Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Reader gets a refund from Barclaycard within seven minutes

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When I wrote about the closure of the IHG Rewards Club credit cards issued by Barclaycard yesterday I suggested that, if you will not now be able to hit the £10,000 target for earning your free night, you ask for compensation.

My suggestion was:

Work out how much you will have spent in your card year by 20th April (eg £6,000)

Assume that you would have redeemed your free night voucher at a top InterContinental worth £250

Make a claim for the % of £250 you have reached – in my example, 6/10th of £250 which is £150

A reader did just that, emailing the Executive Office (EO@barclaycard.co.uk) yesterday morning. He asked for a sum based on the formula above.  Seven minutes later he had a reply confirming that he will receive the full amount requested.

If you have no chance of triggering your £10,000 voucher before 20th April, you may want to do the same.


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:

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

Comments (104)

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

  • Clive says:

    First route with QSuite is……….drum roll

    LONDON

    Mid next year

    • TGLoyalty says:

      June this year according to the websites I’ve read today

    • James67 says:

      Haha, would love to have heard what Mr Cruz had to say on learning about that. I wonder how much it works out at per sheet.

    • RussellH says:

      Simon Calder’s article on this in the i also mentioned in passing a previous 4 hour delay on BA because of a mouse on board…

  • Lewis Watson says:

    Probably should have asked for more then if he got refund so easily lol

  • Genghis says:

    OT. Did some market research this evening on Heathrow selling fast track security access. Watch this space…

  • Peter K says:

    OT: Had an email from BA offering a bonus on buying Avios. Only 15% so not great. Logged into Iberia and it was 20% (for my wife as well). Not sure if this is common knowledge yet but someone may find it useful.

  • Tony Burns says:

    Re the Barclaycard/IHG can you tell me if you mean from 20th April 2016 or if not that what date please? Thanks.

  • beefy says:

    IHG barclaycard. Sent secure message for comp. got £99 refund plus £65 compensation. had spent 2.5k

    silver lining, was emailed the targetted 40k bonus offer for creation IHG card today, applied and sucesssful. winner!

    • robert wller says:

      Hi Beefy – could you confirm what email address or department dealt with the query? I have just called Barclaycard customer services and am being told that it oculd take them 56 days to respond! I’ve spent 10K already this year on the card 🙁

  • robert waller says:

    My original complaint raised day of the 8 March. They also claimed that mine was the first complaint they had heard about IHG card termination….

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

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