TWO DAYS LEFT: Get 50,000 Avios bonus with the new Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

UPDATE – MARCH 2023:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.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: Successfully apply for either of the Barclaycard Avios credit cards by 2nd April 2023 and you will be entered into a free draw to win ONE MILLION AVIOS! Full details are on the application forms here (free) and here (paid). This competition is exclusive to Head for Points readers. T&C apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 30th March 2023, the sign up bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to 120,000 Membership Rewards points – click here. The bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to 60,000 Membership Rewards points – click here. T&C apply, see the application forms for details.

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Barclaycard is currently running an astonishing deal on its new Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard. You have just a couple of days left to apply.

If you apply by early morning on 18th July via this link you will receive 50,000 Avios when you spend £3,000 within three months.

This is an unparalleled deal, especially when you remember that the monthly fee for the card is just £20 and that you cancel at any time.

In the very worst case scenario, assuming you can’t get the flight redemptions you want, you could turn your 50,000 Avios into £400 of Nectar points. That’s not a bad sign-up bonus at all …..

If you don’t want to pay any fee at all, there is also a special offer of 10,000 Avios on the free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard.

However, I genuinely don’t recommend getting the free card with 10,000 Avios if you believe that you can spend £3,000 in three months to earn 50,000 Avios on the paid card.

The new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard credit cards are impressive

These two new credit cards cards should fundamentally change your Avios collecting strategy if you are based in the UK.

They are, easily, the most rewarding non-Amex travel credit cards on the market and arguably the most valuable Visa or Mastercard credit cards in the UK of any sort. Whilst Barclaycard would love you to swap your Amex card for its Mastercard, there is nothing to stop you running both cards side by side.

Irrespective of what Visa or Mastercard you are currently using alongside your BA Amex card, you should find that these two new cards are better.

I think the cards offer you more than the Virgin Atlantic Reward credit cards, and those were already head and shoulders (in my view) above all other UK Visa and Mastercard products.

Unfortunately, existing Barclaycard holders – which includes the old Hilton Honors card – cannot apply as you are restricted to one Barclaycard credit card at a time. Some cardholders are being targetted with a switching bonus via the Barclaycard app if you want to give up your existing product. If you choose to cancel your existing card you will need to wait six months before making a fresh application.

The application page for Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card (now 50,000 Avios) is here.

The application page for the free Barclaycard Avios credit card (now 10,000 Avios) is here.

There are TWO Barclaycard Avios credit cards

I will run over the benefits of both of the Barclaycard Avios cards below. The bottom line, however, is that I recommend getting the paid card because of the huge 50,000 Avios sign-up bonus. You can always trade down to the free card later.

Let’s summarise the two Barclaycard Avios credit cards:

The free card: Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Note that the card has a representative APR of 23.9% variable.

The benefits are:

• No annual fee

• A sign-up bonus for new Barclaycard customers of 10,000 Avios if you spend £1,000 in three months – this is a special offer until 18th July 2022

• You earn 1 Avios per £1 spent

• You earn a British Airways cabin upgrade voucher if you spend £20,000 in a card year

• Whilst not travel related, you also get up to five months of Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple News+ and Apple Arcade for free

You can apply here.

You only need to apply by 18th July 2022.

The paid card: Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Note that the card has a representative APR of 72.4% variable based on a £20 monthly fee and an illustrative £1,200 credit limit. The APR on purchases is 23.9% variable.

The benefits are:

• A £20 per month fee (reduced to £15 for customers who hold Barclays Avios Rewards via a Barclays Premier current account)

• A sign-up bonus for new Barclaycard customers of an astonishing 50,000 Avios if you spend £3,000 in three months – this is a special offer which runs to 18th July 2022

• You earn 1.5 Avios per £1 spent

• You earn a British Airways cabin upgrade voucher if you spend £10,000 in a card year

• You receive Mastercard World Elite privileges (Barclaycard has not yet announced which aspects of World Elite it will be adopting)

• Whilst not travel related, you also get up to five months of Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple News+ and Apple Arcade for free

You can apply here.

You only need to apply by the morning of 18th July 2022.

Note that the fee is paid monthly and you can cancel or downgrade to the free card at any point. This should be possible via the Barclaycard app although some people do not see the offer appearing.

You can learn more in our other article today

There are three additional articles on this deal if you want to learn more:

• We look at ‘19 questions on the Barclaycard Avios credit cards, answered‘ which should answer any immediate issues you have

• We look in more detail at ‘Which Barclaycard Avios credit card is best for you?‘ for people who want a more in-depth look at how they work

• We look at how the Barclaycard Upgrade Voucher works, which you trigger at £20,000 of spend on the free card and £10,000 on the paid card

Summary

This is an amazing deal. The ability to pick to 50,000 Avios – worth £400 of Nectar points even if you use them in the least rewarding way! – from a £20 per month credit card is exceptionally generous.

Even if you don’t / can’t apply yourself, how about someone else in your Household Account?

There is also a lot of long term value in these cards:

An earnings rate which blows all other Visa or Mastercard products out of the water:

You honestly couldn’t ask for more from a non-Amex credit card. The earning rate of 1 Avios per £1 (free card) or 1.5 Avios per £1 (fee card) blows all of the competition out of the water. If you value an Avios at 1p, which we do in our articles, then you’d be getting an effective 1% to 1.5% return on your spending. This is 400%-500% more than your typical cashback Visa or Mastercard.

An annual BA upgrade voucher if you hit your spending target:

On top of an outstanding earn rate, you can earn a valuable annual cabin upgrade voucher for an Avios reward flight booking on British Airways. We will look at this in detail in another article this week, but this can easily save you 50,000+ Avios on a typical redemption.

A big sign-up bonus which most HfP readers will qualify for:

For total clarity, you qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card. The only people who don’t qualify are those who currently have another Barclays credit card, or have had one in the last six months.

My personal view is that you should apply for the £20 per month Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card. This gets you:

• the 50,000 Avios bonus for spending £3,000 in three months (for applications by 18th July)
• the higher earning rate and
• the reduced £10,000 target for earning a cabin upgrade voucher

How to apply

You have just a few days left to apply – this offer ends on Monday morning, 18th July.

You can apply for the free Barclaycard Avios credit card (10,000 Avios bonus) here.

You can apply for the Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card (50,000 Avios bonus) here.

PS. There are still references on the Barclaycard website in a couple of places to the usual bonuses of 25,000 Avios (Plus) and 5,000 Avios (free card). Don’t worry. Everyone who applies by 18th July gets the higher bonuses.

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. The site discusses products offered by lenders but is not a lender itself. Robert Burgess, trading as Head for Points, is regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as an independent credit broker.