What are the best cards for long term spending?

Many of the credit card articles on Head for Points are focused on sign-up bonuses.  Get a card, spend the minimum required to trigger the bonus and potentially move on.

However, if you are a high to medium spender, the few thousand pounds of card spend required each year to hit your sign-up bonus targets is not a stretch.  You need to consider where to put the rest of your annual spend.

This article can help you!

All of these cards add a 3% foreign exchange fee so you might want to get a separate free credit card to use abroad.   Unfortunately there are no travel rewards card without a foreign exchange fee.  One option is to get a free Curve Card – see this HFP article – and link it to a miles-earning Visa or Mastercard.

Another option is to get a free card from Currensea. Currensea is a simple but clever idea. You pay abroad with your Currensea Mastercard debit card. Currensea translates the cost to Sterling with just a 0.5% fee (83% less than usual) and withdraws the money from your bank account. You can find out more by clicking here. Currensea is free so there is no risk in giving it a try.

This article was updated on 1st January 2021, and all of the information is correct as of that date. Ignore the original publication date shown.

What are the best UK card bonuses for long term spending?

Many travel credit cards offer incentives if you spend £10,000+ per year on their cards.  The value of these perks is often underestimated – they are often worth far more than the points for your normal spend.

In order of value, lets take a look at what is out there.  This analysis ignores the value of any sign-up bonus or ‘first year free’ deal – I am looking for the best long-term solution.

Excluding the Virgin credit cards, the results summary is, based on spending just enough to trigger the relevant long-term bonus:

• British Airways American Express Premium Plus – 10.1% back on first £10,000
• British Airways American Express (free version) – 6.1% back on first £20,000
• Generic cashback Visa or Mastercard – 0.2% to 0.5% back, usually in vouchers

Your return on the free Virgin Money Reward card varies by status:

• Base Virgin Flying Club member – up to 2.4% on first £20,000
• Silver Virgin Flying Club member – up to 3.4% on first £20,000
• Gold Virgin Flying Club member – up to 6.4% on first £20,000

Your return on the £160 Virgin Money Reward+ card also varies by status:

• Base Virgin Flying Club member – up to 3.3% on first £10,000
• Silver Virgin Flying Club member – up to 5.1% on first £10,000
• Gold Virgin Flying Club member – up to 11.4% on first £10,000

I will explain the basis of my calculations below.  The BA and Virgin calculations are based on using the 241 voucher for San Francisco or a flight of similar length.

Our base comparison –  The John Lewis / Waitrose Partnership Card or similar

This is typical of the best free Visa or Mastercard cashback cards currently available, giving you 0.25% of your general spending back in the form of shopping vouchers.

Why are we featuring a card which does not give travel rewards?  Because if your travel rewards credit card doesn’t clearly beat the return from a cashback or shopping vouchers card, there is no point having it.  You are better off with the cash.

Representative APR 18.9% variable.

What are the best travel cards for long term spending?

The winner – British Airways American Express Premium Plus card

This is not exactly a surprise.  After all, you voted the British Airways Premium Plus card your ‘Best UK Travel Rewards Credit Card’ in the 2019 Head for Points Awards.

 Spend £10,000 on this card and you get a voucher which gives you two Avios redemption tickets (on BA planes, ex-UK only) for the miles of one.  On a typical redemption (two Club World tickets to San Francisco on a peak day), this saves you 150,000 Avios points!

Based on my very conservative 0.75p per Avios point valuation, the 2-4-1 voucher is ‘worth’ £1,100.  You also earn 15,000 Avios for spending £10,000 (worth £110 assuming 0.75p per Avios) with an annual fee of £195.  The net benefit for spending £10,000 = £1,015 (£1,100 + £110 – £195) or 10.1% of spend.

Representative APR 74.7% variable including £195 fee based on a notional £1200 credit limit.  Interest rate on purchases 22.2% variable.

Runner-up – British Airways American Express card

The standard, free, British Airways Amex gives you a 2-4-1 voucher when you spend £20,000, and a lower 1 mile per £1 on your spending.  Using the same maths as above, £20,000 of spend gets you £1,100 of 2-4-1 benefit plus 20,000 Avios for your £20,000 of spending, worth £150.  There is no fee.  The net benefit for spending £20,000 = £1,250 or 6.1% of spend.

However, if you plan to earn the 2-4-1, the British Airways Premium Plus Amex is more attractive.  The card has a higher earnings rate and the 2-4-1 voucher lasts for two years instead of one.

I wrote this article explaining why I don’t recommend that anyone gets the free British Airways credit card.

Representative APR 22.2% variable.

Honourable mention, airline category – Virgin Money Reward Mastercard 

The new Virgin credit cards are very hard to value because you have a choice of rewards which are determined by your Virgin Flying Club status.

Spend £20,000 on this card and you can get:

• A 2-4-1 voucher, valid for two years, for a Virgin Flying Club redemption in Economy (base members), Premium (Silver members) or Upper Class (Gold members) or

• A return upgrade to Premium when you book an Economy reward flight (requires reward availability in Premium)

Let’s assume you use the 2-4-1 voucher to fly to San Francisco on a peak day:

• a base member redeeming in Economy will save 50,000 points

• a Silver member redeeming in Premium will save 75,000 points

• a Gold member redeeming in Upper Class will save 155,000 points

Someone using the upgrade voucher to redeem in Premium rather than Economy will save 25,000 points.

Based on my very conservative 0.75p per Virgin Flying Club point valuation, the 2-4-1 voucher is ‘worth’ between £375 and £1162.  The upgrade voucher would be worth £187.50.  You would also earn 15,000 points for spending £20,000, valued at £112.50. The card itself is free.

The low end valuation is a base member using the upgrade voucher: £187.50 value from the voucher plus £112.50 of value from points earned, total £300 back on £20,000 of spending.  This is a return of 1.5%.

The high end valuation is a Gold member using the 2-4-1 voucher in Upper Class, assuming a flight to San Francisco:  £1162 value from the voucher plus £112.50 of value from points earned, total £1273 back on £20,000 of spending.  This is a return of 6.4%.

Representative APR 22.9% variable.

Honourable mention, airline category – Virgin Money Reward+ Mastercard 

This card is equally hard to value.  Spend £10,000 on this card, which has a £160 fee, and you can get:

• A 2-4-1 voucher, valid for two years, for a Virgin Flying Club redemption in Economy (base members), Premium (Silver members) or Upper Class (Gold members) or

• A return upgrade to Premium when you book an Economy reward flight (requires reward availability in Premium)

The maths is the same as with my analysis of the free card.  With a 2-4-1 to San Francisco on a peak day, a base member redeeming in Economy will save 50,000 points; a Silver member redeeming in Premium will save 75,000 points and a Gold member redeeming in Upper Class will save 155,000 points.

Someone using the upgrade voucher to redeem in Premium rather than Economy will save 25,000 points.

Based on my very conservative 0.75p per Virgin Flying Club point valuation, the 2-4-1 voucher is ‘worth’ between £375 and £1162.  The upgrade voucher would be worth £187.50.  You would also 15,000 points for spending £10,000, valued at £112.50. The card has a £160 annual fee.

The low end valuation is a base member using the upgrade voucher: £187.50 value from the voucher plus £112.50 of value from points earned, total £300 back on £10,000 of spending, less the £160 fee.

The high end valuation is a Gold member using the 2-4-1 voucher for Upper Class, assuming a flight to San Francisco:  £1162 value from the voucher plus £112.50 of value from points earned, total £1274 back on £10,000 of spending, less the £160 fee.

This means the net benefit for spending £10,000 = between £140 and £1114, or 1.4% to 11.1% of spend.

Representative APR 63.9% variable including £160 fee based on a notional £1200 credit limit.  Interest rate on purchases 22.9% variable.

Cards with poor bonuses for long-term spending

I also considered the value of the long-term spend bonuses on these other cards, but dismissed them as poor value:

The Marriott Bonvoy American Express offers an upgrade to Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status for spending £15,000 and a free night voucher for spending £25,000. 

It sounds good on paper, but Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite has only modest benefits and is often available for free, eg as an Amex Platinum benefit.  

The free night is valid only at hotels costing up to 25,000 points, which limits its use considerably. The value of such a free night (generally around £100) is a small reward for £25,000 of spending.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold offers 10,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend £15,000, paid when you next renew.  

I would value the 10,000 points at £100 (assuming you transfer to airline miles and achieve 1p of value).  You also receive two additional Priority Pass airport lounge passes with each renewal.  Given the £140 annual fee after the first year, your net return is low.

Finally, a special mention for …..

I also feel that the Lufthansa Miles & More Diners Club and Mastercard package deserves a mention.  

Please note, however, that this card is suspended to new applications until Summer 2021. It will relaunch as a Visa card at that point.

Whilst there is no long-term spend bonus, the day-to-day earning rate of 1.25 miles per £1 is very strong.  You need to be a high spender to maximise value due to the £79 annual fee, although the 5,000 mile sign-up bonus offsets much of it in the first year. 

For something spending £10,000+ per month, however, you could do very nicely with this product.  It is especially helpful if you have children since Lufthansa and SWISS will often have reward availability during UK school holidays – which do not match German and Swiss ones, even in Summer – when BA and Virgin do not. Keep an eye out for it in mid-2021.

I am happy to hear arguments for and against my views here.  Many of these rewards are subjectively valued, dependant on your travel patterns.

(Want to earn more miles and points from credit cards?  Click here to visit our dedicated airline and hotel travel credit cards page or use the ‘Credit Card Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)

Disclaimer: Head for Points is a journalistic website. Nothing here should be construed as financial advice, and it is your own responsibility to ensure that any product is right for your circumstances. Recommendations are based primarily on the ability to earn miles and points and do not consider interest rates, service levels or any impact on your credit history.  By recommending credit cards on this site, I am – technically – acting as a credit broker.  Robert Burgess, trading as Head for Points, is regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a credit broker.