How To Change Your Existing Barclaycard To An Avios Barclaycard

Were you excited to learn that Barclaycard has announced a new Avios Barclaycard only to find out applications were only open to new customers? Somewhat bizarrely If you currently held or had held a Barclaycard product in the previous 6 months you were shut out from applying. The good news is that stance changed overnight and now existing Barclaycard holders can now switch their existing Barclaycard to an Avios Barclaycard if they wish. Read on to find out how!

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 American Express, IHG credit card, Tesco Credit Cards (by exchanging Clubcard points for Virgin points, hotel stays and more) & Virgin Atlantic credit card. If you use one of our referral links to an American Express card upon you being accepted us or someone who has submitted their link to us will receive points, this varies between 9,000 – 18,000 depending on the card you are referred you from.

What Avios Barclaycard options do I have?

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard (Free)

This card has a representative APR of 23.9% variable with no monthly fee & an illustrative £1,200 credit limit. The APR on purchases is 23.9% variable.

• 5,000 Avios sign-up bonus (if you are new to Barclaycard & spend £1,000 in 3 months.) If you intregued to see what you can do with 5,000 Avios see our post here – https://pointsuncovered.com/avios/where-can-i-fly-to-for-5000-avios-points/
• No Annual Fee
• 1 Avios per £1 on eligble purchases
• Avios upgrade voucher when you spend £20,000 in 12 months
• Get up to five months of Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple News+ and Apple Arcade for free with your new Barclaycard

Application link/more details – https://www.barclaycard.co.uk/personal/credit-cards/avios

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard (£20 a month)

This card has a representative APR of 72.4% variable based on a £20 monthly fee and an illustrative £1,200 credit limit. The APR on purchases is 23.9% variable.

• 25,000 Avios sign-up bonus (if you are new to Barclaycard & spend £3,000 in 3 months.) If you intregued to see what you can do with 25,000 Avios see our post here – https://pointsuncovered.com/american-express/where-can-i-fly-to-for-25000-avios-points/
• £20 monthly fee (£240 annually)
• 1.5 Avios per £1 on eligble purchases
• Avios upgrade voucher when you spend £10,000 in 12 months
• Get up to five months of Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple News+ and Apple Arcade for free with your new Barclaycard
• You can ‘downgrade’ to the free card at anytime in the Barclays app.

Application link/more details – https://www.barclaycard.co.uk/personal/credit-cards/avios-plus

How can I switch my Existing Barclaycard To An Avios Barclaycard?

If you are an existing cardholder you can change your existing Barclaycard to An Avios Barclaycard in the app with no application process or effect on your credit score. Here’s how…

1. Login to the Barclays app (either Barclays Bank or Barclaycard).
   
2. Just below your account balances there is a section called quick links, select cards
   
3. On the screen that follows select one of your Barclaycards at the top (not debit card if you bank with Barclays.) If you scroll down under ‘Manage credit’ there is an option to ‘Change to a different card.’
   
4. Here choose the card you want to change
   
5. You can then choose between which Avios Barclaycard you want to switch to. The changeover will happen a few days after your next statement date.

Do I get a sign-up bonus if I switch to An Avios Barclaycard?

Yes, but it’s an awful lot less generous than the one for new cardholders. On the free card, you will get 1,000 Avios for spending £1,000 in 3 months & on the paid card you will get 5,000 Avios for spending £3,000 in 3 months. All other benefits/features are exactly the same.

If you want the full sign-up bonus you would need to cancel your existing Barclaycard products and wait 6 months before applying again.

Is it worth signing up as an existing customer?

In our opinion, the only reason to sign-up as an existing customer would be for one of three reasons…

1. You don’t already have an Avios earning card and would like to start collecting. If you don’t already have an Avios earning card consider whether the Avios Upgrade Voucher from the Avios Barclaycard (better for solo travellers) or the 2-4-1 voucher from the BA Amex (better for couples) makes more sense for you.
   
2. You have a reasonable level of spend that you can’t use an existing American Express card for.
   
3. You are a solo traveller so the Avios Upgrade Voucher is a much better benefit for you than a 2-4-1 voucher on the BA American Express cards.

If you don’t fit under either of these we’d be tempted to cancel and wait 6 months to reapply. This way you will be able to get the increased sign-up bonus.

Avios Barclaycard Conclusion

It’s good to see Barclaycard open the Avios cards up to existing customers albeit with a much lower sign-up bonus. What do you make of the changes to allow existing customers to apply? Are you tempted to swap your existing Barclaycard or would you rather wait 6 months for the increased sign-up bonus?