13 January 08:10

    If the annual fee remained then either the 0% fx or the upgrade voucher would have to stay to justify it. Personally I think at least the voucher will stay but i would cancel if the fx benefit goes as i get a lot out of that. I could just about live with no Amex then.

  • Andy says:
    13 Jan13 January 08:37

    0.3 avios for £1 spend and a £24 annual fee = poor value!

    I get free worldwide ATM withdrawals with the Nationwide Flex Plus account.

  • graham says:
    13 Jan13 January 08:38

    Still trying to get the refer a friend to work after numerous attempts. Does anyone have any strategies to get it to fire off an email? Presumably they go to some sort of central account first and not to the recipient (and stay there)? Is there an “url” option that I’ve missed like the other amex cards have?

    • Rob says:
      13 Jan13 January 08:53

      Does the person you are referring bank with ANY bank owned by Lloyds?

      Is their avios.com account set to ‘No marketing emails’?

      That explains 80% of problems. The other 20% is ISP level spam filtering because the email headline sounds like it comes from a prostitute.

    • Alan says:
      17 Jan17 January 18:08

      Just make sure you know which email address your friend will use to sign-up – as long as you refer using it and they sign-up using the same one then it should be fine (and Avios Twitter team will sort if not)

  • James says:
    13 Jan13 January 08:43

    With something like the Amex licencing agreement on the line, what would it mean for grandfathering existing customers? Would it mean Lloyds could no longer issue new cards, or all existing ones would also have to be cancelled?

  • Ynox says:
    13 Jan13 January 09:15

    Assume currently issued Amex cards will run until expiration?

    • mark2 says:
      13 Jan13 January 09:25

      do they expire then?

      • Rebecca says:
        13 Jan13 January 09:44

        Yes, mine says valid from 30/7/16 and expires 31/08/2017. Does anyone know if we can upgrade from PE to business with this?

        • mark2 says:
          13 Jan13 January 09:45

          of course they do; the physical card anyway.

        • Ynox says:
          13 Jan13 January 09:55

          If you’re on about the Lloyds voucher (I was on about the card itself), then yes, assuming it’s an Avios redemption. There needs to be availability in Club World to use the voucher though.

          As far as I know, you can’t use this voucher if it’s a cash booking.

      • Brian W says:
        13 Jan13 January 14:31

        My Duo cards have 06/19 as the expiry.

    • Alan says:
      17 Jan17 January 18:09

      Can’t assume anything from expiration date – Diamond Club cards were cancelled well before expiry date of physical card.

  • BrianDT says:
    13 Jan13 January 09:27

    So,we could be talking about a specific single product, a new Amex Avios card to replace all current versions. While all the other banks will be limited to a Mastercard Avios version only ?

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