Three credit cards worth keeping, unused, just for their benefits
Head for Points sent this email to their subscribers on May 22, 2023.
Typically there are three different types of travel loyalty credit cards you can apply for: Head for Points tends to focus on the first two types. I thought it was worth another look at the three loyalty cards which offer decent on-going perks even if you don’t use them. For clarity, my list does NOT […]
Three credit cards worth keeping, unused, just for their benefits
Typically there are three different types of travel loyalty credit cards you can apply for:
cards you get just for the sign-up bonus
cards you get primarily for the strong on-going earnings rate
cards you get but don’t use because they come with generous perks
Head for Points tends to focus on the first two types. I thought it was worth another look at the three loyalty cards which offer decent on-going perks even if you don’t use them.
For clarity, my list does NOT include perks which require you to hit a spending target each year to receive them such as the British Airways American Express 2-4-1 voucher or the Barclaycard Avios Mastercard upgrade voucher.
All of the perks discussed below are yours simply because you took out the card.
Because you can get a very generous 30,000 Membership Rewards points sign-up bonus (converts into 30,000 Avios or 30,000 Virgin Flying Club miles amongst other things) it may be worth giving the card a try to see if it works for you.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 13th June, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card is doubled to 60,000 Membership Rewards points – and you get £200 to spend at Amex Travel too!Apply here.
There are a lot of long-term benefits that can have real value:
2 Priority Pass cards, each getting you and a guest into 1,300 airport lounges for free. If you give your second card to your partner, you have a family of four covered. London lounges include the Aspire lounge in Heathrow T5 and the Club Aspire and No1 lounges in Heathrow T3, as well as a number of Gatwick options.
Access to the Plaza Premium Lounge in Heathrow Terminal 5 as well as the other Plaza Premium lounges in Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh and globally. Whilst these lounges are not in Priority Pass, you can get in – with a guest – by showing your American Express Platinum card.
Eurostar lounge access (cardholder only, no guests, although your supplementary Platinum cardholder can get in with their card)
Marriott Bonvoy (Sheraton, Le Meridien, Aloft, St Regis etc) hotels Gold status,
Hilton Honors (Conrad, DoubleTree, Waldorf Astoria, Hampton etc) Gold status
MeliaRewards (Melia, INNSiDE, Tryp, ME) Gold status
Radisson Rewards (Radisson, Park Plaza, Park Inn) Premium status
Travel insurance, subject to enrolment, which is fully comprehensive (some minor benefits such as lost luggage requiring you to pay for your flights and hotels with an American Express card, although ‘big stuff’ like medical cover is covered regardless) – although read the small print if you have pre-existing conditions
Comprehensive car hire insurance
Discounts and/or added benefits in luxury hotels via the Fine Hotels & Resorts programme
£150 per year to spend in 150+ UK restaurants (no minimum spend required)
£150 per year to spend in 1,200+ restaurants outside the UK (no minimum spend required)
£100 per year to spend at Harvey Nichols, online or instore (no minimum spend required)
…. plus some other bits and pieces, including car hire status.
A lot of people, including myself, have a Platinum card for the benefits but – because of the weak 1 point per £1 earning rate – do not use it much.
HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard
The representative APR is 59.3% variable, including the annual fee. The representative APR on purchases is 18.9% variable.
TheHSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard is only available to HSBC Premier current account holders, and a substantial financial commitment to HSBC is required to receive one.
You receive free airport lounge access at 750 airports worldwide via the LoungeKey programme. Guests are charged at £20, although if you regularly travel with the same adult it would be cheaper to pay £60 to get them a supplementary credit card on your account. It is a cheaper way of getting lounge access than buying your own Priority Pass card.
If you get the standard version of the HSBC Premier Mastercard, you also get a LoungeKey card but are charged £20 per lounge visit, no freebies.
You would also get comprehensive travel insurance, although this is technically a benefit of the free HSBC Premier current account and you would receive this even if you decided not to take out the credit card.
The card has a chunky £195 annual fee BUT you receive a sign-up bonus – paid over two years – of 80,000 HSBC points. These convert to 40,000 Avios or 11 other airline and hotel programmes. If you value an Avios at 1p then the card is effectively free for two years if you offset the £390 of fees against the 40,000 Avios received if you hit the bonus targets.
15 night credits means that you will immediately qualify for free Silver Elite status in Marriott Bonvoy. This has few real benefits, except for a 10% bonus on base points earned from Marriott hotel stays, so it is debatable whether it is worth the £75 annual card fee on its own.
However, it also puts you 15 nights nearer the very valuable Platinum Elite status which usually requires 50 nights. Platinum Elite comes with guaranteed lounge access, breakfast benefits and a guaranteed 4pm check-out.
You will also receive 20,000 Marriott Bonvoy points as a sign-up bonus, if you qualify and meet the spending target.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 30th May, the sign-up bonus on the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card is doubled to 40,000 Bonvoy points – and you get a free night voucher too!Apply here.
The generous sign-up bonus of 30,000 Membership Rewards points, airport lounge access and the free hotel status cards mean that you don’t have much to lose by giving it a try, despite the heavy fee.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 13th June, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card is doubled to 60,000 Membership Rewards points – and you get £200 to spend at Amex Travel too!Apply here.
PS. In case you are wondering, I deliberately excluded The American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card. Whilst you get four free airport lounge passes per year, these do not justify the £160 annual fee from Year 2 onwards. Of course, in Year 1, it is a different story.
Disclaimer: Head for Points is a journalistic website. Nothing here should be construed as financial advice, and it is your own responsibility to ensure that any product is right for your circumstances. Recommendations are based primarily on the ability to earn miles and points. The site discusses products offered by lenders but is not a lender itself. Robert Burgess, trading as Head for Points, is regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as an independent credit broker.
We’re always here to help you make the most of your Avios, Virgin Points and hotel points. If you have any questions or want to get in touch, send us an email at [email protected] or reach out on social media.
Please forward this email to any friends or family who you think may be interested in improving how they travel.
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Text-only version of this email
Typically there are three different types of travel loyalty credit cards you can apply for: Head for Points tends to focus on the
first two types. I thought it was worth another look at the three loyalty cards which offer decent on-going perks even if you
don’t use them. For clarity, my list does NOT […]
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22 May 2023 by Rob Burgess
THREE CREDIT CARDS WORTH KEEPING, UNUSED, JUST FOR THEIR BENEFITS
Typically there are three different types of travel loyalty credit cards you can apply for:
* cards you get just for the sign-up bonus
* cards you get primarily for the strong on-going earnings rate
* cards you get but don’t use because they come with generous perks
Head for Points tends to focus on the first two types. I thought it was worth another look at the three loyalty cards which offer
decent on-going perks even if you don’t use them.
Three credit cards worth keeping, unused, just for their benefits
For clarity, my list does NOT include perks which require you to hit a spending target each year to receive them such as the
British Airways American Express 2-4-1 voucher or the Barclaycard Avios Mastercard upgrade voucher.
All of the perks discussed below are yours simply because you took out the card.
The place to turn for full details of all airline and hotel loyalty credit cards is, of course, our ‘Top Credit Card Offers‘ page,
which summarises all of the cards and deals currently available.
Looking through the list, these are the three cards you might want to get but keep in your desk drawer gathering dust:
Three credit cards worth keeping, unused, just for their benefits
THE PLATINUM CARD FROM AMERICAN EXPRESS
The representative APR is 462.4% variable, including the annual fee. The representative APR on purchases is 29.4% variable.
The Platinum Card from American Express is the most complex and most debatable card here.
Because you can get a very generous 30,000 Membership Rewards points sign-up bonus (converts into 30,000 Avios or 30,000 Virgin
Flying Club miles amongst other things) it may be worth giving the card a try to see if it works for you.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 13th June, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card is doubled to 60,000 Membership Rewards points – and you
get £200 to spend at Amex Travel too! Apply here.
There are a lot of long-term benefits that can have real value:
* 2 Priority Pass cards, each getting you and a guest into 1,300 airport lounges for free. If you give your second card to your
partner, you have a family of four covered. London lounges include the Aspire lounge in Heathrow T5 and the Club Aspire and
No1 lounges in Heathrow T3, as well as a number of Gatwick options.
* Access to the Plaza Premium Lounge in Heathrow Terminal 5 as well as the other Plaza Premium lounges in Heathrow, Gatwick,
Edinburgh and globally. Whilst these lounges are not in Priority Pass, you can get in – with a guest – by showing your American
Express Platinum card.
* Eurostar lounge access (cardholder only, no guests, although your supplementary Platinum cardholder can get in with their card)
* Lounge access with Delta in the US
* Access to Amex’s upmarket ‘Centurion’ lounge network at selected US airports, Hong Kong and London Heathrow Terminal 3
* Marriott Bonvoy (Sheraton, Le Meridien, Aloft, St Regis etc) hotels Gold status,
* Hilton Honors (Conrad, DoubleTree, Waldorf Astoria, Hampton etc) Gold status
* MeliaRewards (Melia, INNSiDE, Tryp, ME) Gold status
* Radisson Rewards (Radisson, Park Plaza, Park Inn) Premium status
* Travel insurance, subject to enrolment, which is fully comprehensive (some minor benefits such as lost luggage requiring you to
pay for your flights and hotels with an American Express card, although ‘big stuff’ like medical cover is covered regardless) –
although read the small print if you have pre-existing conditions
* Comprehensive car hire insurance
* Discounts and/or added benefits in luxury hotels via the Fine Hotels & Resorts programme
* £150 per year to spend in 150+ UK restaurants (no minimum spend required)
* £150 per year to spend in 1,200+ restaurants outside the UK (no minimum spend required)
* £100 per year to spend at Harvey Nichols, online or instore (no minimum spend required)
…. plus some other bits and pieces, including car hire status.
A lot of people, including myself, have a Platinum card for the benefits but – because of the weak 1 point per £1 earning rate –
do not use it much.
credit cards worth keeping, unused, just for their benefits
HSBC PREMIER WORLD ELITE MASTERCARD
The representative APR is 59.3% variable, including the annual fee. The representative APR on purchases is 18.9% variable.
The HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard is only available to HSBC Premier current account holders, and a substantial financial
commitment to HSBC is required to receive one.
You receive free airport lounge access at 750 airports worldwide via the LoungeKey programme. Guests are charged at £20, although
if you regularly travel with the same adult it would be cheaper to pay £60 to get them a supplementary credit card on your
account. It is a cheaper way of getting lounge access than buying your own Priority Pass card.
If you get the standard version of the HSBC Premier Mastercard, you also get a LoungeKey card but are charged £20 per lounge
visit, no freebies.
You would also get comprehensive travel insurance, although this is technically a benefit of the free HSBC Premier current account
and you would receive this even if you decided not to take out the credit card.
The card has a chunky £195 annual fee BUT you receive a sign-up bonus – paid over two years – of 80,000 HSBC points. These convert
to 40,000 Avios or 11 other airline and hotel programmes. If you value an Avios at 1p then the card is effectively free for two
years if you offset the £390 of fees against the 40,000 Avios received if you hit the bonus targets.
Our full review of the HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard is here.
Three credit cards worth keeping, unused, just for their benefits
MARRIOTT BONVOY AMERICAN EXPRESS
The representative APR is 47.4% variable, including the annual fee. The representative APR on purchases is 29.4% variable.
The Marriott Bonvoy American Express card comes with 15 free elite night credits per year.
15 night credits means that you will immediately qualify for free Silver Elite status in Marriott Bonvoy. This has few real
benefits, except for a 10% bonus on base points earned from Marriott hotel stays, so it is debatable whether it is worth the £75
annual card fee on its own.
However, it also puts you 15 nights nearer the very valuable Platinum Elite status which usually requires 50 nights. Platinum
Elite comes with guaranteed lounge access, breakfast benefits and a guaranteed 4pm check-out.
You will also receive 20,000 Marriott Bonvoy points as a sign-up bonus, if you qualify and meet the spending target.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 30th May, the sign-up bonus on the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card is doubled to 40,000 Bonvoy points –
and you get a free night voucher too! Apply here.
Our full review of the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card is here. You can apply here.
CONCLUSION
Overall, there are some interesting deals to be had with some credit cards which makes them worth keeping, even if you don’t use
them.
For bigger spenders, especially heavy travellers, The Platinum Card from American Express is worth a look.
The generous sign-up bonus of 30,000 Membership Rewards points, airport lounge access and the free hotel status cards mean that
you don’t have much to lose by giving it a try, despite the heavy fee.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 13th June, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card is doubled to 60,000 Membership Rewards points – and you
get £200 to spend at Amex Travel too! Apply here.
PS. In case you are wondering, I deliberately excluded The American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card. Whilst you get four
free airport lounge passes per year, these do not justify the £160 annual fee from Year 2 onwards. Of course, in Year 1, it is a
different story.
Disclaimer: Head for Points is a journalistic website. Nothing here should be construed as financial advice, and it is your own
responsibility to ensure that any product is right for your circumstances. Recommendations are based primarily on the ability to
earn miles and points. The site discusses products offered by lenders but is not a lender itself. Robert Burgess, trading as Head
for Points, is regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as an independent credit broker.
Click here to read comments on this article
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We’re always here to help you make the most of your Avios, Virgin Points and hotel points. If you have any questions or want to
get in touch, send us an email at [email protected] or reach out on social media. Please forward this email to any friends
or family who you think may be interested in improving how they travel.
If you were sent this email by a friend and would like to subscribe, click here.
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