HSBC Premier Mastercard cuts its rates but is still the best Avios card

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The devaluation of loyalty credit cards, at least those with a Visa or Mastercard logo on them, continues. This is driven by the new EU regulations on interchange fees, which will cap the amount shops can be charged for accepting Visa or Mastercard at a pitiful 0.3%. These come into force on 9th December.

We have already seen Tesco halve the earnings rate on the Tesco Clubcard Mastercard. Marriott has also closed its Mastercard to new applicants. Examples of changes to non-airline cards include NatWest closing Your Points and House of Fraser halving the voucher earning rate on its Mastercard.

HSBC Premier has become the next to fall into line.

For spending in the UK, the earning rate will halve on 21st January. The rate for overseas purchases will remain unchanged, but the card does have a 3% fee on foreign transactions.

Under the new structure, the HSBC Premier rewards scheme will give 1 point for every £1 spent in the UK.

You will be able to transfer your HSBC Premier points into the following airline schemes:

0.5 Avios per point

0.5 Asia Miles (the Cathay Pacific scheme) per point

0.5 Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles per point

0.5 Etihad Guest miles per point

The irony is that, even after the earning rate is halved, the HSBC Mastercard will remain the easiest way to earn Avios via a Visa or Mastercard at 0.5 Avios per £1.

The Tesco Clubcard Mastercard now only offers 0.312 miles per £1 (and you actually receive less because of the way it rounds down transactions). The Lloyds and TSB cards do not offer more than 0.25 Avios per £1.

Here’s the snag ….

The HSBC Premier Mastercard can only be obtained if you have a HSBC Premier bank account.

HSBC Premier has tough eligibility criteria. See here and click on the Eligibility tab.

As well as opening a HSBC Premier current account, you must ALSO have £50,000 invested with HSBC, either in a savings account or via an investment product. Alternatively, if you earn over £100,000, you qualify if you just have a HSBC mortgage or any investment or insurance product.

I’m not sure what the minimum investment is in an ‘investment product’ but I’m sure you could find something which would accept £1,000 or so. They may even treat ISA’s or fixed rate bonds as ‘investment products’ – the definition is not clear online.

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

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

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

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

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

HSBC Premier Mastercard

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

MikeW says:

24 Nov24 November 09:03

Insurance definitely the way to go – I applied for HSBC Premier and was told that I had to have an investment though their ‘advised’ service – an execution only Cash or S&S ISA doesn’t count.
Neil says:

24 Nov24 November 09:17

Unfortunately the cap isn’t on the maximum shops can be charged. It’s worse than that it’s the maximum visa/MasterCard can charge the banks. The shops , especially small shops, can still be charged a lot more. There is unlikely to be a dramatic saving for most small businesses. Only those large corporate businesses will see the rate reduction passed onto them.
- Metatone says:
  
  24 Nov24 November 13:57
  
  Yes, this is what is most frustrating about the whole situation, IMO.
  Not only will we, the end consumer, never see these savings (large shops will not drop prices because of reduced transaction fees), small shops who I might sympathise with on CC fees won’t even get them, it’ll go to the banks.
Matt says:

24 Nov24 November 09:21

All Visa and MasterCard cards will go this way sooner or later…. As they use the interchange fee to “buy” rewards for their cardholders.

Amex will become a dilemma for some merchant as Amex isn’t subject to the interchange caps at the moment, but that also means that accepting a consumer Amex card will be several times more expensive than VI/MC. So whilst consumers who prefer rewards may prefer Amex, for merchants it may increase costs.
- Alan says:
  
  24 Nov24 November 09:23
  
  Although as Neil just pointed out above, the final costs to the shop might not be quite as different as the reduction in interchange fee suggests, which might make it a bit less of a differential.
- RIccati says:
  
  25 Nov25 November 06:15
  
  As informed consumers, we can go the other way. Whenever possible, switch to businesses that accept AMEX. Have a meal at a hotel rather than a local place, etc.
Simmo says:

24 Nov24 November 09:23

O/T How long does the transfer from Heathrow Rewards to BA usually take? Still waiting for mine
- Liz says:
  
  24 Nov24 November 09:30
  
  I transferred some over yesterday to my Avios account and they have appeared in my account this morning.
  - Simmo says:
    
    24 Nov24 November 09:39
    
    I’ll have to sent them an email – transferred on 19th, nothing posted
    - Lawro says:
      
      24 Nov24 November 10:27
      
      As far as I remember on the Heathrow Rewards website, they transfer to their partners every Monday. It then depends on the partner how quickly they appear.
      - Lawro says:
        
        24 Nov24 November 10:27
        
        Also transferred on the 19th to BA and still waiting
      - Sussex bantam says:
        
        24 Nov24 November 11:38
        
        Me too !
      - Sussex Bantam says:
        
        25 Nov25 November 09:59
        
        My transfer was received into the BA account today
      - DW201 says:
        
        25 Nov25 November 15:22
        
        Mine took a week to come through
Kai says:

24 Nov24 November 14:07

OT & also related to Heathrow Rewards. I registered last week using the BA promo code but I can’t find the welcome offer under My offers/rewards section in my account. Is there a way to confirm that I’m registered for the 3000 bonus points promotion?
- Rob says:
  
  24 Nov24 November 15:38
  
  No, you just hope it turns up. Which it will, and if it doesn’t they should be able to see you used the link and retrocredit you.
  - Kai says:
    
    24 Nov24 November 16:13
    
    Thanks!
Duncan Stevenson says:

24 Nov24 November 15:53

Is the £100,000 income household or personal for the HSBC eligibility?
- Jonathan says:
  
  24 Nov24 November 16:20
  
  Personal I believe
  - PeteT says:
    
    24 Nov24 November 16:28
    
    I don’t earn anywhere near £100k or have £50k invested. My business banking has been with HSBC since 1971 and my personal banking since 1985. When I applied for a mortgage, they offered me Premier.
    - Rob says:
      
      24 Nov24 November 16:54
      
      In my experience, they are also willing to take you if you are on a career path that will see you earning £100k within a few years.
    - Jason says:
      
      24 Nov24 November 21:57
      
      You deserve something for that loyalty 🙂
tall trader says:

25 Nov25 November 22:01

just got my letter today. that sucks.
i guess that makes the amex green not so bad after all in terms of a reward card with optionality to use points…
Louie says:

26 Nov26 November 10:31

Does anyone know if there are now any other Mastercard/Visa cards offering better rates for non-BA airline earning? The best feature of the HSBC card has for me always been that I can transfer to airlines other than BA, deciding on which airlines at the time of transfer depending on my plans at the time. I know there are other airline-specific MBNA cards which I believe match but do not better the new rates, but I would prefer to be able to continue to transfer miles to a range of airlines. I suspect HSBC will still be the best option, but if anyone knows different I’d be grateful.