Avios Barclaycard - the new best fee-free reward card?

WillPS

https://www.barclaycard.co.uk/personal/avios

The no annual fee version has an earning rate of 1 avios per £, which can be converted easily in to 1.6 Nectar points, which if spent at face value is worth 0.8p at Sainsbury's, Argos or Ebay. 5000 avios (£40 worth of Nectar points) sign up bonus too.

That's a pretty unbeatable rate of return I reckon, particularly from a Mastercard. The only snag is that existing Barclaycard holders are ineligible for the 5000 point sign up bonus - boo!

frugalandsave

Have a look on HeadforPoints, some good articles on both new cards and also some info on how to maximise the options with these. 

Doshwaster

WillPS said:

That's a pretty unbeatable rate of return I reckon, particularly from a Mastercard. The only snag is that existing Barclaycard holders are ineligible for the 5000 point sign up bonus - boo!

That's a shame. I was thinking of switching away from my Barclaycard cashback (0.5%) card but not qualifying for the signup bonus makes it less attractive.

Se1Lad

Sadly it looks like they are not fee free abroad 

chamelion

People really should look at the CDC card....

MDMD

WillPS said:

https://www.barclaycard.co.uk/personal/avios

The no annual fee version has an earning rate of 1 avios per £, which can be converted easily in to 1.6 Nectar points, which if spent at face value is worth 0.8p at Sainsbury's, Argos or Ebay. 5000 avios (£40 worth of Nectar points) sign up bonus too.

That's a pretty unbeatable rate of return I reckon, particularly from a Mastercard. The only snag is that existing Barclaycard holders are ineligible for the 5000 point sign up bonus - boo!

Head for points says there is a plan B for current cardholders 

https://www.headforpoints.com/2022/03/01/apologies-for-application-issues-with-barclaycard-avios-mastercard/

Doshwaster

Se1Lad said:

Sadly it looks like they are not fee free abroad 

That wouldn't be a deal breaker for me as I have other cards which I use abroad. 

I might be tempted to cancel my current cashback card then wait 6 months to get this but I have a big credit limit on it (inherited from Egg) and there is no saying that I would get the same on the new card. 

Fighter1986

Doshwaster said:

Se1Lad said:

Sadly it looks like they are not fee free abroad 

That wouldn't be a deal breaker for me as I have other cards which I use abroad. 

I might be tempted to cancel my current cashback card then wait 6 months to get this but I have a big credit limit on it (inherited from Egg) and there is no saying that I would get the same on the new card. 

Just out of curiosity do you use this card often / ever approach the limit?

Other half has a Barclaycard with sizeable limit but has no use for it at this present day; wondered what Barclaycard are like when it comes to accounts which aren't used for a while

adamp87

WillPS said:

https://www.barclaycard.co.uk/personal/avios

The no annual fee version has an earning rate of 1 avios per £, which can be converted easily in to 1.6 Nectar points, which if spent at face value is worth 0.8p at Sainsbury's, Argos or Ebay. 5000 avios (£40 worth of Nectar points) sign up bonus too.

That's a pretty unbeatable rate of return I reckon, particularly from a Mastercard. The only snag is that existing Barclaycard holders are ineligible for the 5000 point sign up bonus - boo!

Amex does the same I believe and has for years, the free BA card is £1 per point (and often runs promotions to get more) and offers 5,000 points if you spend £1k in the first months to.

The only snag I've seen is converting Avios to Nectar isn't always possible online and you have to ring up - seems very temperamental, but if you want to swap Nectar to Avios it never has a problem.. 

Obviously Amex isn't accepted everywhere but I find that is now much more a few rather than a large rule, and a lot of places can be made to accept it if you use Paypal with your Amex connected to it.

WillPS

adamp87 said:

WillPS said:

https://www.barclaycard.co.uk/personal/avios

The no annual fee version has an earning rate of 1 avios per £, which can be converted easily in to 1.6 Nectar points, which if spent at face value is worth 0.8p at Sainsbury's, Argos or Ebay. 5000 avios (£40 worth of Nectar points) sign up bonus too.

That's a pretty unbeatable rate of return I reckon, particularly from a Mastercard. The only snag is that existing Barclaycard holders are ineligible for the 5000 point sign up bonus - boo!

Amex does the same I believe and has for years, the free BA card is £1 per point (and often runs promotions to get more) and offers 5,000 points if you spend £1k in the first months to.

The only snag I've seen is converting Avios to Nectar isn't always possible online and you have to ring up - seems very temperamental, but if you want to swap Nectar to Avios it never has a problem.. 

Obviously Amex isn't accepted everywhere but I find that is now much more a few rather than a large rule, and a lot of places can be made to accept it if you use Paypal with your Amex connected to it.

B&M, Home Bargains, Savers, most parking (except NCP), KFC, Now Broadband, all the frozen food shops (except Iceland/Food Warehouse), Perks at Work.

Independent retailers still have a relatively low acceptance rate too.

I would see reason to take an Amex card if there was a Visa or Mastercard equivalent with the same earnings rate.

Doshwaster

Now available to existing cardholders. I was able to switch in the Barclaycard app