Get £5 off £50 BP spend with Amex – and how to convert BPme Rewards points to Avios

BP and American Express have been running a new cashback promotion for the last couple of weeks. You still have a week to take advantage.

It’s not hugely generous but, if you drive, it’s basically free money and you can get some Avios on top via BPme Rewards.

We haven’t looked at BPme Rewards for a while, so I thought this was also a good excuse to run over the details again.

What is the BP / American Express offer?

If targetted, you will receive £5 cashback when you spend £50 at a BP garage by 8th December.

You need to look in the ‘Offers’ tab online or in the Amex app for each American Express card you hold. You need to click ‘save to card’ to register.

With only 15,000 cardholders being allowed to register, the offer does not seem to have been made very widely available. It never appeared across any cards in my family although – as we don’t have a car – this isn’t hugely surprising. Amex is presumably showing it to people who have used competing fuel brands.

How do you join BPme Rewards?

For the benefit of those who are new to BPme Rewards, this is how the scheme – and the Avios partnership – works.

The BPme Rewards website is here.

It’s worth noting that there is a 500 points bonus for registering.

You cannot register on the website without first visiting a BP garage. You need to pick up a temporary card and then register online using the number on the card.

However, you CAN register instantly by downloading the BPme app to your smartphone. You receive the 500 points instantly.

Earning BPme Rewards

How do you earn BPme Rewards points?

The programme is easy to understand, which is good. Unfortunately, it isn’t exceptionally generous.

The ‘earning’ page of the website is here. You earn:

• 1 point for every litre of regular fuel purchased
• 2 points for every litre of Ultimate fuel purchased
• 1 point for every £1 spent in a BP forecourt shop

Some, but not all, fuel cards are exempt from points earning. You cannot earn in the shop if it is run by a major national brand eg Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons etc.

1 point is worth 0.5p if converted to cash, or slightly more if moved to Avios.

Is this a generous return on my spending?

No.

A typical litre of unleaded fuel in the UK costs around 160p. Assuming your local BP is charging this, you are getting a return of just (0.5p / 160p) 0.31% of your spending.

With the best will in the world, no-one gets excited about a 0.31% return on their spending.

In a BP forecourt store, you are getting a return of 0.5% on your groceries based on one point per £1.

Not only are the rewards poor but there is no gamification element. It has the same structural issue as Nectar. Your points are worth the same irrespective of how many you have, and irrespective of where you use them.

The only gamification is via the occasional special offers that BPme Rewards will email to you, or show you in the app, in return for making a particular transaction in the following days.

As with Nectar, converting your BPme Rewards points to Avios is arguably the best way of maximising value from them.

BPme Rewards and Avios

How many Avios do I get for my BPme Rewards points?

The conversion rate is 25 Avios for every 40 BPme Rewards points you convert.

BA was offering a bonus of 50 Avios on your first conversion but I can no longer find any reference to this.

How does this compare to taking cash rewards?

The standard reward deal is 200 BPme Rewards = £1.

You can use your points to pay for fuel, car washes or BP store purchases, or redeem them for gift vouchers for retailers such as Amazon. You get the same 0.5p per point irrespective.

Which is the better deal – Avios or cash?

200 BPme Rewards will get you £1 or 125 Avios.

The means that you are ‘paying’ 0.8p per Avios compared to taking a fuel discount.

This is a good deal.

My conservative spreadsheet of the value I have got from the 8+ million Avios I have spent since 2013 gets me just over 1.2p per point. It is very rare that you can pick up Avios for less than 0.8p each.

Can I set up auto-conversion?

Yes.

You can arrange a monthly auto-conversion of your BPme Rewards points to Avios. They will be moved across in chunks of 40 BPme Rewards points.

Can I convert in the other direction, from Avios to BPme Rewards?

No.

Is there a bonus for making my first transfer?

Not at present. The occasional bonus has been offered since the Avios partnership launched.

Can I sign up to BPme Rewards, get the instant 500 points for registering and move them to Avios without going near a garage?

No.

You need to spend £1 at a BP garage to activate your BPme Rewards account to allow Avios transfers.

The upside is that BPme Rewards points post INSTANTLY – literally as soon as you have paid – so once you have spent your £1 you can immediately move your sign-up bonus points across to Avios.

Conclusion

If you’ve not joined BPme Rewards yet, you may want to consider joining up this month and taking advantage of the Amex £5 cashback deal at the same time, if targetted.

You can find out more on the BPme Rewards website here and at ba.com here.

---

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous 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:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

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.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.