Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Got a Lloyds Avios Rewards Mastercard credit card? Get a Club Lloyds current account

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If you had the old Lloyds Avios Rewards American Express or Lloyds Duo credit cards, you have probably been switched to the new Lloyds Avios Rewards Mastercard by now.  If not, it will happen very soon.

For clarity, before you read on – the Lloyds Avios Rewards Mastercard is NOT available to new applicants.  There are no Avios-earning Lloyds Bank credit cards available to new applicants.

What are you earning on your Lloyds Avios Rewards Mastercard?

There were a lot of changes from the old American Express / Mastercard double pack:

  • the upgrade voucher is dead – the new Mastercard has no ‘long term spend’ bonus
  • there is no longer be an annual fee, saving £24
  • there IS now a foreign exchange fees of 3%

This is the earnings rate on your Lloyds Avios Rewards Mastercard:

0.4 Avios per £1 you spend in the UK

0.8 Avios per £1 you spend outside the UK

0.4 Avios per £1 transferred on a balance transfer

Because the Mastercard element of the old Avios Rewards cards was so poor, this actually represents an improvement.  You used to get 0.2 Avios per £1 on the Mastercard in the UK and 0.4 Avios per £1 elsewhere.

A lot of people missed the small print about Club Lloyds …..

There is an interesting bit of small print attached to the earnings rates above.

Holders of a Club Lloyds current account earn an extra 0.1 Avios per £1 (0.2 Avios per £1 for foreign transactions).

This means that a Club Lloyds accound holder gets:

0.5 Avios per £1 you spend in the UK

1.0 Avios per £1 you spend outside the UK

0.4 Avios per £1 transferred on a balance transfer

For this to kick in, you must have had a Club Lloyds current account for at least six months.

Why are we mentioning this today?

At present, there is a generous incentive available for opening a Club Lloyds current account.

Take a look at the Club Lloyds website here.

Until 5th November, Club Lloyds will give you £125 if you move your current account to them.

This applies to both the standard account and the Platinum version.  Note the terms and conditions which are lengthy.

Technically, the standard account has a  £3 monthly fee whilst the Platinum account has a £22 monthly fee.  However, the fee for the standard account is waived if you pay in £1,500 per month. 

The benefits are not bad, assuming you pay in enough to get the fee waived:

annual benefit of either 6 cinema tickets, an annual magazine subscription, or annual Gourmet Society membership

1% credit interest on balances up to £4,000 and 2% on balances between £4,000 and £5,000 as long as you have two direct debits set up on your account (you would receive £60 per year if you kept at least £5,000 in your account at all times)

The fee for the Platinum account is reduced to £19 per month if you pay in £1,500 monthly.  The benefits here look OK but you may already have most of them:

worldwide travel insurance, valid up to 80 years of age (appears comprehensive)

AA breakdown cover

mobile phone insurance

…. plus the benefits of the standard account listed above.

Plus the extra Avios …..

What isn’t mentioned in the benefits above is the additional Avios earned on your Lloyds Avios Rewards Mastercard for having a Club Lloyds account.

If you are spending £2,000 per month on your Mastercard, you’d be earning an extra 200 Avios per month as a Club Lloyds account holder.  This clearly isn’t lifechanging but is better than nothing.

If you use your Lloyds credit card abroad – not recommended due to the 3% fee, but perhaps your employer is paying – you will do even better due to the extra 0.2 Avios.

You can find out more about the £125 switching bonus on the Club Lloyds website here.

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:

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

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.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

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

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

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.

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

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

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

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.

Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card

1% cashback uncapped* on all your business spending (T&C apply) Read our full review

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (69)

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

  • Derek Broughton says:
    17 Oct17 October 10:18

    I got my upgrade voucher two weeks ago. Not dead yet!

  • Pierre says:
    17 Oct17 October 10:59

    Have the Lloyds MasterCard having been given notice from the old Amex. Trying to open the new club account but when logging in using credentials for MasterCard it keeps saying sorry there is a problem! Have tried using different browsers but same issue. Suppose one could apply for the current account without logging in first. Any thoughts?

  • iamfugly says:
    17 Oct17 October 11:45

    Has anyone had experience of using the upgrade voucher? Did you have do checks prior to using the voucher as to whether there are reward seats in the class you wanted to upgrade to?
    It is only redeemable via calling a dedicated call line so it seems a bit pot luck whether it is applicable to your booked ticket!
    Thanks in advance

    • Anna says:
      17 Oct17 October 13:08

      I don’t know if you can apply it to a flight you’ve already booked but there has to be availability in the cabin you want to upgrade to. You can redeem it by calling BAEC. If they don’t know what you’re talking about ask to speak to the staff who deal with Lloyds upgrade bookings.

      • PaulC says:
        17 Oct17 October 13:21

        Do people do this at midnight to avoid missing out on seats wehn they are released?
        Ive never done the midnight trick and have never struggled to book but I am currently looking to book one for October next year and was going to do this trick.
        Out Economy and back Business using Upgrade ticket.

        • BJ says:
          17 Oct17 October 14:43

          I could be wrong but I believe it is still the same old avios team that books it after being put through to them by BA. Therefore, they are only open avios hours. However, this could be easily checked by calling at midnight (or 1am currently). In theory you cannot apply the voucher to an existing booking, but there is no harm in asking as people have reported all sorts of helpful results from the avios team over the years.

          • Mikeact says:
            17 Oct17 October 16:21

            I have now upgraded two existing bookings with no questions asked, and I have moved existing bookings within the same zone, (important), again, no problem.
            I have a confirmed Lloyds Avios booking for two of us for next September which we have no intention of using, but will change nearer the time when we know where we would really like to go, (within the same zone)….as they are long haul, we are thinking of a couple of options.
            This sort of flexibility has been so useful…if only I had realised on day 1.

    • Gerry says:
      17 Oct17 October 13:24

      Hi iamfugly,
      I use http://www.rewardflightfinder.com to see if the availability I require is open. You can only upgrade one ‘class’, though not to 1st. I then double check on BA.com.
      Then phone the number specifically for Avios rewards ( 0844 and 0344 numbers I’ve used in the past.)
      I have only used to my place in the sun in Europe but presently using one voucher for 4 flights in CE (Edi-Lhr-Europe) which is a bargain AFAIC. So I also have to find UK connecting flights too. (Be careful the agent doesn’t try to place you in economy for connecting flights btw, this has happened to me twice but is incorrect.)

      • Lady London says:
        17 Oct17 October 16:41

        There is an offer currently on BA where incoming in PE (Y+) your travel agent can book you in Club on a connecting domestic sector without any extra charge.

    • Nic says:
      17 Oct17 October 17:02

      Voucher still works. It’s just a bit more annoying to upgrade.

      1) Check the flights you want have Business availability on Reward Flight Finder.

      2) Call BAEC. Wait half an hour for phone to be answered.

      3) Immediately ask to be transferred to the department which handles Lloyds Voucher Upgrades, as the BAEC service rep won’t be able to help you.

      4) Make a cup of tea as you await the answer.

      5) Tell the Avios Dept rep your exact flight details and that you want to apply your upgrade voucher. They will see your upgrade voucher, your Avois balance and should quote the Economy Avios prices but assure you a Business seat. They will do the booking, Avios debit and you’ll get the email with the booking details.

      • Nick_C says:
        17 Oct17 October 21:34

        For clarity – Avios for Economy or Premium Economy, Redemption fee tor the next class up.

      • iamfugly says:
        18 Oct18 October 00:42

        Nic, thank you very much for the step guide. That is a much better method than the one I was going to make of first making a PE rewards booking myself, then calling BAEC after to request the upgrade to business.
        Thank you all your input, much appreciated.

      • Geoffrey Sheppard says:
        18 Oct18 October 09:12

        Or you can just call Avios direct, give them the flt numbers you want, and book them right there. They will take the avios required from your BAEC account.

  • lgflyer says:
    17 Oct17 October 11:51

    Are Revolut topups allowed and treated as a purchase with the Lloyds card?

  • Anna says:
    17 Oct17 October 14:44

    Spooky coincidence (possibly). In the past week my online Lloyds account has moved over to the new MC (though I now can’t see any of my statements, but again, this is Lloyds) and I’ve received a new PIN (though not a new card). Today a letter has arrived notifying me I’ve earned the upgrade voucher, even though I haven’t spent on the card since August and by reckoning am still £50 short of the £7k spend. Anyone else had this?

  • Kush says:
    17 Oct17 October 14:48

    Since the change, I have been contemplating changing my credit cards as the rewards scheme is now very poor, however this seems to be the only Mastercard that rewards you with Avios…
    Would you suggest any other card worth getting – I see the Amex Gold card now states you must not have held one for 2 years ( i think I had one about 1.5 years ago)

    • Dave says:
      17 Oct17 October 15:31

      The RBS or NatWest rewards mastercard allows you to payout your rewards at a rate of something like £50=5870 avios IIRC. Which is free of you have their rewards account which is also pretty generous for Direct Debits and such like

    • Genghis says:
      17 Oct17 October 17:21

      HSBC prem?

  • Liz says:
    17 Oct17 October 18:15

    How long from hitting the £7k spend does the email/letter arrive. We’ve just till the £7k spend a few days ago. Does the voucher allow you to upgrade the domestic part and the long haul part of a trip, I’m sure the last time I used one I didn’t get the domestic leg upgraded.

    • yorkieflyer says:
      17 Oct17 October 21:39

      yes all legs can be upgraded

    • John says:
      17 Oct17 October 21:59

      Hi. I recently got my new Lloyds avios mastercard. How do you know how long it is to go till the 7k target is reached ? I can’t see it anywhere on my statement or app. Thanks

  • Jeff says:
    17 Oct17 October 20:30

    I have 4 bank accounts with ABC Bank. Can I assign to ‘switch’ just one of these accounts to Lloyds (to get the £125 bonus) and safely retain the 3 ABC Bank accounts?

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

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