What are the best credit card sign-up deals for November 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UPDATE – APRIL 2024:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.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 October?

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

American Express has been offering 60,000 Membership Rewards points as a sign-up bonus on the Platinum Business card for the last few weeks.  This offer is meant to end today, 6th November, but that is not written down anywhere.

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.

American Express launched a new British Airways SME card

American Express has 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%.

American Express closed two variants of the Amex Rewards Credit Card

ARCC is a standard Amex-branded credit card.  It has no annual fee and no substantial benefits, except for the ability to collect Membership Rewards points at 1 point per £1 spent.

There WERE three versions of the card available: a low interest rate version, a ‘0% interest on purchases’ version, and a ‘standard’ version with the usual 22.9% interest rate and without a 0% offer on purchases.

You can probably guess which two versions have been closed down.  Yes …. the one with the 9.9% interest rate and the one which offered 0% interest on purchases.

The one version which remains is the ‘standard’ one with a 5,000 Membership Rewards points bonus and a representative APR of 22.9% variable (click here).   You need to spend £2,000 within three months to receive the bonus.

It is unlikely that many (any?!) Head for Points readers will qualify for the bonus because you cannot have held any personal American Express card in the previous 24 months.  Don’t worry about that.  You may still want to get this card even though you won’t get a bonus.

If you currently have an Amex Gold or Platinum card and want to cancel it but do not want to cash in your Membership Rewards points, this card is your answer.

Apply for the one remaining variant of the American Express Rewards Credit Card.  Once it is active, you can cancel your Gold charge or credit card or Platinum charge card safe in the knowledge that your Membership Rewards balance is safe.

The only ‘snag’ is that you will not have reset the 24 month clock on being able to reapply for any other personal American Express card (with the exception of British Airways Premium Plus) and receive another sign-up bonus.  In order to do that you need to close down your Membership Rewards account entirely.

For a lot of people, though, being able to keep your existing Membership Rewards balance alive will be more important.  You can apply for the remaining version of the American Express Rewards credit card here.

The Lufthansa credit card is giving away 1 million Miles & More miles

To promote the Lufthansa Miles & More payment cards (which I rate highly – you get 10,000 miles as a sign-up bonus until 31st December and 1.25 miles per £1 spent, see my review here), Affiniture is giving away almost 1 million Miles & More miles.

To be more precise, it is giving away 13 prizes of 75,000 Miles & More miles, which I’d value at £750+.  Lufthansa’s fabled First Class could be within your grasp ….. at least one-way.

Everyone who applies for the Miles & More payment cards before 31st December will be entered into the competition.  However, to comply with UK law, you can also enter without applying for the card.

Visit this page of the cards website and enter.  You must be an existing Miles & More member and you must be a UK resident.  The competition closes on 31st December.  Good luck.

Virgin Atlantic’s latest promotion ended

The two Virgin Atlantic credit cards have dropped back to their standard bonuses during October – 5,000 miles on free card (reviewed here) and 15,000 miles on the paid card (reviewed here).

I have no idea what, if anything, is coming down the pipe in terms of future promotions so I can’t give you a steer on whether it is worth applying now or whether you should wait for a deal.  The application site is here.

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.

These cards were meant to be switching to Visa in September.  And then in October.  Existing cardholders were meant to be switched on 31st October.

All of these deadlines have been missed.  I’m not sure at present what is going on, but they are still intending to switch over to a Visa credit card format soon.

For now, you can continue using the Mastercard debit version to pay your HMRC VAT and corporation tax bills and earn 1 Avios per £1 spent!  If you apply now, you will receive the Mastercard and then be switched later.

There is a special higher sign-up bonus for HfP readers which you can read about 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 October:

What can you do with Amex Membership Rewards points?

A new Amex lounge for Platinum cardholders opens in Sydney

Why you should get a FREE Curve Card to maximise your miles and points from credit cards

Are the best cashback credit cards a good alternative to miles and points cards?

Should you dump your free BA Amex for the one remaining Amex Rewards Credit Card? Possibly.

What are the best Star Alliance credit cards for UK residents?

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.