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

UPDATE – DECEMBER 2021:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.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

With travel, at least domestically, and life in general hopefully getting back to some level of normality, we are bringing back the regular HfP features which were suspended last year.

Today 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.

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

Our directory of the 12 main UK travel credit and charge cards can be found by clicking the ‘Credit Card Offers’ tab at the top of the site or – for email, Flipboard, Apple News, RSS or mobile readers – by clicking here.

We have also introduced a separate directory for small business credit cards which is here.

What was new in June and early July?

The topic that dominated the credit card news last month was the substantial changes to the British Airways American Express cards.

What are the changes to the British Airways American Express credit cards?

I don’t want to go into the details again, but there are the five articles you should read if you missed them:

• From 1st September, new 2-4-1 vouchers earned with the free British Airways American Express credit card can ONLY be used for Economy flights. On the positive side, the amount of spending required is reduced to £12,000 from £20,000.

• The fee on the British Airways Premium Plus American Express credit card is increasing from £195 to £250

• 2-4-1 vouchers on the Premium Plus card issued after 1st September will have a VERY valuable new feature – they will book into I-class revenue seats as well as standard Avios seats. This makes it substantially more likely that you will be able to redeem Avios for Club World on the flight you want.

• You cannot combine a 2-4-1 companion voucher earned after 1st September 2021 with one earned before that date – this is problem for families of four who use two vouchers earned by the same person to do ‘1+3’ redemptions

• If you get a free or £30 British Airways Premium Plus Amex because of other American Express cards you have held in the past, the game is up – I have saved over £3,000 thanks to this deal

The sign-up bonus doubled on the Marriott Bonvoy Amex – and you get Gold Elite status

American Express and Marriott Bonvoy have launched the first special offer on the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card since it launched last year.

The bonus is doubled to 40,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. You will also receive Gold Elite status in Marriott Bonvoy until February 2023.

Not many HfP readers will qualify for the sign-up bonus due to having other American Express cards. However, you would still receive Gold Elite status.

You might consider it worth the £75 card fee purely to get Gold Elite status until February 2023.

Full details of the Marriott Bonvoy American Express 40,000 points bonus are in this article. You can apply here.

American Express Business Gold got new features – and a higher fee

The American Express Business Gold card got a refresh in June.

The good news is that, whenever you spend £20,000 in a calendar quarter, you will receive 10,000 bonus Membership Rewards points. This makes the card very generous if you can hit the target, which I admit is a high one.

The bad news is that the card fee is increasing to £175 per year.

Our full article on the changes to American Express Business Gold is here. You can apply here.

Still running: all Marriott Bonvoy American Express cardholders can earn 1,500 bonus points

It is, by far, not the most exciting credit card deal of the year, but if you have the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card in a drawer you may want to dig it out.

You will receive 500 bonus Bonvoy point each time you cumulatively spend £500, up to a total of 1,500 bonus points. You have until 12th August to spend.

This takes you to 3 Bonvoy points per £1 for your £1,500 of spending. This was, of course, the standard earning rate on the card before it was cut in the 2020 card relaunch.

This article explains more.

The Amex bonus for free BA American Express cardholders continues

In April American Express launched an Avios bonus offer on the British Airways Premium Plus card. A similar offer to holders of the free BA Amex card is still running for another two weeks:

This is how it works:

• You receive 1 bonus Avios for every £2 you spend
• This is on top of the usual earning rate of Avios per £1
• The bonus is capped at 1,500 Avios, representing £3,000 of spending
• The promotion ends on 19th July
• Spending by supplementary cardholders does not count

You can find out more about the British Airways American Express bonus points offer in this article.

Amazon Business added a £100 gift card to its credit card

Amazon Business is VERY keen to get people with any sort of business or extra income to sign up for the Amazon Business American Express card.

The package couldn’t get any better:

• the card is free for the first year

• you get a £100 Amazon gift voucher as soon as you are approved – no spending target to hit

• everyone qualifies for the bonus, irrespective of what other American Express cards they have, and it won’t impact your ability to get future Amex bonuses

You can find out more in this article on the Amazon Business credit card.

Amex still has a 30,000 point bonus on the Dollar / Euro versions of the Platinum card

Finally, a reminder that Amex is still running a 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.

Further reading ….

We ran the following credit card articles over the last month:

NEW: Get 40,000 points and Gold status with the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card

Pay HMRC taxes with your credit card via Billhop and earn points, even with Amex

NEW: Amex adds a quarterly spend bonus to American Express Business Gold

Visit the American Express lounge at Wimbledon – all you need to know

Get £50 cashback with a new IHG and American Express hotel promotion

Is Radisson Rewards the best American Express Membership Rewards hotel partner?

Which airline credit card is best for long term spending?

What else does Barclays Premier offer apart from Avios?

NEW: get a £100 gift card and ‘no fee for a year’ with the Amazon Business American Express card

Should you drop your free British Airways American Express for the Amex Rewards Credit Card?

Save £20 with American Express when you spend £120 on Regent Street

If you get a free grandfathered BA Premium Plus Amex, it’s over – but you saved £3,000+

You can’t combine ‘new’ and ‘old’ BA Amex 241 vouchers – and why it is an issue

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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:

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.

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: