Is Collecting Points A Game Only For The Rich?

If I had a pound for everyone who told me how collecting points sounded amazing BUT they don’t spend enough to justify it I’d be a rich man. If you love to travel it’s a shame to miss out on the potential benefits because you feel you don’t spend enough to make it worthwhile. We think that if you approach earning points with a credit card from a slightly different perspective you may find it worthwhile…

This is my experience using the points system and how to maximise the number of points you can collect from your spending from credit card sign-up bonuses and is not a recommendation of any financial product. If you use one of the site’s referral links to an American Express card upon you being accepted the referrer will receive points, this varies between 9,000 – 18,000 depending on the card you are referred from.

Collecting Points from Credit Cards

If you want to optimise your point collecting from credit cards take a look at what sign-up bonuses you can realistically obtain. Forget the ongoing earning rate for now, which is a secondary consideration. The first thing you need to do is work out the monthly spend that you can put through the card you sign-up for.

So this could be things such as Shopping, Trains, Petrol and even certain utility bills. Once you know this figure you’ll be able to work out what sign-up bonuses you can achieve. If you have a partner and they are able to put spend on the card too you can also count this.

Collecting points – what sort of points should I choose?

If you are indecisive or want the ability to decide later choose an American Express membership reward earning card as these give you the flexibility to redeem your points into different schemes later. You can view the schemes this includes here – https://www.americanexpress.com/en-gb/rewards/membership-rewards/search?q= – popular ones include British Airways Avios, Hilton Honors Points & Marriott Bonvoy Points.

Don’t forget by choosing to earn points through credit card spend remember you are doing this instead of putting spend through a cashback credit card so there is always a ‘cost’ involved.

For example, rather than spending on an Amex membership reward card (1 point per £1), you could put your spending on the Amex Platinum Everyday Card which earns 0.5% on spending up to £10,000 & 1% on spending above that. That means you’d in effect be paying 0.5p a membership reward point if you spend under £10,000 a year.

Another option you could compare to is the Amazon Platinum Card (potentially good if you shop at Amazon a lot), if you are an Amazon prime customer you’d receive 3 points per £2 spent at Amazon and 0.5 points per £2 elsewhere. 1000 points equal a £10 voucher which means by ‘choosing points’ you’d be missing out on 1.5p of Amazon credit per membership reward point on spending at Amazon and 0.25p worth on spending elsewhere.

If you are looking for a good comparison of cashback/reward credit cards take a look at Money Saving Expert’s guide here – https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/best-credit-card-rewards/

What cards that collect points have sign-up bonuses?

The cards below are FREE at least for the first year. If the card has an annual fee from the second year just ensure you cancel it before that time.

Amex

These are sorted in order of the amount of spend required to hit the sign-up bonus.

1. The Free British Airways American Express earns 1 Avios per £1 spent and has a sign-up bonus of 6,000 Avios (if referred) from spending £1,000 in 3 months (£333 a month)
2. The Free Amex Rewards Credit Card earns 1 Membership Reward per £1 spent and has a sign-up bonus of 6,000 membership reward points (if referred) from spending £2,000 in 3 months (£666.66 a month)
3. The Nectar American Express (£25 annual fee FREE for the first year) earns 2 Nectar points (converts to 1.25 Avios) per £1 spent and has a sign-up bonus of 21,000 Nectar points (if referred) (13,125 Avios if converted) from spending £2,000 in 3 months (£666.66 a month)
4. The Amex Gold card (£140 annual fee FREE for the first year) earns 1 membership reward point per £1 spent and has a sign-up bonus of 22,000 membership reward points (if referred) from spending £3,000 in 3 months (£1,000 a month)

Non-Amex cards

Outside of Amex, you are a lot more restricted for options…

1. The Free IHG Rewards Club Credit Card earns 1 IHG point per £1 spent and has a sign-up bonus of 10,000 IHG points from spending £200 in 3 months (£66.66 a month)
2. The Free Sainsbury’s Nectar Credit Card earns 1 Nectar point per £5 for general spending and 2 points per £1 for spending in Sainsbury’s, Tu Clothing and Argos. It has a sign-up bonus of 10,000 Nectar points (6,250 Avios if converted) from spending £400 at Sainsbury’s, Tu Clothing or Argos.
3. The Free Virgin Atlantic Reward Credit Card earns 0.75 Virgin points per £1 spent and doesn’t currently have a sign-up bonus (it does periodically run with one though so do check the link.)

I don’t spend enough to reach sign-up bonuses…

Things to consider include…

1. Is there a certain of the year you spend more e.g. Christmas? You can always time an application around that sort of time.
2. Do you have any big purchases coming up? As above you can time your application to suit.
3. If you have any trips (holidays, concerts etc) coming up with friends or family consider offering to book for everyone! Providing they all send you the money of course!
4. If you know you regularly shop somewhere consider buying a gift card for that shop in advance to meet a spending target.
5. Top up with extra petrol or top up your oyster card to the maximum.

These are all little things that can help you get closer to a sign-up bonus if required.

What happens once I’ve reached the sign-up bonus?

Once you have the sign-up bonus you want if you don’t want the card, cancel it! As well as avoiding any potential annual fee on some cards you also in many instances RESET the timer for getting another sign-up bonus. If you aren’t a big spender this is often the best way to maximise your point earning. You can read about Amex sign-up bonus eligibility here – https://pointsuncovered.com/american-express/amex-changes-sign-up-bonus-eligibility/ – most other cards tend to have a rule of after 6 months of not holding the card you are eligible again.

Is there a way I can maximise collecting points from sign-up bonuses?

We have three articles with guides on how to maximise collecting points from sign-up bonuses depending on what points you want to collect.

Fast track yourself to 250,000 Marriott Points, Fast track yourself to 200,000 Avios Points & Fast track yourself to 169,000 Virgin Points

I have all these points now… where can I go?

Here are a few things that you could do with your points (depending on which ones you’ve collected of course!)

Avios

5,000 Avios
25,000 Avios

Membership Reward Points

10,000 Membership Reward Points
20,000 Membership Reward Points

Marriott Points

20,000 Marriott Points
30,000 Marriott Points

Nectar Points

10,000 Nectar Points
20,000 Nectar Points

Conclusion

Have a friend that thinks they don’t spend enough to make point collecting worthwhile? Show them this article. You never know… they may thank you with a few beers or a trip somewhere… What do you think? Is point collecting a game only for the rich? Let us know in the comments below.