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‘Credit Card Offers’ updated for May 2014 – summary of top deals

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UPDATE – DECEMBER 2021:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.  We produce a monthly directory of the top UK travel credit card offers – please click HERE or use the ‘Credit Card Offers’ menu above.  Thank you.

I have updated the ‘Credit Card Offers‘ page at the top of the screen for May.

A few new deals were launched during April – I will summarise the current special offers and their closing dates below.  Of most relevance to HfP readers, the sign-up bonuses on the British Airways American Express cards are due to drop on May 21st.

UK Rewards credit and charge cards

Four cards are currently unavailable:

The IHG Rewards Club / IHG Rewards Club Black cards will be relaunched at the end of June once they have been migrated to the Barclaycard platform

The Hilton card is in the same boat and will relaunch on July 1st

The Ryanair credit card has also disappeared from the website although, as it is still referenced, this may again be just a temporary halt

Here is the full list of the special deals currently available:

1.  American Airlines (ends 31st May)

The sign-up bonus on the free AA credit cards is currently 15,000 miles.  This is a substantial improvement on the usual 5,000 miles.  Full details can be found in this post.  The home page for the card is here.

2. British Airways (ends 21st May)

The sign-up bonus on this free card is increased from 3,000 Avios to 9,000 Avios until 21st May.  Full details are in my review here. The Amex home page for the card is here.

3. British Airways Premium Plus (ends 21st May)

The sign-up bonus on this card is increased from 18,000 Avios to 25,000 Avios until 21st May.  Full details are in my review here. The Amex home page for the card is here.

4. Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (ends 30th June)

It is rare that you see an offer on the Virgin cards.   We went all 2013 without anything, and then Virgin launched a 25,000 mile deal.  It then immediately topped it with the best offer ever seen on these cards – 30,000 Virgin miles with the £140 ‘Black’ card and 10,000 Virgin miles with the free ‘White’ card.

Note that you CANNOT cancel the £140 paid card and receive a refund of your annual fee.  You can find full details on the Virgin credit cards bonus and links to the application forms in this article.

Virgin White

5.  Lufthansa Miles & More (ends 30th May)

Lufthansa is currently offering an additional 10,000 Miles & More miles when you apply for their cards.  This is a major improvement on the standard 1,500 miles!  My post on the deal is here.

6.  Tesco Clubcard (ends 8th June)

This card usually has no sign-up bonus, although you have been able to claim 1,000 bonus points by letter me refer you.  Until June 8th, Tesco is offering 1,000 points if you apply via this link.

You may still be able to claim the additional 1,000 ‘refer a friend’ points as well.  Full details are in my review of this offer here.   If you have  applied for the Tesco card during 2014, you can also retrospectively claim the 1,000 ‘refer a friend’ points – email me at rob at headforpoints.com for the referral form.)

7.  United MileagePlus (ends 30th June)

This deal just broke yesterday and I haven’t had time to write a full post yet.  Keep an eye out for it in the next couple of days.  Until June 30th, the sign-up bonus is increased from NOTHING (!) to 15,000 miles.  (Thanks to Simon)

Bonus on small business cards

Head for Points focusses primarily on personal cards. However, if you are a sole trader or run a very small business, you may also want to check out the American Express Platinum Business Card and the American Express Gold Business Card. There is currently a 20,000 points (= 20,000 Avios) bonus on the Gold Business card and a 40,000 points (40,000 Avios) bonus on the Platinum Business card.

In my experience people still receive the sign-up bonus on the small business cards even if they already have a personal Gold or Platinum card.  This is technically not what the rules say, however, and you should bear this in mind.

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – December 2021 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit or charge card, here are our November 2021 recommendations based on the current sign-up bonus. 

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the top current deals:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

Nectar American Express

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

American Express Platinum card Amex

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers.

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and free for a year Read our full review

Amex Platinum Business American Express

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and a long list of travel benefits Read our full review

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express card

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending:

Barclaycard Select Cashback Credit Card

1% cashback and no annual fee Read our full review

Category

American Airlines and AAdvantage, British Airways American Express, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (14)

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

  • Bev says:
    11 May11 May 13:08

    The advise I would give to anyone taking out any cards is that make sure all cards are cleared before you apply. I had 6k roughly on a BA Amex and I got turned down. I never have such a high balance usually ,but as I had 2xlots of hotels , (£4k was waiting to be refunded) ,and because of the unusual high balance and then wanting more credit they turned me down. I learnt this through taking out experian credit check- which mine is exemplary , 3 months after the wiring period , and with hardly any balance on my cards I got excepted.
    So just because you have a great credit rating you can still get turned down for spending money!

    • John says:
      11 May11 May 19:12

      I assume that the last sentence was intended to read something along the lines of “even though you have a great credit rating, you can still be turned down” rather than “you can be turned down because you have a great credit rating”.

      Anyway, credit ratings do not exist in the UK, as each credit provider makes its own assessment of applicants’ credit ratings at the time they apply for credit. Even if a single credit score did exist (like it does in the US), not being accepted for credit would be a sign that one’s credit rating is NOT exemplary! It is of course perfectly possible for an individual’s repayment history to be perfect, and this is the only thing that Experian et al. are useful for – to confirm that financial institutions are reporting your accounts and payments correctly.

      Furthermore, you will not be turned down for spending money; you will be turned down for spending money that you do not have (or are assumed to not have, since savings and in-credit current account balances are not reported). Now, if you had a £6,000 balance, but you declared your income to be £100,000, and your existing credit limits were £50,000, I suspect most providers would still accept you.

      The main point is of course still valid, in that it is best to apply for credit cards with 0 credit searches in the prior 6 months, less than 50% debt utilisation, and a credit-limit-to-income ratio of less than 100%, though none of these are reasons for refusal.

  • Tim says:
    11 May11 May 19:49

    Hi Raffles,

    When do you think the next amex bonus avios conversion will be? I’m coming up to renewal on the gold charge card and would ideally like to convert at a bonus rate before cancelling!

    • Rob says:
      11 May11 May 20:20

      Sadly they don’t tell me! However I doubt it would be more than 25 per cent so not necessarily worth paying £10 per month for Gold to keep your option open.

  • cmcbugg says:
    12 May12 May 00:14

    I’ve just noticed that in the last week the number of miles needed for a Virgin Upper class reward to South Africa has been REDUCED. It now matches what BA ask. Previously it was 60,000 for one way. Now down to 50,000 – which certainly helps.

  • Rob says:
    12 May12 May 13:58

    That’s pretty good, must be the ‘special of the week’.

    Yes, it converts just fine to Tesco.

  • louie-m says:
    12 May12 May 16:40

    Yes

  • Rob says:
    12 May12 May 16:59

    Yes

  • Alan says:
    12 May12 May 18:45

    Indeed so, as other have said – although remember your Hilton earnings don’t count towards the £50 limit 🙂

  • flood says:
    14 May14 May 17:54

    Are there any cash back or referral benefits for any of the MBNA card applications?

    • Rob says:
      14 May14 May 22:15

      Nope, except for the Virgin – but the refer a friend deal on that does not (in theory) combine with the current bonus. It might work but I am not taking the risk as the landing page still gives the old lower bonus.

      Not sure if Compare The Market is still giving away cuddly meerkats (which go for a fortune on ebay) if you apply for a card via their site.

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