Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Mobile app-only bank Monese launches an exclusive partnership with Avios Group

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The globally-connected banking service Monese has launched an exclusive partnership with Avios.

Back in December we wrote about how Avios Group had joined a £60m funding round for Monese and asked whether this was going to lead to an Avios earning partnership.

This week we got some answers.  Monese and Avios have announced that users can now link their Avios account to their Monese account and see their Avios earning and spending in the app. For now you cannot earn and spend via Monese, but watch this space …..

Earning Avios from Monese

What is Monese?

Monese is a globally connected banking service that was founded in 2013 by Norris Koppel.  It aims to simplify the process of getting a bank account in Europe.  It’s a ‘mobile app only’ bank that gives users a £ and a € account allowing them to bank like a local across the UK and Europe. Accounts can be opened within two minutes with a photo ID and a video selfie.

The company launched its banking product in 2015 and has currently 800,000 users in 30 countries and supports 12 languages.  Customers are currently moving $3 billion through their Monese accounts each year.

How does Monese work?

You can find full details of how Monese works on its website.

In summary, there are three different plans to choose from.

  • Starter – FREE
  • Plus – £4.95 / month
  • Premium – £14.95 / month

What are Monese’s key feature?

Monese accounts are linked to a contactless Mastercard that is accepted in 200 countries and territories. Users can make unlimited transactions with their card, but depending on the plan there might be charges for ATM usage and foreign exchange transactions.

Monese accounts can be operated like a traditional current account with your salary paid in.  If you don’t want to do this, you can also top up your balance from another bank account or with cash using PayPoint or over the counter at a Post Office.

Introducing the new Avios partnership

This week Monese and Avios launched the first stage of their partnership.  Users can now link their Avios account to their Monese account and track their Avios earning in the same app as their banking balance.  This includes Avios earned from flights, via the e-store and any Avios earned from credit cards.

The app currently lists your last five Avios transactions and Monese is working on increasing this.

Monese Avios

What does the future hold for Monese and Avios?

In the coming weeks Monese will introduce further benefits for Avios collectors. There will be various earning and spending opportunities including earning Avios for referring friends to Monese and earning Avios by paying for items with your Monese debit card.

Customers will also be able to send Avios to their friends as long as they have a Monese account.

Norris Koppel, CEO and Founder at Monese, says about the Avios partnership:

“We are delighted to be announcing this partnership with Avios, following our successful Series B fundraise. We serve a fast-growing and incredibly international audience who travel the world for study, work, family, or retirement. We’re proud to offer customers a smart, portable and seamless way to manage their lifestyles, as well as their finances. We know that these customers would value an easy and simple way to track and maximise Avios alongside their finances and travel. In the coming months, our Avios offering will become even smarter and stronger and it will help our customers make better decisions, wherever they may be in the world.”

Andrew Crawley, CEO, Avios Group, believes:

“Partnering with Monese is a significant move to making it even more convenient for customers to track their Avios while on the go. As Avios can be collected and spent in over 190 countries, we understand the need to have a banking account that’s as mobile as its customers. We look forward to working with Monese on our exciting plans to make collecting and spending even more rewarding.”

If you are reading this on a mobile device, you can get the Monese app by clicking here.

You can find out more about the company on its website 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 (204)

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

  • Heinztein says:
    22 Feb22 February 07:11

    Looks as though starling and monzo offer a far better product.

  • John says:
    22 Feb22 February 07:11

    Unless the rate is 1 Avios per £ it seems like a waste of time.

    What I really need is a way to deposit euro cash into a euro account. There are several online accounts in DE and NL that UK residents can open, but none of them have a simple way to deposit cash. Irish banks have hefty fees or awkward restrictions on use.

    • BJ says:
      22 Feb22 February 07:38

      I doubt it will come anywhere close to that.

    • Paul says:
      22 Feb22 February 08:15

      Currencies Direct

      • John says:
        22 Feb22 February 08:21

        This is a forex broker not a bank account.

        • Andrew L says:
          22 Feb22 February 09:23

          Aren’t Starling in the process of launching a euro account?

        • Doug M says:
          22 Feb22 February 10:23

          They’ve said they are. I’m fortunate in I’m a legacy Citibank customer and have € and $ accounts. But I know it’s only time until they close my account because they’ve done so with many others. They’re after HNW types, not chancers like me. When I saw the email from Starling I thought great that’ll be the obvious replacement. HSBC have similar offerings, but with big fees and more aimed at the wealthy types.

      • Chrisasaurus says:
        22 Feb22 February 12:12

        How do you deposit cash into currencies direct?

    • John says:
      22 Feb22 February 08:21

      Doesn’t accept cash deposits, and hefty fees on all transactions.

    • Jack says:
      22 Feb22 February 09:15

      RBS Group offer euro accounts. I have a Euro account in Ulster Bank Belfast and i’ve never even set foot there.

      • Lady London says:
        22 Feb22 February 11:10

        Metro bank also say they offer euro accounts. But if you look at what you can actually do with them it;s pretty much nothing. RBS may possibly be similar.

    • Lady London says:
      22 Feb22 February 11:07

      Just wondering, which ones would you prefer in DE?

    • Charlie T. says:
      22 Feb22 February 12:42

      Barclays offer a free EUR account which you can deposit cash into or withdraw cash from in branch with no fees. Same day EUR payments online are also fee free. Takes an age to do cash transactions in branch though as they have to phone up a special team to process them. But I’d recommend overall.

  • Nick_C says:
    22 Feb22 February 07:25

    I value Rob’s honest opinion on new products like this. I appreciate HfP exists to make money, but a “sponsored article” like this adds no value to its readers or its reputation.

    I’ll catch up with comments at the end of the day to form an opinion of Monese, but so far it doesn’t excite me.

    • Shoestring says:
      22 Feb22 February 07:46

      What’s your point, exactly? It says prominently: ‘This article is sponsored by Monese’, there then follows an article based on a news release, with no editorial opinion that I can see saying ‘what a cool product because x, y, z’.

      HfP might just as well have said ‘this news release is sponsored by Monese’.

    • Ian says:
      22 Feb22 February 08:07

      I agree. Sponsored links are one thing, sponsored articles like this devalue the good reputation this site has earned itself.

    • marcw says:
      22 Feb22 February 08:27

      The problem is it’s a paid article – Monese paid for it; HfP took the money and said: yes. However, even though Rob criticised Monese-Avios previously (when he wrote a rant article how no one was investing in credit card start ups)… I think since it is related to Avios he should write about it (HfP is like the Avios Bible/Encyclopaedia). Now I believe he should have written about it without being a sponsorship. But hey, it’s his website/blog so he can do it they way he wants.

      At least it’s nothing related to swim shorts or polos.

    • toddy says:
      22 Feb22 February 15:33

      I have a simple solution. Stop reading once you get to the “This article is sponsored by Monese” and stop getting angry about minor things.

      Have a good weekend!

  • Paul says:
    22 Feb22 February 07:43

    Can’t get excited by a £14.95 a month current account.

  • Ken says:
    22 Feb22 February 07:46

    What exactly is the point of this? Why would I want to pay £5 or £15 per month for facilities that I currently get for free from a High Street bank?

    • Shoestring says:
      22 Feb22 February 07:49

      There’s not much point at the moment – it’s clearly a poor product vs other free products – but sending Avios to your friends sounds interesting (future development). Can’t see they will do this without a fee going to Avios, so it might not end up interesting after all. Sure to be very limited in scope/ expensive to send large amounts of points this way otherwise open to abuse.

    • New Card says:
      22 Feb22 February 08:00

      Or for free from a range of other app banks, with better features. The only differentiator I can see is PayPoint deposits but these are limited/expensive.

    • Shoestring says:
      22 Feb22 February 08:11

      The point from the owner’s pov could be to raise loads of investor money for this great start-up & piss it up the wall – plus having your money for free as their float also allows the life of Riley until it all goes bump.

      Just like lots of other AIM cos, then.

  • N says:
    22 Feb22 February 08:34

    That video has hit the heady heights of 340 views!

  • Ed says:
    22 Feb22 February 08:38

    What’s the best way to earn Avios when paying into tax free childcare please?

    • Shoestring says:
      22 Feb22 February 08:45

      I think it’s limited to Tesco Clubcard points—>Avios

      (debit card).

    • JD says:
      22 Feb22 February 08:58

      Revolut and take your pick of points earning MasterCard/Visa. Just check your not getting a cash like transaction fee. I’m using Virgin+ and IHG+

      • Alex W says:
        22 Feb22 February 11:22

        Is that linked to Curve or not? Via Curve I could only get £250 to Revolut today. Anything above was declined.

  • Sam says:
    22 Feb22 February 08:39

    O/T I want to book an Easter weekend break, not particularly fussed as to destination but flights are generally quite expensive. I want to see if there is any BA reward flights, where is the best place to check and can I find out generally the reward availability to any destination (so I don’t need to specifically look/scroll through each destination)?

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

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