Downgrading to free Barclaycard Avios card

[sebhere]

Hi all, can anyone tell me if I lose my pending Avios (not yet transferred to BA) by downgrading before the transfer date? Thanks!

[Matt]

I’d be interested in this – fairly sure it’s fine, but I’d like to check with 25k avios at risk.

Any information?

Thanks

[milesandmordor]

I’m also curious – I’ll just hold on any further spending until they transfer over on the 2nd working day of the month. My Barclaycard app shows 1000 free Avios if I switch to the downgraded card which I assume I would get.

Now I have hit the initial spending targets , I’ve pretty much decided to switch – unless I spend over 5K a month (assuming 0.8p per Avios value) , the £20 fee more than offsets the extra Avios gained. The 20K (vs 10K) a year for the “upgrade” voucher is achievable and the much trumpeted “World Elite” benefits have yet to emerge.

[jek]

The switch will only happen after the next statement I understand (and how it works for me). To downgrade maybe follow the approach below:
1. Wait for the Avios to appear on BA.
2. Downgrade via the app.
3. You should receive a text confirmation.
4. You should receive a statement as usual.
5. On the same day your account is switched to a new card number.
6. You have to wait for the new card to arrive.
I am currently at 6.

[jek]

Forgot to say that the pending Avios are still shown in the app.

[anonymess]

So a new card number this means you have to go and change direct payment authorities with every merchant / subsscription / etc? Or do payments to the old number still work? (Amex handles this differently – move to free card seems to have been seamless).

[masaccio]

I’m curious about this too as my next statement should put me over the 3k.

Maybe I am being dense but where do you find the spend total? I see a ‘spending’ icon on the homepage of the app, but that just generates an ‘A0009’ error.

Keen to basically take my Avios and get the OH on track to a sign on bonus while I look for a different card for secondary spending.

[Aston100]

masaccio wrote:

I’m curious about this too as my next statement should put me over the 3k.

Maybe I am being dense but where do you find the spend total? I see a ‘spending’ icon on the homepage of the app, but that just generates an ‘A0009’ error.

Keen to basically take my Avios and get the OH on track to a sign on bonus while I look for a different card for secondary spending.

I use the spend tracker against the upgrade voucher as a rough idea.
I say rough idea because it isn’t updated in real time. Seems to take a few days to catch-up.
I think a combination of the spend tracker plus any amount showing as ‘pending’ may be more or less correct.

Yet another flaw with this card.

EDIT: no idea how to check the yearly spend to-date, once the voucher has been attained. I’ll be downgrading at that point anyway, so irrelevant for me.

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

[Barraclough]

Apologies if this is something you already know but it does provide all the information likely to be required. When I open my android app for the Barclaycard Avios Plus card the spend to date is shown prominently and an angle bracket ⟩ to the right of that amount can be clicked and it takes you to a page of detail including current balance, available credit, pending transactions, confirmed transactions AND a link to view your Avios.

[Gothbe]

Has anyone gone the other way and upgraded the free card? I tend to have much higher spend every 3rd month to coincide with vat returns. In the other two months I might only spend a maximum of £2000. I wonder if I can upgrade and downgrade the card to remove the monthly fee in month 1 and 2 and maximise avios in month 3. Wonder if there’s a search on the credit report each time you change?

[cinereus]

Aston100 wrote:

masaccio wrote:

I’m curious about this too as my next statement should put me over the 3k.

Maybe I am being dense but where do you find the spend total? I see a ‘spending’ icon on the homepage of the app, but that just generates an ‘A0009’​【𝟮.𝟳 𝗺】 error.

Keen to basically take my Avios and get the OH on track to a sign on bonus while I look for a different card for secondary spending.

I use the spend tracker against the upgrade voucher as a rough idea.
I say rough idea because it isn’t updated in real time. Seems to take a few days to catch-up.
I think a combination of the spend tracker plus any amount showing as ‘pending’ may be more or less correct.

Yet another flaw with this card.

EDIT: no idea how to check the yearly spend to-date, once the voucher has been attained. I’ll be downgrading at that point anyway, so irrelevant for me.

Where is this “spend tracker” please?

[cinereus]

jek wrote:

The switch will only happen after the next statement I understand (and how it works for me). To downgrade maybe follow the approach below:
1. Wait for the Avios to appear on BA.
2. Downgrade via the app.
3. You should receive a text confirmation.
4. You should receive a statement as usual.
5. On the same day your account is switched to a new card number.
6. You have to wait for the new card to arrive.
I am currently at 6.

And to clarify, the soonest you can ask to downgrade is after the Avios have posted on EC?

[harley]

I clicked the button to downgrade before my avios were moved over ( this doesnt make a differene as the downgrade only happens the day of your statement being generated it seems) and avios were moved over fine. My only issue is my spending on my old card whilst i was waiting for the new card to arrive does not seem to have tracked any points so i have around a week of transactions with no points- they are investigating

[harley]

My issue of my points not being added in the week whilst changing was resolved by the staff with a manual adjustment albeit will be in the next transfer over to ba

[Vit]

Had ~35k avios moved to BAEC but unluckily still ~9k pending to be transferred, I guess will be with the next statement. I also have the upgrade voucher shown in my BAEC as well. Is it okay to downgrade now? I just don’t want to risk losing my 9k avios pending to be transferred though 🙁 Also will my voucher be safe once it is shown in BAEC? Anyone can shed any lights please?

[Rui N.]

I downgraded last month before my statement closed, and I can confirm that the points all posted correctly at the higher earning rate.

[Aston100]

I can’t see how the voucher can be clawed back, much like the Amex companion voucher.

[Vit]

Thank you both. I will pull the trigger now. 🙂

[can]

My statement date is 4th. I downgraded on May7th.

Now the app says Avios card, not Plus. I have a statement. But the blue Avios card hasn’t arrived yet. And they charged me again, despite the downgrade.

It’s frustrating. I am hoping that the long weekend caused some disruption and I’ll have it soon. But who knows, considering…

[Aston100]

can wrote:

My statement date is 4th. I downgraded on May7th.

Now the app says Avios card, not Plus. I have a statement. But the blue Avios card hasn’t arrived yet. And they charged me again, despite the downgrade.

It’s frustrating. I am hoping that the long weekend caused some disruption and I’ll have it soon. But who knows, considering…

Contact them through the chat function in the app and insist on a refund of the most recent £20 fee.
Player 2 got this without any fuss.
Player 1 got rejected initially but after pointing out that the card will otherwise get cancelled due to poor experience to date, they relented and refunded the fee.

[can]

Aston100 wrote:

can wrote:

My statement date is 4th. I downgraded on May7th.

Now the app says Avios card, not Plus. I have a statement. But the blue Avios card hasn’t arrived yet. And they charged me again, despite the downgrade.

It’s frustrating. I am hoping that the long weekend caused some disruption and I’ll have it soon. But who knows, considering…

Contact them through the chat function in the app and insist on a refund of the most recent £20 fee.
Player 2 got this without any fuss.
Player 1 got rejected initially but after pointing out that the card will otherwise get cancelled due to poor experience to date, they relented and refunded the fee.

Thanks. I did use the chat. Took about an hour. What a waste. Makes Amex CS golden. They told me that they already put the charge and they will adjust it in my next statement. Remarkably annoying. So I have to make a note and double check again next month.

[mxo]

Gothbe wrote:

I tend to have much higher spend every 3rd month to coincide with vat returns.

How do you pay your VAT return on a credit card?

[colinc57]

#Can..
as fee seems to be in arrears , if you downgraded part way ( even if early in) a month I would expect the fee to be charged. of course it may be different if your statement date is not aligned to account opening date ( mine is).

[alig4th]

My 6,000 Avios were meant to transfer on 2nd of the month. They showed as pending until the afternoon of 6th June. Then they appeared in my BAEC.

I was waiting for the confirmed transfer before I downgraded. My statement date was also on 6th June. After I confirmed points transfer, I looked to downgrade in the app. It said it would happen after my next statement date of “6 June”(?). I pulled the trigger.

7 June, statement appeared, including £20 monthly fee. Drat.

8 June, fee credit of £20 appeared on my account.

So despite my “statement date” being the day I downgraded, it looks like it’s actually generated at the END of that day, and because I downgraded before midnight, the downgrade seemed to be classed as “before statement”, and although charged the next month’s fee, it was quickly credited after downgrade.

25k SUB, 5k apology, 15k from spend = 45k Avios plus (fairly useless) upgrade voucher for £40 total fee. I’m happy with that.

[can]

colinc57 wrote:

#Can..
as fee seems to be in arrears , if you downgraded part way ( even if early in) a month I would expect the fee to be charged. of course it may be different if your statement date is not aligned to account opening date ( mine is).

The fee was for the next month. They refunded it over chat.