Get 5,000 Avios or other miles as a sign-up bonus with the free HSBC Premier credit card

HSBC Premier has launched a special sign-up bonus on its free HSBC Premier credit card.

Until 2nd March, you will receive 10,000 HSBC Premier points – the usual bonus is nothing – when you take out the free HSBC Premier credit card and spend £1,000 within 30 days.

2 HSBC Premier card points can be exchanged for either 1 Avios, 1 Cathay Pacific mile, 1 Singapore Airlines mile or 1 Etihad Guest mile.  This means that the bonus is worth 5,000 Avios or other miles.

You need to meet the strict eligibility criteria for HSBC Premier before you can apply, however.

What is the total bonus you get?

There are two different cards available:

The free HSBC Premier credit card usually has no bonus.  This special offer takes the bonus up to 10,000 points = 5,000 miles

The £195 HSBC Premier World Elite card usually has a bonus of 80,000 points = 40,000 miles.  There is no additional bonus on this card.

Here are the headline benefits for the two cards:

HSBC Premier Mastercard (free version, representative APR 18.9% variable)

This is the card which is currently offering the additional bonus of 10,000 HSBC points (5,000 miles).  You get:

1 point (0.5 miles) for every £1 spent – this is a great deal for a free Mastercard and is the most generous free Avios Mastercard or Visa product available (although the free Virgin Atlantic Mastercard is even better, at 0.75 miles per £1, and anyone can apply for this card)

2 points (1 mile) for every £1 spent in foreign currency, although there is a 3% foreign exchange fee

£15 access to airport lounges via LoungeKey

Hotel discounts via Expedia and Agoda (the Agoda offer is here and offers 10% off in selected countries)

0% interest on purchases for 9 months and a special deal on balance transfers

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard (£195 fee, representative APR 59.3% including fee based on a notional £1200 credit limit)

There is no additional bonus on this version of the card, but the standard 40,000 Avios deal is still running.  Card benefits include:

2 points (1 mile) for every £1 spent – this is very generous and makes the card attractive for anyone with substantial Visa or Mastercard expenditure.  However, the £160 Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard is more generous, at 1.5 miles per £1, and anyone can apply.

4 points (2 miles) for every £1 spent in foreign currency, although there is a 3% foreign exchange fee.  If your employer settles your credit card bill – so the 3% FX fee is not your concern – then this is very good.

Free access to airport lounges via LoungeKey. Guests are charged at £15 and you can pay £60 to give adult friends or family a supplementary credit card.  There is no way of making children free, however.

Hotel discounts via Expedia and Agoda (the Agoda offer is here and offers 10% off in selected countries)

The World Elite bonus comes with a catch, however

It is important that you understand how the bonus is received:

40,000 points (20,000 miles) for spending £2,000 in your first 90 days

40,000 points (20,000 miles) for spending £12,000 in your first 12 months – you only receive these points at the end of the first year following your renewal, however quickly you spend £12,000

This means that you are committed to paying the fee for the 2nd year in order to receive the 2nd batch of points.  Some people have, in the past, successfully got the 2nd part of the bonus paid early which allowed them to cancel.  This was only possible because HSBC’s wording on how you received the bonus was badly written and this has now been clarified. 

I have not heard of anyone recently managing to get the full 80,000 points (40,000 miles) credited within the first 12 months and so allowing them to cancel the card without paying for the 2nd year.

The spending bonus is ONLY for the first year.  You won’t receive any bonus points for spending £12,000 in your 2nd or subsequent years.

Note that the £195 annual fee for this card is waived if you are a member of HSBC Jade.  This requires £500,000 of savings or investments with HSBC plus your salary to be paid into your HSBC current account.  HSBC private banking customers are also upgraded to Jade.

What are the eligibility criteria?

HSBC Premier has tough eligibility criteria.  See here and click on the Eligibility link 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 earn over £75,000, you qualify if you just have a HSBC mortgage or any investment or insurance product.  Note that HSBC recently dropped the salary limit from £100,000 to £75,000.

I’m not sure what the minimum investment is in an ‘investment product’ but I’m sure you could find something which would accept £1,000 or so.  They may even treat ISA’s or fixed rate bonds as ‘investment products’ – the definition is not clear online.  Some readers have been told different things by different branches.

Is the HSBC Premier credit card worth getting?

I still have a HSBC Premier account from my days working for the group, more than a decade ago.  That said, I have not yet got around to applying for the credit card.

The free card is very attractive purely for the 0.5 Avios per £1 on-going spending rate.  Getting an additional 10,000 HSBC points (5,000 Avios) by applying before 2nd March is a welcome extra bonus.

The £195 World Elite card depends on what use you would get from the other benefits.  For me, I don’t value the airport lounge access (I get that via Amex Platinum, and unlike HSBC it covers my kids too) but on the other hand I could pay the extra £60 for a supplementary card and get a friend or family member lounge access.

However, spending £390 (two years of annual fee) in return for 40,000 airline miles PLUS a very generous 1 mile per £1 spent on the Mastercard is not bad.

It is worth noting that you also get comprehensive travel insurance for free via the HSBC Premier current account that you need to have in order to apply for these credit cards.

Perhaps give Avios a miss?

Most HFP readers who get the free card will send the 5,000 miles to Avios.  There’s nothing wrong with that, especially if you have a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 voucher to use.

If you are applying for the World Elite card, you could consider using these miles for something other than Avios.   If you’ve ever fancied trying Etihad’s Business Class Studio or First Class Apartment, 40,000 miles – plus miles from your spending – would get you quite a long way down the line for a one-way ticket if you are a solo traveller.

You could also think about Singapore Airlines – perhaps a one-way First Class Suite ticket between Frankfurt and New York for example?

Both Etihad and Singapore are Amex partners so you could top up your miles via Membership Rewards points if needed.

Further reading ….

My full review of the free HSBC Premier credit card is here and you can apply here (remember you must already be a HSBC Premier customer).   My review of the HSBC Premier World Elite card is here and you can apply here.

The additional 10,000 points / 5,000 miles bonus on the free HSBC Premier Mastercard is available until 2nd March.

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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:

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.

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.

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.