No more Avios from mortgages as Tesco Bank puts its portfolio up for sale

It is no longer possible to earn Avios points from mortgages.

There has only been one way to earn Avios from your mortgage, and that was via Tesco Bank.

Tesco Bank quietly entered the mortgage market back in 2014.  We never covered it much because there are many factors to consider when taking out a mortgage.  Whether or not you will earn Avios or Virgin Flying Club miles via Clubcard points should be very much at the bottom of your list of considerations.

It was all very simple:

You earned 1 Tesco Clubcard point (2.4 Avios) for every £4 of your monthly mortgage payment.  This applied to both the capital and interest elements.

You earned 1 Tesco Clubcard point (2.4 Avios) for every £4 of any overpayment you make, as long as it does not fully repay your mortgage

If you were making monthly payments of £1000 you would be earning 250 Clubcard points.  This is worth 600 Avios, so about £5-£6 of value.  It was not enough to move the needle on which mortgage provider is cheapest.

This deal is no more.  Tesco Bank announced yesterday that it is pulling out of the mortgage market. It is no longer accepting new applications and, more importantly, the existing loan book will be sold to another lender.  Once the sale is complete it is virtually certain that Clubcard points will no longer be available.

It isn’t clear what the future holds for the rest of Tesco Bank. It has not made much of an impact in the current account market, and the credit card arm is also underpowered.  When it launched the current account, Tesco claimed that it was deliberately uncompetitive so that it could offer good customer service.  Several years on, that excuse no longer washes.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2023)

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:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive 30,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 30,000 Avios) with American Express Preferred Rewards Gold. You receive 25,000 points if you spend £3,000 in three months and a further 5,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive a huge 100,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 100,000 Avios) with The Platinum Card. You receive 75,000 points if you spend £10,000 in six months and a further 25,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

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.

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.

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.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.