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The Lloyds Choice Rewards credit card is being closed to existing cardholders

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Lloyds Bank announced last week that its existing ‘two pack’ Lloyds Duo Avios and Lloyds Avios Rewards cards are being closed.  You can read about that here and here.

Lloyds is also closing the Lloyds Choice Rewards credit card.

This was an interesting hybrid card.  It was a half-hearted attempt to create a card along the lines of American Express Membership Rewards.  You earn points on your spending which could be transferred to Avios BUT could also be used for High Street shopping vouchers and a range of other rewards.

The earning rate if you transferred to Avios was poor, however, which is why very few Head for Points readers took one out.

It is no surprise that the card is closing because it was another ‘two pack’ product which included an American Express element.  What IS a surprise is that Lloyds Choice Rewards cardholders are being moved to the Lloyds Avios Rewards credit card.

This seems odd to me.  If Lloyds Choice Rewards cardholders were serious about earning Avios, they would have taken out a Lloyds Avios Rewards card in the first place!  If I were Lloyds I would have moved them to a generic card with no rewards, or at least given them the option.  What will happen now is that a lot of people who have no interest in Avios will start earning them, with many of the points presumably doomed to expire unused.

If you have a Choice Rewards card, you have four months from the day you receive your letter from Lloyds to spend your points balance.  Any unused points will be foreited in return for a cash payment.

You can find out more on the Lloyds Bank website here.

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:

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

British Airways and Avios

Comments (63)

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

  • Stu N says:
    11 Aug11 August 12:06

    OT – how long do points from Marriott stays take to post? I stayed last Friday night points have not posted, nor have my eligible nights updated. Was a cash booking and my Rewards number was definitely on there.

    • Rob says:
      11 Aug11 August 12:55

      2-3 days in my experience, quicker than IHG

      • RussellH says:
        11 Aug11 August 14:19

        My last IHG stay (mid July) posted far quicker than previously. Checked out on Sunday and on Tuesday the points had posted, wrapped up together with the three separate Accelerate targets triggered by the stay. The Accelerate Bonus posted at the same time, but as a separate posting. The posting were actually dated 16/07, checkout was 15/07.

        But yes, it used to take around a week for IHG points to post.

      • Stu N says:
        11 Aug11 August 15:30

        Hmmm…. will give it another few days then chase up.

  • jason says:
    11 Aug11 August 12:29

    OT trying to add virgin number to Amex rewards isnt working to i need to do anything to the number, to make it work?

    • Graham Walsh says:
      11 Aug11 August 13:01

      It should work fine. Nothing special to link accounts. Just to check it is the new style number (well when they changed about 2 years ago).

    • RussellH says:
      11 Aug11 August 14:23

      I had the same problem a week or so ago. Not really a problem for me as I have never flown VS and have just 2 Flying Club miles.
      But I could actually make use of 5000 miles from a free Virgin Money M’card if I then added 5000 Amex MR points to get 10 000 Virgin miles = 15 000 Hilton points.

  • Graham Walsh says:
    11 Aug11 August 12:59

    Shame I booked a delta flight the other night. It was over £300 cheaper via Delta website than it was directly on Virgin website for the same flights. The chat popped up so I asked and their reply was 3rd parties can sell the seats for whatever they like, even when the 3rd party is a 49% owner!!

  • Lady London says:
    11 Aug11 August 14:57

    Hey Rob not sure why the link to Virgin site you provide above seems to come via a RAK route? not sure if it’s possible or advisable to adjust…?

  • Pid says:
    11 Aug11 August 18:41

    OT – Can I use Clubcard vouchers for Uber Credit and use it overseas? Not used Uber before and just wondering if it is worth signing up before a holiday next week.

    • Rob says:
      11 Aug11 August 18:41

      No, UK only.

    • DANIEL MACDONALD says:
      11 Aug11 August 20:03

      Can’t use UK credit outside UK.

      The app works worldwide wherever Uber is based….make sure the credit card is a 0% FX card linked to Uber if you are gonna use.

      If going to the USA also consider using LYFT having googled a sign up bonus code…

  • Alan says:
    11 Aug11 August 22:08

    Good news – self-referral Amex MR points seem to have posted today on my Plat (I say ‘seem’ as I’ve also suggested it to a couple of friends but don’t know if they took up the referral or not! – not the easiest thing to track…)

    • Liz says:
      11 Aug11 August 22:15

      I did a self referral on hubby’s Plat card for SPG 2 days ago – no decision yet!

      • Alan says:
        12 Aug12 August 00:29

        I had no decision then rejection on mine – called and successfully transferred chunk of credit limit from existing card 🙂

  • NYC123 says:
    13 Aug13 August 18:50

    Off topic but was in LGW clubhouse last week and got 30k sign up bonus (no min spend) on the black card.

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