Bits: a good HMRC miles earning alternative?, Groupon / Avios deal back

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News in brief:

Is this the only alternative to HMRC’s credit card ban?

Earlier in the week I explained how HMRC is banning tax payments on personal credit cards from 13th January (click here).

For those of us who make direct PAYE, VAT, corporation tax or self-assessment payments, this is a blow. HMRC’s low 0.38% credit card made tax payments a very cheap way of printing miles.

When I wrote that article, I forgot that there was one alternative. It isn’t hugely lucrative but it may be better than nothing.

You earn 1 Tesco Clubcard point (2.4 Avios or 2.5 Virgin Flying Club miles) for every £8 you spend on the Tesco Bank debit card. You obviously need to take out a Tesco Bank current account to do this.

Tesco Bank doesn’t let you earn debit card points on financial transactions, but luckily HMRC is not treated as ‘financial’.

Whilst this clearly isn’t as lucrative as using the best Visa or MasterCard credit cards to pay your tax, remember that using debit cards is free with HMRC. 3,000 Avios for paying a £10,000 tax bill isn’t hugely generous but arguably better than nothing.

Full details of the Tesco Bank current account are here.

Groupon / Iberia deal is back – buy Avios for 1p

Iberia has brought back its occasional Groupon offer which allows you to buy Avios points at a discount to the official price, usually around 1.1p each.

I have written about the pros and cons of these offers in the past. Our last full article on this deal is here. The pricing is the same as it was then.

The cheapest and best value package of 2,000 Avios has sold out. The other packages work out at over 1.00p per Avios and are therefore not a bargain, but potentially worth it as a top up.

The Groupon site – in Spanish – is here if you want to take a look but it makes more sense to go via Iberia’s shopping portal here to earn an extra 9 per €1 spent. If it tracks – and you can’t control that – then the deal starts to look more attractive.

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

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

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

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

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

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

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

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

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)

Category

British Airways and Avios, Iberia and Iberia Plus, Tesco Clubcard, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

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

the real harry1 says:

13 Oct13 October 17:44

Rolling Luggage have emailed me (generic email) saying my 1000 Avios will be awarded within 14 days – this is different to the personal email response to my query (the 5 days promise) – looks like they are on the case
- Roberto says:
  
  13 Oct13 October 18:01
  
  “on the case”…………
- Tilly says:
  
  13 Oct13 October 18:30
  
  I’ve not had any email saying this. Still waiting …………
  - the real harry1 says:
    
    13 Oct13 October 19:00
    
    did you email/ complain to them? I finally got fed up enough to send a 1-minute query, & I think that puts you on a list of people going to get the 1000 Avios…wouldn’t surprise me if they quietly forget anybody who doesn’t complain…
    - Tilly says:
      
      13 Oct13 October 23:04
      
      I did complain. Sent an email I think was over the weekend and got a reply saying they’re looking into it.
the real harry1 says:

13 Oct13 October 20:11

Come on, Raffles: think of those poor Great Ormond St Hospital kids who would love your EUR300 (50% of EUR600) – cancelled & re-routed Virgin flight

Compensation can be claimed where you are either:

1) Delayed at your final destination by more than three hours and that delay arises from causes within the carrier’s control (rather than extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided by all reasonable measures).

Or:

2) Informed of a cancellation less than fourteen days before the planned departure date that arises from causes within the carrier’s control (rather than extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided by all reasonable measures), unless you are offered a re-route which allows departure and arrival at your final destination within the following times:

If you are informed of the cancellation between thirteen and seven days before the scheduled time of departure and are offered re-routing, allowing you to depart no more than two hours before the scheduled time of departure and to reach your final destination less than four hours after the scheduled time of arrival; or

If you are informed of the cancellation less than seven days before the scheduled time of departure and are offered re-routing, allowing you to depart no more than one hour before the scheduled time of departure and to reach your final destination less than two hours after the scheduled time of arrival.

The levels of compensation are specified as follows:

EUR 250 for flights of 1500 km or less

EUR 400 for flights within the EU of more than 1500 km and for all other flights between 1500km and 3500 km

EUR 600 for all other flights.

Compensation is reduced by 50% if any re-routing offered to your final destination results in a scheduled arrival time which does not exceed the scheduled arrival time of the original flight by:

Two hours for flights of 1500 km or less

Three hours for all flights within the EU of more than 1500 km and for all other flights between 1500km and 3500 km

Four hours for all other flights.
the real harry1 says:

13 Oct13 October 20:50

Europcar pre-Xmas rentals – these usually stack with any other deal Europcar might offer – Accor points on top

£10 off £60 – use code AUTUMNUK1710
£20 off £120 – use code AUTUMNUK1720
£30 off £180 – use code AUTUMNUK1730
- the real harry1 says:
  
  13 Oct13 October 20:57
  
  and there are 3582 OneWay vehicles rental available from United Kingdom – these cost £1
  https://www.europcar.co.uk/deals/one-way-uk.step
Louie says:

14 Oct14 October 00:03

Harry – how long did the credit take to show up?
- the real harry1 says:
  
  14 Oct14 October 00:28
  
  it took more than 24 hrs, about 36 hrs
morcheg says:

16 Oct16 October 08:10

If anyone used the Spanish Groupon avios offer before, how long did it take for your purchased avios to be credited to your Iberia account?
JScott says:

20 Oct20 October 12:00

Wondering how long it took for the Avios to appear in the Iberia accounts of anyone who has bought through the deal?
The transaction has tracked through the plustore (which i thought would be the hard part). It does say transactions will appear in Iberia within 15 days (has been 7), just wondered how long on average it takes?