Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

HSBC Premier drops its income requirement to £75,000 – can you get the best Avios Mastercard?

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

I have covered the HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard extensively in articles like this.  It is a VERY attractive Mastercard product if you want to earn Avios.

There is a £195 annual fee but you will receive 40,000 Avios points for spending £12,000 in the first year.  20,000 Avios (via 40,000 HSBC points) are credited if you spend £2,000 within 90 days and a further 20,000 Avios (via 40,000 HSBC points) are credited at the end of your first year if you have hit the £12,000 spending target.

You earn an unbeatable 1 Avios per £1 (via 2 HSBC points per £1) on the World Elite Mastercard AND get access to 500 airport lounges worldwide via LoungeKey.  Other perks include a £20 Uber credit each time you charge £500 to an airline.  Full details can be found on the HSBC website here.

The representative APR is 59.3% including the annual fee based on a £1200 credit limit.  The APR on purchases is 18.9%.

The standard HSBC Premier Mastercard is also attractive.  As you can see here, the card is free – albeit there is no sign up bonus – and you earn 0.5 Avios for every £1 you spend.

You can also transfer your points to Etihad Guest, Asia Miles or Singapore Airlines Krisflyer at the same rates or use them for non-travel rewards.

Join HSBC Premier

The only snag with these cards is that you must have a HSBC Premier current account.

HSBC Premier has always had tough eligibility criteria.  See here and click on the Eligibility button to see the details.

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 have a high income, you qualify if you just have a HSBC mortgage or any investment (such as an ISA) or insurance product.

The income requirement has historically been £100,000 per year.  From today, it falls to £75,000 per year.  This opens it up to a lot more people.

Once your Premier bank account is open, you will be able to apply for either the HSBC Premier or HSBC Premier World Elite credit cards and start earning Avios, or other airline miles, via a Mastercard at the generous HSBC rates.

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

18,000 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:

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.

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

Category

HSBC Premier Mastercard

Comments (74)

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

  • RTS says:
    26 Mar26 March 09:18

    Shame you are still required to have an additional HSBC product.

    • Bonglim says:
      26 Mar26 March 11:10

      My additional HSBC product is an account in the Global Investment Centre – which has £100 in one investment fund.

      Not particularly onerous.

      • RTS says:
        26 Mar26 March 14:04

        Good point… Didn’t realise there wasn’t a “minimum spend” on their investment product. Still not sure if it warrants giving up my Barclays Premier account. The daily free coffees, free cinema tickets and free Gourmey Soceity Card are all very useful. Hmm. Shame Barclays don’t do a world elite card.

  • Alex says:
    26 Mar26 March 09:42

    Is £75,000 gross or net income? As a PAYE I have lots of tax free deduction (eg pension) prior to depositing into my bank.

  • Dave says:
    26 Mar26 March 09:58

    Personally, I am of the opinion that the current best long term set up to have for cards is, SPG (as this is equivalent to around 1.86 avios per £, with the added bonus of a weeks voucher included once you get to 90k) and the IHG Black (2 points per £ / 4 points per £, plus a free night voucher at £10k and all spending accures tier points). Am I the only one with this?

    • mark2 says:
      26 Mar26 March 10:24

      Could you expand on the ‘added bonus of a weeks voucher included once you get to 90k’ please

      • Genghis says:
        26 Mar26 March 11:04

        Looks like a Marriott travel package to me

      • guesswho2000 says:
        26 Mar26 March 11:13

        90k SPG=270k Marriott=120k Avios* Plus 7 night cat1-5 hotel voucher. (*or various other air miles)

    • wally1976 says:
      26 Mar26 March 11:10

      These are good cards for earning rates and some additional perks but obviously you need to factor in the the annual fees – £75 for the SPG and £99 IHG unless I’m mistaken.

      • Dave says:
        26 Mar26 March 14:23

        Yes, I am using the SPG for a Marriott travel package, so 90k SPG > 270k Marriott > 168k Avios + a week Cat 1-5 voucher. As for the fees they do need to be considered but I find £75 a year for the SPG to be low in comparison to most others. The IHG is expensive but not so much so when considering the HSBC card.

        • pauldb says:
          26 Mar26 March 16:37

          I’m surprised you wouldn’t find space in your wallet (and £10k spend) to also get the BA AmexPP and it’s voucher, particularly as a churn (or his&her back&forth) it get the sign-up bonuses too.

        • pauldb says:
          26 Mar26 March 16:38

          And/or if I didn’t have the Amex voucher, it’s there a better option for the miles than avios?

        • Genghis says:
          26 Mar26 March 16:44

          I find it much more advantageous to spend on a variety of cards throughout the year

  • Thomas Howard says:
    26 Mar26 March 11:05

    How does the £75k limit work for “self employed” freelancers tax avoiding via limited companies? Asking for a friend, etc.

    • Chris says:
      26 Mar26 March 13:19

      See above from myself/Bonglim

      • Daniel says:
        26 Mar26 March 17:50

        Doesn’t apply if they’re only taking out wage/dividends up to the tax bracket. In that instance, I suspect you’re out of luck unless you keep cycling the money through.

  • Roman says:
    26 Mar26 March 11:28

    Important for members of the financial sector is also, that the income criteria is “base salary”, not actual salary over the last 12 months (incl. variable) etc.

  • luckyjim says:
    26 Mar26 March 12:19

    Presumably you can open the investment product and the current account at the same time?

    • the_real_a says:
      26 Mar26 March 18:36

      Yes indeed. I did just this (well on the savings product) – since the premier account unlocks higher interest it would have been crazy not to do this. The telephone interview was very relaxed and they have a great deal of flexibility.

      • pauldb says:
        26 Mar26 March 20:46

        Are there any savings products that aren’t risible?

        • The_real_a says:
          27 Mar27 March 05:22

          In short no. Most are far away from the market. In such a case you have to cost in the loss of interest from the market leader. You are in essence paying 150-200 a year for the account if you are applying based on savings. I could get this back in value from the credit card but it wasnt a no brainer. I simply placed cash on deposit and then as part of the interview process put it to them that it was pointless opening an investment product i would close immediately. They upgraded the account and i was free to do whatever i wanted. They also offer the credit card at application for the premier accout since they run a credit check. Be ready to accept this if you dont fancy a second credit check at some point later. P.s. i think someone else said that £100 in the investment fund covered the requirement if you are applying based on income rather than savings.

      • Ant says:
        26 Mar26 March 20:55

        Which savings product did you do this with?

        When i called up to enquire they insisted i open an investment product first (said savings didnt count) and then call back once it was open

        • pauldb says:
          26 Mar26 March 21:01

          FWIW I opened an account in branch without a second product, but I’ve said I’ll go in and take out a protection product. My life insurance needs a reset and they sell whole-of-market so I assume they can offer something competitive.

        • The_real_a says:
          27 Mar27 March 05:24

          Simply cash on deposit is considered a savings product (if you push them)

        • Polly says:
          2 Apr2 April 15:26

          We simply put cash in deposit account too. That worked.

  • luckyjim says:
    26 Mar26 March 12:37

    Isn’t it 1 HSBC Point per pound spent in sterling? 2 points per pound in other currencies.

    So as the conversion rate is 2:1 it’s ‘only’ 0.5 Avios per pound in the UK?

    Or am I looking at the wrong card?

    • luckyjim says:
      26 Mar26 March 12:39

      Sorry. answering my own question. I was looking at the world elite card but for some reason the brochure is for the ‘premier’ card.

  • rams1981 says:
    26 Mar26 March 12:53

    I opened an hsbc premier account a few years ago and still don’t have an investment product of any type. My salary goes in and out within days yet I’ve not been contacted for the account to be changed. I took out the £195 card and the card cancelled it as without the bonus not sure it’s worth it. Has anyone churned it?

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

NEW: Sign-up bonuses boosted to 3,000 and 18,000 points

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? SPECIAL OFFER TO 12TH MAY EARN POINTS WORTH 30,000 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points, four airport lounge passes and your first year free with American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!