Avios Points Scheme CC's and overpaying?

antispam246

I'm about to make a large purchase, a holiday/flights, most likely through BA, I've been looking at the avios reward CC's, specifically the BA Amex, BA Premium Amex and Lloyds Duo.

As the purchase will undoubtedly be larger than any given credit limit, my query is, can I overpay on any of these cards, to cover the single purchase (I'm talking nearing £10k), in order to gain the avios points quicker?

For example, the BA Amex is 9k avios points with £1000 spend in first 3 months, with 1pt per £1 spent. So, assume I was given a 5k limit, could I overpay £5, topping it to £10k, then purchase my trip using this, accruing both the 9k avios points + 10k pts for the purchase in one swoop?

If not, would any of the avios based CC's allow this?

I'm used to other CC's that allow over paying and have paid out for the cashback on the top-up, just unfamiliar with the flight based schemes ones.

InsideInsurance

Most cards state that overpayment is a breach of terms and certainly some will still apply the same transaction cap even if you have an overpayment giving you in theory additional capacity.

Given however you are talking about a holiday why do you need to make it all in one? Surely you are either booking separate elements or are paying via a travel agent in which case have terms for payment. Why not simply pay part, pay it off, pay the other part?

Remember that most travel companies add credit card transaction fees which would almost certainly eliminate most if not all the value of the points.

antispam246

Thee CC fee is fixed and insignficant, to late for deposit, not sure about part payment but it's online and they don't usually faciliate part/split payments when paying online. It's directly through airline. I'd rather do it online because of further cashback.

pingles

As above- you'll probably not be able to prepay in advance to increase your credit limit. Is it a single package or are you paying separately for hotels, flights etc.?

If you're booking entirely through BA the Amex BA Premium Plus could be very lucrative- on spending the £10k you'd get 18k Avios (intro bonus) 30k avios (for your spend with BA)- 48k Avios just from the spend (i'm guessing you'd also collect some more from BA for the flights themselves). Plus, because you'll have spend the £10k for the companion voucher you'd get a 2-4-1 on award seats valid for 24 months (giving you time to boost the avios a bit higher).

If you're concerned about the limit then another option would be to go for a charge card without a specified limit- such as the Amex Preferred Rewards Gold. You'd collect some MR points (fewer than with the BAPP card) but you could probably phone ahead of the transaction to check it would be approved- it's possible they'd just ask for confirmation you can pay and allow it. This also requires you to be able to clear the statement balance in full.

b1982

pingles wrote: »

If you're concerned about the limit then another option would be to go for a charge card without a specified limit- such as the Amex Preferred Rewards Gold. You'd collect some MR points (fewer than with the BAPP card) but you could probably phone ahead of the transaction to check it would be approved- it's possible they'd just ask for confirmation you can pay and allow it. This also requires you to be able to clear the statement balance in full.

It is important that you call first. I tried paying a large amount through my Gold Amex last week and it got declined. They also put my account under review and ask me not to use the card during the process. The review took about a day.

I didn't call the customer service team before making the charge because I happened to talk to the fraud team 2-3 days prior (a small internet transaction got declined) and they said it should be all right.

[Deleted User]

If you are booking directly via BA the BA Premium Amex will get you the 30,000 Avios plus 18,000 sign up bonus (48,000) and will also qualify you for the companion voucher - useful if you will use it in the future. However, there is a £150 a year annual fee, and you're unlikely to get a £10k limit with no past Amex history.

The Free BA Amex has a smaller sign up bonus (3,000) and will only get you 1 Avios per pound so only 13,000 total. Also no companion voucher so not a good option.

I wouldn't recommend the Lloyds cards.

Overpaying is normally against account T&C so I would advise against it - not sure if it would invalidate any S75 protection?

Apply for the Amex Gold charge card - no set spending limit (call them first to give a heads up if it's a very large transaction). No fee in first year and it has a better sign up bonus than any of the other cards you mentioned (currently 20,000 MR points). The MR points are more versatile than Avios as you can transfer them to many programs (including Avios) or redeem for credit etc. You would get the 20,000 bonus plus a further 20,000 for your spend (travel spend attracts double points, as does supermarket and foreign spend). So total, 40,000 points.

You get a higher welcome bonus (22,000) if referred by an existing card-holder - I'd be happy to do so if you want to go down this route, PM me if interested (I get some bonus MR points for the referral too!).