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Lloyds Avios Rewards Credit Card: Earn Upgrade Voucher & Avios, plus No Foreign Transaction Fees
As the Lloyds Bank Avios Credit Card is no longer available. In fact, Lloyds no longer has a rewards credit card on the market. Please refer to our Best Air Rewards Cards or Best No-Foreign-Transaction-Fees Cards to learn about cards with similar features.
The Lloyds Bank Avios Rewards card delivers Avios points on your credit card spending, plus the potential for a free upgrade voucher each year. The Lloyds Avios card is a travel card—that is, there is no fx fee for foreign currency transactions made abroad. (All cash withdrawals from an ATM, including abroad, are subject to a fee, however.)
Lloyds Bank Avios Rewards Card Features
- Earn 1.25 Avios for every £1 spent on the American Express card
- Earn 1.25 Avios for every £5 spent on the MasterCard
- Double Avios in the first 6 months on the American Express, up to £2,500 of spend per month
- No foreign transaction fees
- Flight upgrade voucher when you spend £7,000 a year, which can only be used on a booking paid for in full with Avios
- 24 month interest-free period on purchases
- 1.25 Avios per £5 of balance transfer
- 0% interest for 29 months on balance transfers (3% fee applies), for transfers made in the first 90 days
- 0% interest on purchases for 29 months
- Annual fee of £24
- 23.7% APR (or 26.6% or 31.1%, variable)
Pros...
- No foreign transactions fee on non-sterling purchases made abroad
- Free upgrade voucher with £7,000 of eligible spend a year
Cons...
- No companion voucher
Lloyds Bank Avios Rewards Card Review
With the Lloyds Bank Avios account, cardholders will receive two credit cards in the post: an American Express and a MasterCard. With careful redemption of your Avios points, rewards rates can reach 1.25% on the American Express card and 0.25% on the MasterCard. Cardholders earn 1.25 Avios per £1 spent on the Amex and only 1.25 Avios per £5 spent on the MasterCard. By putting as many of your purchases as possible on the Amex, you’ll maximize your rewards. You can earn double Avios on the Amex in the first six months (applies up to £2,500 of spend per month).
The free upgrade voucher, earned with £7,000 of eligible purchases a year, can be used to upgrade from any one class to the next higher class on a given flight (with the exception that you cannot upgrade to First class). The Lloyds Bank upgrade voucher will create more value if you are savvy when redeeming it, for instance upgrading from Premium Economy to Business class on a long-haul flight.
The Lloyds Bank Avios card charges no fees on foreign transactions. If you use this card for non-sterling purchases abroad, be sure to pay in the local currency. (You may be asked if you want to pay in the local currency or pounds; generally speaking you'll get a better FX rate by paying in the local currency as the credit card will usually give you a better rate than the retailer.)
Cash withdrawals in any currency will incur a 3% (£3 minimum) charge per transaction.
Bottom Line: The Lloyds Avios Rewards card offers the chance to earn 0.25 or 1.25 Avios per pound spent plus an upgrade voucher for £7,000 of eligible spend a year. When used abroad, you'll incur no fees on your non-sterling purchases.
Double Avios
Through a promotional offer you can earn double Avios on the American Express card in your first six months. This reward is capped at £2,500 of eligible spend per month, which could earn you an additional 3,125 Avios per month. This reward is potentially worth £187.50 in the first year only (assuming a value of 1p per Avios), but this value depends on how you redeem your Avios points.
Please keep in mind that you must stay within your credit limit and pay at least your monthly minimum payments on time in order to stay eligible for promotional offers.
Rewards Rate
Ignoring the £24 annual fee, the companion voucher and the double-point promotion for a moment, we calculate the rewards rate on spending to be between 0.125% and 1.25%, if you can achieve a redemption value of £0.01 per Avios. Lloyds gives you two cards: an American Express and a MasterCard. The Amex earns 1.25 Avios per pound spent, achieving potential rewards rates around 1.25%. The MasterCard earns significantly less, 1.25 Avios per five pounds spent, achieving potential rewards rates around 0.25%.
Lloyds Avios Flight Upgrade Voucher
Each year that you use your card for £7,000 of eligible spend, you'll earn a free flight Upgrade Voucher. These vouchers can only be used on flight bookings that were fully paid for with Avios, and will bump you up by one class on your selected flight (cannot be used to bump up to First Class). Instead of using the upgrade on one round-trip ticket for yourself, there is flexibility to use the voucher for you and a friend on two one-way tickets on the same flight.
The value of this flight upgrade varies, but let’s look at an example. Say you want to fly round trip from London to New York, off peak, using Avios to buy a Premium Economy seat that you’ll upgrade to Business using your Upgrade Voucher. The original Premium Economy seat will cost 52,000 Avios; the upgrade from Premium Economy to Business is worth 48,000 points.
Generally speaking, more value is created with the Upgrade Voucher by upgrading from Premium Economy to Business (i.e., Euro Traveller to Club Europe for flights within Europe, or World Traveller to Club World on longer international flights) than from Economy to Premium Economy. However, prices are always changing and vary from route to route and day to day; you should consider all options to find the best use of your Avios.
| Destination | Upgrade from… | Avios Equivalent | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NYC | World Traveller (Economy) | to | World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy) | 26,000 |
| NYC | World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy) | to | Club World (Business) | 48,000 |
Conditions on the Upgrade Voucher
Vouchers can be used to upgrade by one cabin class, but cannot be used to upgrade to First Class. Vouchers are valid for one year from date of issue and only one upgrade voucher can be used a year. Eligible spend excludes cash withdrawals, balance transfers, refunded purchases, interest, fees and other charges. British Airways code-share flights and flights from London City airport are excluded.
Spending Avios
In addition to using Avios to purchase or upgrade flights, Avios can also be used to purchase stays at hotels, holidays, cruises, car hire, activity days, cases of wine or beer, etc. Below are some examples of other ways to spend Avios points:
| Reward | Avios Used |
|---|---|
| Deluxe Spa for Two | 27,000 |
| Comedy Night for Four | 8,000 |
| Six Bottles of Champagne | 27,500 |
| Everyday Dozen Case of Wine | 14,500 |
| Car Hire in Nice (Opel Corsa) | 20,800 |
| Hotel Stay in Cotswolds (4 Star) | 36,600 |
Lloyds Avios Rewards Balance Transfer Offer
Cardholders can earn Avios for balance transfers on their Lloyds Bank Avios Rewards card. The Lloyds Avios card charges 3% for the balance transfer, and waives interest for 29 months. In exchange you earn 1.25 Avios per £5 of transferred balance. Assuming an Avios value of 1p, we calculate a return of 0.25% on your balance transfer, effectively dropping your fee from 3% to 2.75%. There are other balance transfer cards available in the marketplace with lower fees for the same promotional period.