Can I Churn The Avios Barclaycards?

It’s always good news when a new points earning card enters the market, particularly when the card comes with a lucrative sign-up bonus! Both the new-ish Avios Barclaycard products come with decent sign-up bonuses to entice you to take one out… but can you churn them and earn the sign-up bonus over and over again? And if so, is it worth doing? In this post, we want to take a look at whether you can churn the Avios Barclaycards…

This is our experience using the points system and is not a recommendation of any financial product. There are other credit cards that can earn you travel points including Amex cards, Tesco Credit Cards (by exchanging Clubcard points for Virgin Points, hotel stays, and more) & Virgin Atlantic credit card.

What is churning?

Churning in simple terms is the process of signing up for a credit card for the sign-up bonus and then canceling the card as soon as you receive the bonus. You would then reapply for the exact same card as soon as you’re eligible to earn another welcome bonus. Repeat this over and over and you have credit card churning…

So can I churn the Avios Barclaycards?

In short, yes BUT similarly to most American Express cards, there has to be a 24-month gap between you holding an Avios earning Barclaycard before you are eligible to get another sign-up bonus. See 3.2 of Barclaycards Avios T&Cs

3.2 We’ll only apply one Avios Welcome Bonus in relation to your card to your BAEC account during the lifetime of your card account. If you close your card account after you receive your Avios Welcome Bonus and then open another Barclaycard Avios card account within 2 years after you closed the original account, you will not be eligible for another Avios Welcome Bonus.

Should I churn the Avios Barclaycards?

There isn’t a right or wrong answer to this as it depends on your personal circumstances but let’s look at some factors you should consider when making your decision…

Perhaps the most obvious thing to consider is how many Avios would you earn by keeping the card over the 24-month period that you’d otherwise have to drop it for? Let’s take the Barclaycard Avios Plus as an example with its 1.5 Avios per £1 earning rate…

To earn 25,000 Avios (the current sign-up bonus) by spending alone you’d need to put £16,666.66 on your card. As the gap before getting another sign-up bonus is 24 months we can split that £16,666.66 into needing to spend £8,333.33 a year.

The second thing to bear in mind is the monthly fee that you would save by not holding the card. By not holding the card for 24 months you’d save 24 x £20, so £480. If you spent £8,333.33 a year whilst in theory you’d have the same Avios as waiting 24 months for a sign-up bonus those Avios would have cost you £480.

The third thing to bear in mind is if you’d normally spend 10K per annum on the card you will miss out on 2 x upgrade vouchers.

The fourth thing to consider is whether obtaining another Avios earning card in your 24-month ‘break’ will make up for the lack of Avios earning Barclaycard. The only other card with the same earning rate of 1.5 Avios per £1 spent is the BA Premium Amex (£250 annual fee, 102.5% APR variable with an assumed credit limit of £1,200.) With this you will also get a 2-4-1 voucher at 10K spend but whilst widely accepted maybe more limiting for you if you have a chunk of spend you can’t put on an American Express card.

Finally, don’t forget although these are the sign-up bonus rules/amount right now… it could change it anytime! Perhaps to a lower amount or only one bonus per lifetime…nothing is guaranteed!

Still confused? Let’s do the maths to see if it makes sense to Churn The Avios Barclaycards…

If you spend 5K a year on the Barclaycard

First-year

You’d earn 25,000 sign-up bonus by spending £3,000 within 3 months. For spending 5k you’d receive an additional 7,500 Avios (1.5 Avios per £1) which means you’d receive 32,500 Avios in your first year. You wouldn’t earn an upgrade voucher. Due to the relatively small amount of Avios you’d be collecting at this level of spend ^ the monthly fee being £20, £240 annually you may wish to consider downgrading to the Free Barclaycard (1 Avios per £1) after hitting the spending target.

Ongoing

You’d earn 7,500 Avios per year (1.5 Avios per £1.) Due to the monthly fee being £20, £240 annually and the fact that you wouldn’t be collecting an upgrade voucher you may wish to consider downgrading to the Free Barclaycard (1 Avios per £1) after hitting the spending target.

Churn?

You’d save £480 by not having the card for 24 months but without another card, you’d miss out on 15,000 Avios over the same period. With a sign-up bonus of 25,000 every 24 months you’d be 10,000 Avios ‘up’ if you decided to churn + your saving on the annual fee. Due to the annual fee at this level of spend, you are probably best sticking with or changing to the free Barclaycard after hitting your spending target. If you are happy alternating between cards you might want to consider a 2-year cycle. 3 months with the Barclaycard Avios = 4,500 Avios + 25,000 sign-up bonus, downgrade to the free version for the remaining 21 months = 7,000 Avios. Then switch to the BA Premium Amex for 3 months. You’d earn 4,500 Avios + 25,000 sign-up bonus, downgrade to the free version for the remaining 21 months = 7,000 Avios. After each 24-month period, you would be eligible for each sign-up bonus again… unless the eligibility rules change! This would leave you earning on average 18,250 Avios per year over the ongoing 7,500 Avios on the paid card or 5,000 on the free card.

If you spend 10K a year on the Barclaycard

First-year

You’d earn a 25,000 sign-up bonus by spending £3,000 within 3 months. For spending 10k you’d receive an additional 15,000 Avios (1.5 Avios per £1) which means you’d receive 40,000 Avios in your first year. In addition to this, you’d earn an upgrade voucher at 10k spend.

Ongoing

You’d earn 15,000 Avios per year (1.5 Avios per £1.) In addition to this, you’d earn an upgrade voucher at 10k spend.

Churn?

You’d save £480 by not having the card for 24 months but without another card, you’d miss out on 30,000 Avios over the same period. With a sign-up bonus of 25,000 every 24 months you’d be 5,000 Avios ‘down’ if you decided to churn. Due to the annual fee at this level of spend you are in effect now paying 1.6p an Avios point (obviously this excludes the value of the upgrade voucher.) If you are happy alternating between cards & would use both upgrade & 2-4-1 vouchers you might want to consider a 2-year cycle. 24 months with the Barclaycard Avios = 30,000 Avios + 25,000 sign-up bonus + 2 x upgrade vouchers. Then switch to the BA Premium Amex for 24 months. You’d earn 30,000 Avios + 25,000 sign-up bonus + 2 x 2-4-1 vouchers. After each 24-month period, you would be eligible for each sign-up bonus again… unless the eligibility rules change! This would leave you earning on average 27,500 Avios per year over the ongoing 15,000 Avios.

If you spend 15K a year on the Barclaycard

First-year

You’d earn a 25,000 sign-up bonus by spending £3,000 within 3 months. For spending 15k you’d receive an additional 22,500 Avios (1.5 Avios per £1) which means you’d receive 47,500 Avios in your first year. In addition to this, you’d earn an upgrade voucher at 10k spend

Ongoing

You’d earn 22,500 Avios per year (1.5 Avios per £1.) In addition to this, you’d earn an upgrade voucher at 10k spend.

Churn?

You’d save £480 by not having the card for 24 months but without another card, you’d miss out on 45,000 Avios over the same period. With a sign-up bonus of 25,000 every 24 months you’d be 20,000 Avios ‘down’ if you decided to churn. Due to the annual fee at this level of spend you are in effect now paying just over 1p an Avios point (obviously this excludes the value of the upgrade voucher.) If you are happy alternating between cards & would use both upgrade & 2-4-1 vouchers you might want to consider a 2-year cycle. 24 months with the Barclaycard Avios = 45,000 Avios + 25,000 sign-up bonus + 2 x upgrade vouchers. Then switch to the BA Premium Amex for 24 months. You’d earn 45,000 Avios + 25,000 sign-up bonus + 2 x 2-4-1 vouchers. After each 24-month period, you would be eligible for each sign-up bonus again… unless the eligibility rules change! This would leave you earning on average 35,000 Avios per year over the ongoing 22,500 Avios.

If you spend 30K a year on the Barclaycard

First-year

You’d earn a 25,000 sign-up bonus by spending £3,000 within 3 months. For spending 30k you’d receive an additional 45,000 Avios (1.5 Avios per £1) which means you’d receive 70,000 Avios in your first year. In addition to this, you’d earn an upgrade voucher at 10k spend

Ongoing

You’d earn 45,000 Avios per year (1.5 Avios per £1.) In addition to this, you’d earn an upgrade voucher at 10k spend.

Churn?

You’d save £480 by not having the card for 24 months but without another card, you’d miss out on 90,000 Avios over the same period. With a sign-up bonus of 25,000 every 24 months you’d be 65,000 Avios ‘down’ if you decided to churn. If you are happy alternating between cards & would use both upgrade & 2-4-1 vouchers you might want to consider a 2-year cycle. 24 months with the Barclaycard Avios = 90,000 Avios + 25,000 sign-up bonus + 2 x upgrade vouchers. Then switch to the BA Premium Amex for 24 months. You’d earn 90,000 Avios + 25,000 sign-up bonus + 2 x 2-4-1 vouchers. After each 24-month period, you would be eligible for each sign-up bonus again… unless the eligibility rules change! This would leave you earning on average 57,500 Avios per year over the ongoing 45,000 Avios.

If you spend 50K a year on the Barclaycard

First-year

You’d earn a 25,000 sign-up bonus by spending £3,000 within 3 months. For spending 50k you’d receive an additional 75,000 Avios (1.5 Avios per £1) which means you’d receive 100,000 Avios in your first year. In addition to this, you’d earn an upgrade voucher at 10k spend

Ongoing

You’d earn 75,000 Avios per year (1.5 Avios per £1.) In addition to this, you’d earn an upgrade voucher at 10k spend.

Churn?

You’d save £480 by not having the card for 24 months but without another card, you’d miss out on 150,000 Avios over the same period. With a sign-up bonus of 25,000 every 24 months you’d be 125,000 Avios ‘down’ if you decided to churn. If you are happy alternating between cards & would use both upgrade & 2-4-1 vouchers you might want to consider a 2-year cycle. 24 months with the Barclaycard Avios = 150,000 Avios + 25,000 sign-up bonus + 2 x upgrade vouchers. Then switch to the BA Premium Amex for 24 months. You’d earn 150,000 Avios + 25,000 sign-up bonus + 2 x 2-4-1 vouchers. After each 24-month period, you would be eligible for each sign-up bonus again… unless the eligibility rules change! This would leave you earning on average 87,500 Avios per year over the ongoing 75,000 Avios.

Conclusion

Are you a credit card churner or do you prefer the simpler option of keeping a card for the ongoing benefits?