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

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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.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (November 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

Get 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

30,000 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 – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

Huge 80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large 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.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

20,000 points (ONLY TO 9TH DECEMBER) Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

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

50,000 points when you sign-up 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.

Comments (184)

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

  • RakishDriver says:

    O/T received the ARCC card today, tried adding to my existing MR account via the app but throws an error saying need to open a different account. Is it just a case of ringing amex in the morning? Has this always been the case?

    • David says:

      Worked fine for me without ringing Amex a couple of months ago.

    • Charlieface says:

      Often happens. Wait a few days then it usually works

      • RakishDriver says:

        Tried today, and indeed, card added. However, it’s now showing as a separate MR account – I guess now I defo need to ring amex.

  • Annabelle says:

    Sorry me again! I was Hilton gold only after having platinum card early 2018, which I cancelled April 2018. Logging into my account it still says GOLD – will Hilton recognise this status or know I’m not really gold now? Thank you in advance.

    • Shoestring says:

      Your hotel status lasts a long time after you cancel the Amex Plat

      • Annabelle says:

        Thank you shoestring! Didn’t realise it would be well over a year even after cancelling 😂

        • TGLoyalty says:

          Yep all of the year you are made gold and the year after that (actually til the end of March in the 2nd year after that)

  • Rob MC says:

    OT
    Just been charged my annual fee of £24 from Lloyds for the amex and MasterCard. Am I right in a assuming this shouldn’t have happened as they are closing the cards…

    • Shoestring says:

      No – you need to pay for no benefit if you are stupid

      • Rob Mc says:

        Thanks. Will call them tomorrow and cancel it.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          They will pro rata refund the fee.

          Also why cancel you now have a year to earn your last upgrade voucher.

          • Rob Mc says:

            I still have one, and a 241 BA so won’t need anymore as running low on avios since amex rules changed!!

  • TGLoyalty says:

    Slightly OT but missed out on the Wheely AMEX offer but in London this coming weekend so if anyone has a promo code they’d like me to use please reply

  • Doug M says:

    Came through T3 yesterday around noon. E gates working except for number 5. Seemed a zoo but queue moved quickly and took probably no more than 7 or 8 minutes. What was obvious once again is how poor the HAL staff are at dealing with a failed gate. After the big snake is the small queue for the individual gate, staff just left the queue for 5, the broken one, in place. Eventually she decided to alternate with 4 and 6, but they did nothing to stop people continuing to queue for the broken one. Not obvious from the rear that gate is broken so did need some staff intervention.

    OT. All Lloyds FX fees refunded without much effort on return yesterday. Now to decide on next FX free card, Curve (free) not good enough with limits, just the hotel deposits and same for car rental chew through £500 before you actually spend.

  • Barry says:

    Noticed that British passports not accepted at Paris CDG e-passport gates. Mind you they stopped working for everyone after a few minutes whilst I was there.

  • Jon Arnold says:

    I came through Gatwick North yesterday and spotted the big new sign directing nationals from these various countries to the e-gates. No queue at all, was through in a minute. But then most people at Gatwick are on European Easyjet flights I suppose.

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

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