What are the best credit card sign-up deals for July 2020? – plus your news round-up

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UPDATE – DECEMBER 2021: This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.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.

It is time for our regular round up of what is coming and what is going in the world of UK airline and hotel credit card sign-up deals.

Let’s be honest …. if you’re sitting around at home with nothing to do, there are worse ways to pass the day than getting your credit card portfolio in order!

We have also included a round-up of all of the loyalty credit card news from the last month.

Our directory of the 15 main UK travel credit and charge cards can be found by clicking the ‘Credit Cards’ tab at the top of the site or – for email, Flipboard, Apple News or mobile readers – by clicking here.

UK Rewards credit and charge cards

What was new in June?

HfP EXCLUSIVE: Get points worth 15,000 Avios when you get the Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

It is very rare that we get an EXCLUSIVE credit card sign-up offer for our readers, so are very pleased to be offering a great deal on the Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa card.

If you apply by 13th July, you will receive £150 or 15,000 Avios – your choice – when you spend £5,000 within 3 months. Given that the annual fee is only £99, this is a no-brainer if you have a qualifying business.

As well as a big bonus, you will receive 1p cashback or 1 Avios per £1 spent going forward. This is an unbeatable Avios rate for a Visa or Mastercard.

You ONLY receive the higher 15,000 Avios bonus if you use promo code headforpoints when you apply. The application page is here.

I strongly recommend you read our main article on the Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa first, however.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

American Express Gold dropped its enhanced bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points

After offering 20,000 Membership Rewards points as a sign-up bonus for the last few months, American Express Preferred Rewards Gold dropped its bonus back to 10,000 points on Monday. This is worth 10,000 Avios or other airline miles, or a varying amount of hotel or Club Eurostar points.

However ……

American Express continues to offer six months to earn sign-up bonuses

American Express has currently extended the time needed to trigger the sign-up bonus on new cards from three months to six months.

It is not clear how long this offer will last. With lockdown restrictions easing, it is arguably now a good time to apply as your spending will pick up and you have until the end of the year to hit your sign-up bonus target.

Here is the full list of personal cards which are included:

The Platinum Card: 30,000 Membership Rewards points (=30,000 Avios) when you spend £4,000 in six months

Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card: 10,000 bonus Membership Rewards points (=10,000 Avios) when you spend £3,000 in six months

British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card: 25,000 Avios when you spend £3,000 in six months

British Airways American Express Credit Card: 5,000 Avios when you spend £1,000 in six months

Nectar Credit Card: 20,000 Nectar points (= £100) when you spend £2,000 in six months

Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card: 20,000 Marriott Bonvoy points (= 6,666 Avios) when you spend £3,000 in six months

The American Express Rewards Credit Card: 5,000 Membership Rewards points (=5,000 Avios) when you spend £2,000 in six months

Platinum Cashback Everyday Credit Card: 5% cashback on your purchases for six months (up to £100)

Platinum Cashback Credit Card: 5% cashback on your purchases for six months (up to £125)

Here are the small business cards included:

The Gold Business Card: 20,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend £3,000 in six months

The Platinum Business Card: 40,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend £6,000 in six months

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business Card: 2,200 On Business Points when you spend £3,000 in six months

There is also no sign of any leeway being given on the time needed to spend £10,000 on the British Airways American Express Premium Plus card to trigger the 2-4-1 voucher.

You can learn more in this article on the Amex six month bonus period.

My detailed article on ‘which American Express sign-up bonuses can I still get?‘ is here.

The two offers on The Platinum Card end in late July

American Express is running two ‘open to all’ offers for holders of The Platinum Card.

The first offer is double points on all American Express Platinum spending until 20th July – see here.

This immediately makes the card the most generous miles and points card in the UK. You would be earning 2 Avios per £1, 2 Virgin Flying Club miles per £1, 3 Marriott Bonvoy points per £1, 4 Hilton Honors points per £1 etc depending on how you converted them.

The second offer is being able to redeem Membership Rewards points for 0.9p of statement credit – see here. This is VERY attractive and something you should consider. Again, it runs until 20th July.

If you are squeezed for money at the moment, there is no shame in redeeming your Membership Rewards points for 0.9p cash and potentially buying Avios directly from BA later on, when your personal financial situation is clearer. In a sale you will usually pay around 1.1p per Avios so the different isn’t huge.

Qantas joins American Express Membership Rewards

In late June, Qantas joined the UK American Express Membership Rewards programme.

You can now transfer your points to Qantas Frequent Flyer at a rate of 1:1. The minimum transfer is 500 points and transfers seem to be instant.

We wrote three articles discussing ways you could benefit from this new partnership. See:

Three reasons why BA flyers may find the new Qantas / Amex Membership Rewards tie-up useful

Fly EL AL? It’s a new option now Qantas has joined Amex Membership Rewards

Qantas Frequent Flyer is now a UK American Express transfer partner!

American Express brought back ‘Shop Small’

American Express has launched a new ‘Shop Small’ initiative to support independent shops and give you up to £50 cashback on purchases.

Starting from 22nd June and running until 13th September, you will receive £5 cashback on the first 10 transactions you make for £10 or more at participating ‘Shop Small’ businesses.

There are very few rules apart from the fact that you can only get one £5 cashback per shop per card. You can, of course, register multiple American Express cards if you have more than one.

As in 2019, cashback is capped at £50 per card. Supplementary cards are treated separately and have their own cap, so you could technically get more than £50 cashback.

Full details of American Express Shop Small 2020 are in our article here.

BA Premium Plus American Express card BAPP

Amex launched a special bonus Avios offer for BA Premium Plus cardholders

Holders of the British Airways Premium Plus American Express found a good ‘bonus Avios’ offer available.

To see if you have this, look at the ‘Offers’ tab on your online statement page. You need to click ‘Save to Card’ to register. This offer is only for Premium Plus cardholders.

Here is the deal:

You will receive 2 bonus Avios (so 3.5 Avios per £1 in total) on every £1 you spend at Tesco, Waitrose & Partners, Marks & Spencer, Deliveroo and Apple

Offer runs until 12th September

Offer is valid instore and online

One possibility is buying gift cards at Tesco for other retailers. This would be especially useful for Amazon, Uber or iTunes where you can add a gift card to your online account and it is used up automatically on future orders.

Our full article on the Amex ‘bonus Avios’ promotion is here.

British Airways to give a six month extension on upcoming BA Amex 241 companion vouchers

As part of the current coronavirus compensation deal, all British Airways American Express 241 companion vouchers issued by 30th June 2020 were to be issued with an additional six months validity.

During June, it was announced that this has now been extended to 30th September.

This means that all newly issued 241 vouchers, triggered by 30th September 2020, will be valid for 2.5 years (or 1.5 years if generated on the free BA Amex card).

Anyone who triggers their next voucher in October, November or December 2020 or January / February 2021 will be worse off than someone who triggers their next voucher in late September 2020. Here’s why:

A 2-4-1 voucher issued on 20th September 2020 will expire on 20th March 2023 (30 months)

A 2-4-1 voucher issued on 20th October 2020 will expire on 20th October 2022 (24 months)

There could be real benefits in triggering your voucher early to get the extra six months. If you have kids and your card year ends in November, for example, triggering your voucher in September 2020 would cover you for Christmas 2022 and February half term 2023. If you don’t trigger your voucher until October or November 2020 it won’t – it will expire in October 2022 or November 2022 respectively.

This article tells you more about the British Airways American Express 2-4-1 companion voucher extension.

American Express still has a 30,000 point bonus on the DOLLAR / EURO versions of the Platinum card

Amex is currently running a rare sign-up bonus on its Dollar and Euro Platinum charge cards – 30,000 Membership Rewards points to be precise.

The good news is that you can get this bonus even if you already have a UK Platinum or Gold card. The bad news is that this is a complicated product with poorer transfer rates to most airline schemes than the UK cards. I wrote about the pros, cons and sweet spots of the American Express International Currency Cards in this article.

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: