What’s the point of paying for the Barclaycard Avios Plus card?

[yonasl]

I right now have the BARC premium account and the BARC Avios Plus credit card.

I did this to get the 100,000 avios offer but I am now thinking what is the point of the BARC credit card.

The BARC Premium account gives you for £12 a month:
– 1,500 avios every month
– an upgrade voucher once a year

The BARC Avios Plus credit card gives you for £20 a month:
– 1.5 avios per £1 spent
– an upgrade voucher when you spend £10,000

So basically, the BARC Premium account gives me 18,000 avios and an upgrade voucher for £144 a year. This is not a bad deal.

With the credit card I have nothing really for £240 a year in fees. If I spend £10,000 I get 15,000 avios and a voucher.

Obviously, if you use the card for expenses or your business getting avios is great. But I use it for my own personal consumption and with the Amex BA card giving me a much better voucher I would happily just get 1 avios per £ spent with the free BARC card for those cases where Amex is not accepted (or bendy).

Is this thinking correct, am i missing something?

[Froggee]

The only thing you’re missing is that some people have oodles of Avios and not enough vouchers to maximise the use of these Avios.

If you don’t have enough Avios to use all your vouchers then I would say your analysis is correct. Unless you can spend enough places where Amex isn’t accepted to make the higher earnings rate worthwhile? But it doesn’t sound like this is the case.

[SteveJ]

Depends on how much you spend non-amec. More than 4k per month the paid card is with it for to higher earnings rates.

Similarly for lower spenders, only going to manage 10k per year? For £240 you’re getting 5k more Avios AND the voucher, which if you can use it long haul can be worth way more than £240.

[yonasl]

SteveJ wrote:

Depends on how much you spend non-amec. More than 4k per month the paid card is with it for to higher earnings rates.

Similarly for lower spenders, only going to manage 10k per year? For £240 you’re getting 5k more Avios AND the voucher, which if you can use it long haul can be worth way more than £240.

If you compare:
– Free card (1 avios per £) + BARC premium account (1,500 avios for £12)

vs.

– Plus BARC card at £20 a month (1.5 avios per £)

You will see you need to spend MORE than £3,000 a month on the Plus card to match the avios you get from the free card + premier account combo.

So having the premier account seems to be the best for those with low spending (if they can open it given the salary requirements obviously).

[Nath4n]

Don’t forget that if you hold Barclays Premier AND the Avios+ card, you get a £5 rebate on the £12 Barclays Premier fee, meaning it only really costs £7 a month..

[ekposh]

Nath4n wrote:

Don’t forget that if you hold Barclays Premier AND the Avios+ card, you get a £5 rebate on the £12 Barclays Premier fee, meaning it only really costs £7 a month..

And 4 lounge passes on Dragon Pass which one might value at approx £100. But I agree, I downgraded mine.

[jj]

It’s worth the premium over the free card if you expect to earn £240 or more value from the voucher, or if you expect to spend £4,000 per month or more on the card.

If you have a Premier current account, it’s worth the premium over the free card if you expect to earn £180 or more value from the voucher, or if you expect to spend £3,000 per month or more on the card.

It’s also worth it if you fall between these two extremes – for example, you spend £2,000 per month and value the voucher at £120 (£1,500 and £90 if you have he current account).

Many of us fall North of that line. If you don’t, ditch it – but don’t also express surprise at those of us who do see value.

[No Longer Entitled]

I don’t see the point so swapped it for the free card. It is primarily there for when Amex is not accepted or if I want to slow the Amex spend to avoid triggering the 2-4-1. It therefore costs me nothing to keep in a draw and use as and when vs paying £20 for an extra 0.5 Avios on incidental spend.

[AMEX]

I have a question on the Barclays Premier & Non-Premier cards. I am due to start a new Job I want to get the Premier card but am thinking of waiting for a bonus offer. Then keep it for the bonus points offer and drop it to the free card when I have gotten the house points. If I keep the card for 3/4 months to get the bonus points would it be worth it? also what has been the history of added points that are offered for the sign-up of the card and would it be cheaper to buy the additional points? Lastly, with he Premier card offering 1.5 points per £ would that be that valuable?

[zapato1060]

AMEX wrote:

I have a question on the Barclays Premier & Non-Premier cards. I am due to start a new Job I want to get the Premier card but am thinking of waiting for a bonus offer. Then keep it for the bonus points offer and drop it to the free card when I have gotten the house points. If I keep the card for 3/4 months to get the bonus points would it be worth it? also what has been the history of added points that are offered for the sign-up of the card and would it be cheaper to buy the additional points? Lastly, with he Premier card offering 1.5 points per £ would that be that valuable?

Premier or you mean the Avios Plus? 50k has been the largest bonus offered as its 25k currently. Yes, wait, I am waiting too for Player 2. What do you mean buying additional points? I downgraded my Avios plus to Avios basic and its worked well for us. 1 Avios per £. 20k spend for Upgrade voucher and a card that you can use basically anywhere. Very happy with it.