Store up your miles to jet off on holiday
CREDIT cards can offer a whole range of rewards, from shopping vouchers to money off your bills. For City workers who are frequently jetting off on business, there are great opportunities to store up airmiles to be redeemed on flights for your next holiday. Here are three of the best at offering air travel rewards.
VIRGIN ATLANTIC WHITE CARD
This card offers the reward of 3000 Flying Club Virgin miles on your first purchase, You then get one Flying Club mile for every £1 spent using the card. Also, when you spend more than £15,000 in one year, there are companion reward flights available.
The drawbacks are that there are no introductory offers on purchases, there is an interest rate of 17.9 per cent on all purchases and balance transfers from MBNA cards are not allowed. However, if you are organised with your payments then you can receive 46 days worth of interest free credit on purchases.
LLOYDS TSB AIRMILES DUO CARD
The bonuses with this card are that it has the lowest APR rate of the three on this page, at 15.9 per cent. Other benefits include the 0 per cent fee on balance transfers for six months, however this comes on condition that you spend at least £100 in the first three months. After the six month period, this balance transfer fee also hikes up to 3 per cent, so is not as convenient for flexibility.
The duo card system means you receive one Mastercard which gives one airmile for every £50 spent and one American Express card which gives one airmile for every £10 spent. While this may seem a bit excessive to have two cards, the idea behind the scheme is that when spending in places that do not accept Amex cards, you can continue to reap your airmile rewards with the Mastercard.
There is also currently a prize draw running until September for account holders, offering the chance to win 1m airmiles.
AMERICAN EXPRESS BRITISH AIRWAYS CARD
This card almost seems too good to be true, with one BA Mile for almost every £1 spent
and no annual fee. Unfortunately, it is. While there are great benefits with this card – including 1,000 bonus BA Miles if you spend £500 in the first three months and a companion voucher for any flight you redeem your miles on if you spend over £20,000 on the card in one year – there are also catches. The card comes with a 27.9 per cent charge when making cash withdrawals, a high typical APR of 19.9 per cent and no introductory offers on balance transfers. This card would therefore suit those who are frequent fliers with BA and are organised in clearing their balance every month, as failure to do so incurs hefty interest rates.