Barclaycard Avios Plus (rewards CC)

MrFrugalFever

Hi all,

Up until 18th July Barclaycard Avios Plus is offering double AVIOS bonus points (50,000) when you spend £3,000 in first 3 months of opening, plus 1.5 avios points for each £1 spent.

A quick google suggests that 50,000 avios points is worth quite a bit and can be converted in to Nectar points at a rough 0.8p per point thus meaning approximately £800 worth.

Can anyone confirm?

Could I utilise this and simply close the account once the 50,000+ points have been credited to my BAEC account and convert my points from there? I'm new to Avios so not entirely sure how it works.

I also notice that Barclaycard are enabling CC's to be linked up to cashback rewards (up to 15% off some retailers), would the Avios Plus card be accepted for this?

I've been provisionally approved on Barclaycard eligibility checker - their own not through a comparison or broker site.

WillPS

Yes. You can only convert a maximum of 50,000 points per calendar month which you'll hit if you try to convert all of your Avios at once. (You'll have more than 50,000 in your account since you will be earning points on your spend too).

50,000 Avios is worth 80,000 Nectar which is £400 to spend at Argos, JS or Ebay if used at face value.

The conversion from Avios to Nectar takes around 2 weeks.

Cashback Rewards are only for Barclaycard Visa cards, unfortunately.

MrFrugalFever

WillPS said:

Yes. You can only convert a maximum of 50,000 points per calendar month which you'll hit if you try to convert all of your Avios at once. (You'll have more than 50,000 in your account since you will be earning points on your spend too).

50,000 Avios is worth 80,000 Nectar which is £400 to spend at Argos, JS or Ebay if used at face value.

The conversion from Avios to Nectar takes around 2 weeks.

Cashback Rewards are only for Barclaycard Visa cards, unfortunately.

Hi thanks for the reply.

Can this be done via the BAEC account?

I can't see anywhere in the Barclaycard T's & C's that the £20monthly maintenance fee is fixed for a period of time, i.e you have to have it running for 6 months etc?

Marchitiello

The plus card has a monthly fee, but once you hit the spend target and get credited the bonus, you should be able to downgrade to the free card as well, no need to close it. For more information on this there is a dedicated section within the Head for Points forum, which has more real life experience Of such a card. 

So far I have never converted from Avios to Nectar so the two weeks quoted could be right,  but once you link your accounts, the conversion the other way (nectar to Avios) is virtually instant. 

adamp87

Marchitiello said:

The plus card has a monthly fee, but once you hit the spend target and get credited the bonus, you should be able to downgrade to the free card as well, no need to close it. For more information on this there is a dedicated section within the Head for Points forum, which has more real life experience Of such a card. 

So far I have never converted from Avios to Nectar so the two weeks quoted could be right,  but once you link your accounts, the conversion the other way (nectar to Avios) is virtually instant. 

Yeah that's right. It takes up to a two weeks to convert Avios to Nectar - bit annoying that switching it back to Avios is instant but . - this is a great offer tempted myself

sparkiemalarkie

Does anyone know of any hacks?
I think I might be about £500 short for the £3,000 spend over the 3 months.
I was wondering if supermarket gift cards would work and keep these to spend after reaching the qualifying amount.

tia

sx

Marchitiello

sparkiemalarkie said:

Does anyone know of any hacks?
I think I might be about £500 short for the £3,000 spend over the 3 months.
I was wondering if supermarket gift cards would work and keep these to spend after reaching the qualifying amount.

tia

sx

No experience with Barclaycard specifically but I know it generally works, especially if you buy the gift cards as part of a general basket

MrFrugalFever

sparkiemalarkie said:

Does anyone know of any hacks?
I think I might be about £500 short for the £3,000 spend over the 3 months.
I was wondering if supermarket gift cards would work and keep these to spend after reaching the qualifying amount.

tia

sx

In my experience it would be worth just trying to spend a small amount (say £15) on gift card first to see it BC treat it as a ‘cash like transaction’ before you go for the big £500.

WillPS

There is 0 chance that a gift card bought in a physical retail store will result in cash charges unless that retailer attracts cash advance charges for normal purchases. It appears the same to Barclaycard.

MrFrugalFever

WillPS said:

There is 0 chance that a gift card bought in a physical retail store will result in cash charges unless that retailer attracts cash advance charges for normal purchases. It appears the same to Barclaycard.

It’s still worth them checking. When Sainsburys had the saveback scheme (disbanded last year), I paid in to my savings account via the deposit card at a physical till with a cashier. Tesco charged cash advance, as did virgin, but BC didn’t.

Marchitiello

I regularly buy PS and Nintendo Gift Cards from Sainsbury to gift when my son gets invited to birthday parties, paying them as part of the shopping I am doing and paying with my Amex, never incurred in a fee. Used to buy M&S gift card at M&S and again never charged a fee. Not sure if buying the supermarket own one should incur a fee. It is one of the thing they sell, so cannot see the till differentiating.