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What do readers think about earning Avios points from Midpoint?

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About two weeks ago we wrote about the new Avios partner Midpoint.

Midpoint is a UK-based platform for making international payments which gives you 1 Avios per £10 transferred.

We asked for reader feedback because the system is quite opaque from the outside.  We received this from a reader who was happy for us to share it:

First time used. Set up is quite labour intensive as you reported. Had to scan and send copy of passport. Then big fuss about sending proof of address as they wanted a utility bill which I didn’t have as I pay everything by direct debit. I scanned and sent a mobile phone bill from Vodafone which they rejected. After a longish telephone conversation we agreed on my driving license.

Flurry of emails from them all on the same day confirming my email address, confirming I added a beneficiary, confirming my account has been authorised and confirming account has been approved and giving me log in details.

I normally pay Currency Direct or Moneycorp £700 a month to transfer to my Spanish account. I could see early in the Midpoint process that there was a charge of £10 for my transaction so I arranged to transfer £690 to make my total bill consistent at £700. Importantly the Euros I received for my £690 were more than I would have got from Moneycorp or Currency Direct for my £700.

On the same day I got an email confirming credit of the money in my Midpoint Account. I then had to allocate the funds to the beneficiary.

On the next day got another email confirming funds sent to beneficiary. Later that day checked my Spanish bank account and funds had arrived. My Avios have not yet arrived. I spoke to Brad at Midpoint and was told they expect a time delay between 14 and 30 days. As they are a relatively new partner though there is a bit of uncertainty about how long it will take. This for me is not a problem (I already have over 800,000). Therefore within reason I don’t care how long it takes as long as I do eventually receive them.

I will continue to check their rates with the competitors but if all things stay the same I will continue to use them on a regular basis. Ten out of ten!

So far so good, it seems.  Our initial article about Midpoint is here and their Avios home page is here.

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

British Airways and Avios

Comments (34)

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

  • Firemin says:
    14 Feb14 February 06:45

    Have signed up for a Midpoint account but not gotten around to using it yet.

    However, interestingly when I was checking my Amex statement online today I noticed a new section for foreign currency transfers which said BAPP cardholders can now earn 1 avios per £10 of foreign currency transferred when linking their FX International Payment account. Fees are £10 and you can apparently send funds from your credit card (although I assume you don’t earn MR points / avios if doing so, and that it wouldn’t count towards targeted spend).

    Anyone have any info/experience with this?

    • Chris says:
      14 Feb14 February 16:15

      Just looking at this. I assume the rate will be poor compared with OFX but will see. It seems you get 1 MR point per £20 sent…

      ‘Once you have registered your American Express® Card with both the central American Express Membership Rewards® Programer and the FX International Payments Membership Rewards® Programme, you can earn points on foreign currency transactions between the value of £1,000 to £100,000. For every £20 transacted, you will receive one Membership Rewards® point, which will be automatically credited to your American Express Card. You earn a maximum of 5,000 points per transaction. Please note, same currency transactions are not eligible. Points will be credited within 12 weeks after the transaction is completed.’

  • Andy S says:
    14 Feb14 February 07:37

    They should be able to do a credit check and electoral role verification with your authorisation, to verify your ID as part of KYC.

    I opened a bank account online without providing any ID documents.

  • Peter says:
    14 Feb14 February 08:11

    I’ve signed up to Midpoint. It took a bit of time and a few conversations with them to get set up but I’m now ready to make a transfer. I usually use Transferwise and whenever I’ve checked the rates between the two the rates are very similar but the Transferwise fee looks a little cheaper. I will give it a go soon so long as the exchange rate is similar to Transferwise.

  • Tony says:
    14 Feb14 February 08:13

    I thought the planes Virgin are operating out of Manchester at the moment didn’t have premium economy cabins?

    • Rob says:
      14 Feb14 February 09:27

      They have dug an old Airbus out of storage which had been retired, this does have PE.

    • Dale says:
      14 Feb14 February 09:49

      Yes agreed – I tried last month to book PE to Atlanta from MAN – zero seats

    • Jon says:
      14 Feb14 February 11:46

      The Orlando planes from Manchester are 747. Lots of PE as only a small handful of UC seats. Upstairs is mainly PE with Economy at back.

  • JamesB says:
    14 Feb14 February 08:32

    OT: Can I use my Curve debit card linked to my Lloyds avios mastercard to pay tge bill on another credit card?

  • W says:
    14 Feb14 February 09:43

    Out of curiosity: I found myself in OAK recently, and discovered that the Escape Lounge was complimentary for AMEX Plat owners – and promptly sneaked it with my British card. Haven’t been charged yet, but also can’t find anything about this on the UK Amex site. Was I lucky, or is this widely known?

    • Rob says:
      14 Feb14 February 10:11

      We did mention it last year in an article. It is not listed as a benefit for UK cardholders IIRC although no-one ever checks. Was it not a Priority Pass lounge anyway?

    • Simon says:
      14 Feb14 February 21:05

      I used that with my Plat card last year, I thought it was nice although didn’t think it was worth the $45 walk up price if I didn’t have my card. Yes it isn’t a Priority Pass lounge.

  • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:
    14 Feb14 February 11:43

    If you’re looking at the SFO fare, worth bearing in mind that BA has WTP fares to OAK around the £700 mark anyway.

  • Dan says:
    14 Feb14 February 11:57

    The location on your link is set to Poland.
    Change it at the top of the page to United Kingdom.

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