Can I overpay a Barclaycard to get more Avios points?

I've recently got an Avios Barclaycard with a welcome bonus of 50,000 points when I spend £3k in the first three months. I have a package holiday to pay for (£3k) but the provisional credit limit is just £200. Can I 'load' the card by overpaying it (what credit card companies call a negative balance), then pay for my holiday? Or will I fall foul of some money laundering rules? I'm self-employed and the credit limit will leap after extra docs are sent, but not before I need to pay for my holiday - and I use Avios for 5 free flights a year. And as well as the welcome bonus, I will get 3,000 x 1.5 points on the transaction. I've called/online chat but think what I'm asking is unusual. The terms and conditions say I'll get points when inside my credit limit. By paying in 3k, then paying out 3k, I think I am within my credit limit???? Any help appreciated before I take the leap. Thanks
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Comments

  • born_again
    born_again Posts: 19,777 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Fifth Anniversary Name Dropper
    Check the T/C but most will be a NO. You simply can not put a CC into a credit balance.
    Life in the slow lane
  • Thanks for your thoughts - the last two points on the Ts&Cs are ambiguous. I will be within and not over my credit limit, but they may say purchases were not made inside the £200. I can put the card into a negative balance according to call centre and pay that balance down by spending, but they have no idea if it will qualify for points, not does Avios or BA. 

  • crumpet_man
    crumpet_man Posts: 708 Forumite
    Fifth Anniversary 500 Posts
    Why is the credit limit only £200?  Do you need to do send them some documents or ID to verify?  You would be better off getting the credit limit fixed before anything else.
  • SuperAllyB
    SuperAllyB Posts: 878 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper
    I'm pretty sure you'll lose Section 75 cover doing it that way as well, if it's important to you
  • The_Urbanite
    The_Urbanite Posts: 359 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts
    edited 28 July 2022 at 8:31PM
    You can't really overpay with a debit card, but you can bypass by making a payment to Barclaycard by bank transfer.

    Unlike other banks the transaction amount is capped at your credit limit.

    In practice you can cycle your credit limit to your hearts content - I was doing  upwards of 20x my credit limit a month for a long time without challenge.
  • Marchitiello
    Marchitiello Posts: 1,299 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Barclaycards are giving this £200 temporary limit to everyone they cannot complete full income verification nowadays. 

    As others have said the transaction may not be authorised in the first place.

    In terms of Avios earning and qualifying spending, anything that you spend on it will count, the fact that the card is on negative balance and/or that you overpay your statement has no bearing on it. Avios and Spending qualifying accumulation are calculated on actual transactions not on statement balance. 

    Also, the comment about section 75 protection is no sense: what impact on a purchase protection right would the balance /payment/overpayment on the account have I am curious to learn… 

    PS : I have had my Barclaycard accounts since 1999 and in this long time I have had few times the account in “negative” balance, some time for extended period of time. Normally it has only happened to the tune of £100-200 but at least one occasion it was around £2k (paid twice a statement via bank transfer) but the credit limit was many time that so it was obvious that it was not for creating larger credit limits. 
  • Doesn't Barclaycard systems automatically reject any credited funds that would take the balance above zero ?
  • They probably won't reject it but likely will return it if put in credit deliberately (or even accidentally) 
  • msallen
    msallen Posts: 1,494 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper

    Also, the comment about section 75 protection is no sense: what impact on a purchase protection right would the balance /payment/overpayment on the account have I am curious to learn… 

    Because you may not be buying your purchase on credit which I believe is an intrinsic part of S75.
  • born_again
    born_again Posts: 19,777 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Fifth Anniversary Name Dropper
    Barclaycards are giving this £200 temporary limit to everyone they cannot complete full income verification nowadays. 

    As others have said the transaction may not be authorised in the first place.

    In terms of Avios earning and qualifying spending, anything that you spend on it will count, the fact that the card is on negative balance and/or that you overpay your statement has no bearing on it. Avios and Spending qualifying accumulation are calculated on actual transactions not on statement balance. 

    Also, the comment about section 75 protection is no sense: what impact on a purchase protection right would the balance /payment/overpayment on the account have I am curious to learn… 

    PS : I have had my Barclaycard accounts since 1999 and in this long time I have had few times the account in “negative” balance, some time for extended period of time. Normally it has only happened to the tune of £100-200 but at least one occasion it was around £2k (paid twice a statement via bank transfer) but the credit limit was many time that so it was obvious that it was not for creating larger credit limits. 
    S75 covers situations where credit is involved.

    If you could put you CC in a credit balance, you are removing that position. 
    Life in the slow lane
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