Reply To: Anyone willing to ‘lend’ me 27k Avios?

[robato]

fuggi wrote:

Because that would put too much leverage in the hands of the lender – who could just not return the cash as well (you run this risk anyway with the £270, but at least it’s for less and the OP [i.e. me] would not be out of pocket vis a vis outright purchasing the Avios…)

Ah, not sure what happened to my reply. Here’s a short summary:

With a bridging loan in the form of a swap, the risk is all on the lender at £270 as they would expect to get the Avios back from BA, if for whatever reason you didn’t pay back the 27k Avios. You would be sitting happy because you got the Avios at a discount, while the lender has to pay £225 from their own pocket (plus your £270) to get those Avios back.

If you just want to buy/sell Avios at a discount via non-official channels, that’s a different type of deal and in terms of value, probably quite good value for both parties.

But I noticed one potential flaw in your original plan. You said you shared 20k Avios from your wife’s account to yours? But this page says recipients can only receive a maximum 27k shared Avios in one year, so a fellow HfP reader would only be able to lend you 7k at best:

https://pgt.shopping.ba.com/resources/terms
7. A Recipient of shared Avios can only receive a maximum of 27,000 Avios in any one calendar year in aggregate, irrespective of the number of Senders. We reserve the right to amend the maximum annual amount that can be received at any time.