What are the best credit card sign-up deals for October 2019? – plus your news round-up

UPDATE – APRIL 2024:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.  We produce a monthly directory of the top UK travel credit card offers – please click HERE or use the ‘Credit Cards’ menu above.  Thank you.

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.

Keep up to date with the latest UK credit card bonuses by signing up for our free daily or weekly newsletters.

It is time for our regular round up of what is coming and what is going in the world of UK airline and hotel credit card sign-up deals.

Our directory of the 16 main UK travel credit and charge cards can be found by clicking the ‘Credit Cards’ tab at the top of the site or – for email, Flipboard, Apple News or mobile readers – by clicking here.

What was new in September?

You can get a higher bonus on Virgin Atlantic’s two credit cards

Until 31st October, you will receive enhanced sign-up bonuses on the two Virgin Atlantic credit cards.  You can get up to 25,000 miles.

You have two options:

The FREE Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard comes with a bonus of 7,000 miles.  The earning rate is an unbeatable, for a free card, 0.75 Flying Club miles per £1.   You will receive 5,000 Virgin Flying Club miles with your first purchase and a further 2,000 when you spend £1,000 within 90 days.  My full review is here.  You can apply here.

The ‘annual fee’ Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard comes with a bonus of 25,000 miles.  It is highest earning airline card on the market, giving you 1.5 Flying Club miles per £1.   You will receive 15,000 Virgin Flying Club miles with your first purchase and a further 10,000 when you spend £1,500 within 90 days.  My full review is here.  You can apply here.

This page of the Virgin Money website lets you compare both cards.

This is well worth a look, even if you do nothing more than pick up the free card for a quick 7,000 Virgin Flying Club miles hit.

American Express launched a British Airways SME card

American Express added a third small business card, to add to Business Gold and Business Platinum, with the launch of the British Airways American Express Accelerating Business card.

We reviewed the BA Accelerating Business credit card here.

It looks funky (see below) but I am not totally sold on the package.  The annual fee at £210 is relatively high, whilst the sign-up bonus (2200 On Business points) and annual spend bonus (3000 On Business points) are underwhelming.

The day-to-day earnings rate IS good, at 1.5 Avios per £1.  You can have 99 free supplementary cards for your staff, which will definitely appeal to some people.

You can apply and find further details on the American Express website here

Interest rate information: representative APR 81.6% variable, including the £210 annual fee, based on an assumed credit limit of £1200.  The interest rate on purchases is 22.9%.

The Capital On Tap Avios-earning SME cards have delayed their switch to Visa

The Capital Club and On Tap Club cards, from Capital on Tap, aimed at small businesses and sole traders, are the first non-Amex payment for small businesses which let you earn Avios.  Whilst you may not have heard of Capital On Tap, it already has 50,000 customers for its existing ‘no rewards’ payment card.

I won’t discuss the cards in detail, because they are meant to be switching to Visa in the next few days and I haven’t seen confirmation of the new package.  Once we know what they will be offering going forward, we will be able to compare it to the new BA American Express SME card.

You can receive a whopping 60,000 Membership Rewards points on Amex Business Platinum

If you have an SME, you are spoilt for choice at the moment.  As well as the new British Airways Accelerating Business card covered above, you can get 60,000 Membership Rewards points with the Business Platinum card.

This offer is ONLY available if you apply via a refer a friend link.  I can provide one if you need one – see here.  To get the bonus, you need to spend £6,000 in 90 days.

Remember that it is substantially easier to qualify for the sign-up bonus on the Platinum Business card than the personal Platinum card.

To get the 60,000 Membership Rewards points on signing up, you only need to have gone SIX MONTHS without any American Express card which earns Membership Rewards points.  The personal Platinum card now requires you to wait 24 months.

Full details are in this article.

Miles & More sign-up bonus of 10,000 miles guaranteed until 31st December

Back in July, the Lufthansa Miles & More payment cards doubled their sign-up bonus to 10,000 miles for the month.  At the end of July, nothing happened and the 10,000 miles kept on showing.

The website has now been clarified to confirm that the 10,000 miles sign-up deal will run until 31st December.

There is a £79 annual fee, which is not refunded pro-rata if you cancel, but this is still a good deal to get 10,000 Miles & More miles IF you are already an active collector.  It is less use for everyone else because there is little value in Miles & More outside of long haul Business and First Class redemptions.  These require far more miles than most people can get from card spend alone, even at 1.25 miles per £1.

Our full review of the Miles & More payments cards is here.

American Express still has a 30,000 point bonus on the DOLLAR / EURO versions of the Platinum card

Amex is running a sign-up bonus on its Dollar and Euro Platinum charge cards – 30,000 Membership Rewards points to be precise.

The good news is that you can get this bonus even if you already have a UK Platinum or Gold card.  The bad news is that this is a complicated product with poorer transfer rates to most airline schemes than the UK cards.  I wrote about the pros, cons and sweet spots in this article.

Finally, whilst not directly related to miles and points, Head for Points is running an exclusive sign-up offer with Revolut.  Sign up via our link here and you do not have to pay the £4.99 delivery fee for the plastic card.  Read our full article first.

If you have your own small business, we also reviewed Revolut for Business – click here for details.  You can sign up here.

Further reading ….

We also published the following credit card articles in September:

Good news if you lost Amex cashback because the merchant used a payment aggregator

Help us update our crowdsourced list of Amex Membership Rewards transfer times

Virgin has boosted its credit card sign-up bonuses – but which card is best for you?

NEW PROMO: Get 7,000 to 25,000 sign-up miles with the Virgin Atlantic credit cards!

What are the best UK airport lounges you can visit for free with Amex Gold’s Lounge Club passes?

50% bonus when you convert Amex Membership Rewards points to Hilton – worth it?

Excellent deal: 60,000 points sign-up bonus with American Express Platinum Business!

You may also want to read our ‘Top 10’ series:

What are the top 10 reasons to get American Express Preferred Rewards Gold (Amex Gold)?

What are the top 10 reasons to get American Express Platinum (The Platinum Card)?

What are the top 10 reasons to get the American Express Rewards Credit Card?

What are the top 10 reasons to get the British Airways American Express (BA Amex)?

What are the top 10 reasons to get the British Airways American Express Premium Plus card?

What are the top 10 reasons to get the HSBC Premier Mastercard?

What are the top 10 reasons to get the HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard?

What are the top 10 reasons to get the free IHG Rewards Club credit card?

What are the top 10 reasons to get the Lufthansa Miles & More Diners Club and Mastercard?

What are the top 10 reasons to get the Marriott Bonvoy American Express credit card?

What are the top 10 reasons to get the Tesco Clubcard Mastercard credit card?

What are the top 10 reasons to get the Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard credit card?

What are the top 10 reasons to get the Virgin Atlantic Reward Plus Mastercard credit card?

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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.