BA’s [upcoming] prepaid Mastercard

[ed_fly]

Just wondering if anyone has had any experience with the BA pre-paid Mastercard? Looks like it could of use for a big (non-Amex) purchase within the first 6 months, when card is free. 1 Avios per £2, no forex fees, bonus Avios with selected partners. £2.99 per month after first 6 months. 1,500 bonus Avios after a £500 spend in 90 days. I’m wondering if it would work with tax free childcare?

[ed_fly]

Sorry link here – https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/executive-club/collecting-avios/shopping/mastercard

[BlueHorizonUK]

Cant see a signup link anywhere in the app?

[ed_fly]

BlueHorizonUK wrote:

Cant see a signup link anywhere in the app?

Neither can I!

[alig4th]

Is this a new card? I’ve never heard or seen mention of it before?

[FFoxSake]

alig4th wrote:

Is this a new card? I’ve never heard or seen mention of it before?

Looks like a new product… see this linked-in for the product owner (who has now left for a new job, but it’s a recent project)
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/stuart-leach-68122188

IAG Loyalty
Squad Leader & Product Owner – B2C Platforms
Jan 2021 – Sep 2021 9 months
London, England, United Kingdom
In my current role I lead three product teams and am responsible for the IAG Loyalty mobile reward app platform (mobile apps for BA, Aer Lingus, Vueling and soon Iberia), the technical development and delivery of the new BA prepaid MasterCard, and the onboard digital portal product offering for BA, Iberia and Vueling aircraft.

• This reply was modified 54 years, 4 months ago by .

[Lady London]

Doesn’t look that interesting. Perhaps to the low paid who wouldn’t have access to better offerings who get ripped off for poor value services.

Earning 1 avios per unit of 2 whether pds, dollar, euro. 1500 bonus if you load and spend £500 in 6 months. Or 5. Be careful as on 1st day of 6th months within which your card was active even 1 day in a month, it’s cost is £3 per month from 6th month. But could be only 5 rather than 6, before they take £3 monthly.

Haven’t found yet whether there is a load fee or a weighted exchange rate. But as it’s a Mastercard you are already getting an exchange rate of 0.5% less than bank.

I don’t think they’d really want us as customers because the logical way to interact with this is obvious….

[alig4th]

Lady London wrote:

Doesn’t look that interesting….

I don’t think they’d really want us as customers because the logical way to interact with this is obvious….

I’m not so sure. 0.5 Avios/£ on a £36 a year non-Amex card is pretty good. And with 1,500 sign-up bonus.

Plus, as you suggest, if you don’t partake in the fee-paying periods, then all the better.

[Lady London]

The monthly limits (final section) could make this interesting for a short while. But it’s not clear that you’d have all the versatility of uses you might want especially on the outward leg.

It says inward is only from your debit card linked to a bank account. Ahem. Bendy?

[alig4th]

Lady London wrote:

The monthly limits (final section) could make this interesting for a short while…

It says inward is only from your debit card linked to a bank account. Ahem. Bendy?

Yeah, as long as the monthly limits are high enough (thinking this could work for nursery fees once a month).

I suppose the “linked to a bank account” is specifically to stop MS via Bendy. Which can only be a good thing?

[Rob]

OK, let me tell you about this.

It has been in an internal staff trial at IAG since last Autumn. It is NOT available for the public to get, and may never be. IAG isn’t yet fully happy with it.

That said, I am expecting it to roll out when some tweaks have been made but it won’t be for a few months.

[BlueHorizonUK]

Thanks Rob, strange its advertised on a publicly available webpage.

[alig4th]

Yes, thanks for this info.

Speculating one of the tweaks may end up being a reduced Avios earning rate (0.5/£ seems generous).

[memesweeper]

The list of earning excluded transactions include all the most potentially lucrative ones — HMRC, a range of other government functions, and financial institutions. Given I have Curve metal + a decent non-Amex already I can’t see the appeal for me. It might appeal to those people who have missed the boat on a decent non-Amex for daily use, or can’t get/don’t want another credit line, or just don’t want a credit check.

[Super Secret Stuff]

FFoxSake wrote:

alig4th wrote:

Is this a new card? I’ve never heard or seen mention of it before?

Looks like a new product… see this linked-in for the product owner (who has now left for a new job, but it’s a recent project)
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/stuart-leach-68122188

IAG Loyalty
Squad Leader & Product Owner – B2C Platforms
Jan 2021 – Sep 2021 9 months
London, England, United Kingdom
In my current role I lead three product teams and am responsible for the IAG Loyalty mobile reward app platform (mobile apps for BA, Aer Lingus, Vueling and soon Iberia), the technical development and delivery of the new BA prepaid MasterCard, and the onboard digital portal product offering for BA, Iberia and Vueling aircraft.

Who on earth has “squad leader” in there job title 🤣

[Aston100]

I currently do not have a decent non Amex card.
This might be an option.

[youneedtobeyourself]

Super Secret Stuff wrote:

Who on earth has “squad leader” in there job title

I’m hoping they put it in there to filter the correct candidate out “I’d like the job but can you not call me squad leader please”

[ChrisBCN]

Super Secret Stuff wrote:

Who on earth has “squad leader” in there job title 🤣

It’s really common for modern tech product teams, where you work in dedicated ‘squads’

• This reply was modified 54 years, 4 months ago by .

[CarpalTravel]

Super Secret Stuff wrote:

Who on earth has “squad leader” in there job title 🤣

You’ve obviously not worked much within the Agile arena then. 😉

[Lady London]

Yawn. More business bull$hit.

[Super Secret Stuff]

youneedtobeyourself wrote:

Super Secret Stuff wrote:

Who on earth has “squad leader” in there job title

I’m hoping they put it in there to filter the correct candidate out “I’d like the job but can you not call me squad leader please”

As a product owner he seems fine but one does question if BA had the sense to put a Project Manager in there.

ChrisBCN wrote:

Super Secret Stuff wrote:

Who on earth has “squad leader” in there job title 🤣

It’s really common for modern tech product teams, where you work in dedicated ‘squads’

CarpalTravel wrote:

Super Secret Stuff wrote:

Who on earth has “squad leader” in there job title 🤣

You’ve obviously not worked much within the Agile arena then. 😉

It is literally part of my job and I’m fairly good at it. “squad leader” is not a common term and just makes me think of Subway… There are clearly defined roles in Agile, stick to them. In SCRUM a team is self organizing so having a designated “squad leader” is breaking the system and illogical. Please just NO

[flyboy]

I have the card, although BA’s IT systems are causing problems from what I understand. There have been issues with registering for the card as well as activating it. As such, I’m still unable to actually use the card…
It’s very pretty though 🙂

[Youllnever]

flyboy wrote:

I have the card, although BA’s IT systems are causing problems from what I understand. There have been issues with registering for the card as well as activating it. As such, I’m still unable to actually use the card…
It’s very pretty though 🙂

Looks pretty good, although I think it’d look better with a black background instead of white.

[Super Secret Stuff]

Youllnever wrote:

flyboy wrote:

I have the card, although BA’s IT systems are causing problems from what I understand. There have been issues with registering for the card as well as activating it. As such, I’m still unable to actually use the card…
It’s very pretty though 🙂

Looks pretty good, although I think it’d look better with a black background instead of white.

If it had a black background surely Amex would have a meltdown about intellectual property theft?

[FFoxSake]

flyboy wrote:

BA’s IT systems are causing problems from what I understand

Wow, we’ve never heard that phrase before… 😉