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

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.

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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.