The British Airways Prepaid Mastercard — What’s it all about?

If you’re old enough, you may remember travellers’ cheques. Before the global prevalence of ATMs and chip and pin, these were the safe way of taking your holiday spending money abroad. They were issued by a travel agency or bank and had to be signed in front of a similar authority in your destination for you to receive the local cash in return. Travellers generally did this several times during a holiday so they didn’t have to carry too much cash at once.

The modern option, now generally used to help swerve foreign exchange fees, is a pre-paid travel debit card.

The good news, for those of us saving towards BA reward flights, is that British Airways and Mastercard have teamed up to offer a prepaid travel debit card with which you can earn Avios.

What’s the deal?

The British Airways Prepaid Mastercard is widely accepted throughout the world in the same way as a regular Mastercard.

It generally attracts no foreign exchange fees when you use the e-wallet in the associated app (you’ll be charged 1.5% for non-app exchanges) so long as you have a balance in pounds, Euros or US dollars and are spending in the same currency.

You can make three international cash withdrawals of up to £300 each month without charge (there’s a 2% charge over that limit).

There’s no monthly fee for the first six months of using the card (handy if you want to use it for a one-off holiday). After that, you’ll pay £2.99 per month.

You will need the British Airways Executive Club Rewards app to be able to use the card, collect your Avios and check your balance for free (it’s 50p to check it via an ATM).

How does it work?

You can top up your card at any time using the British Airways Executive Club Rewards app and the debit card registered against your account. You also use the app to exchange currency. You will have an option to check the exchange rate before you proceed and your available balance will be shown in an e-wallet.

You can add your card to Apple Pay or Google Pay if you wish and you can exchange money for Pounds, Euros or US dollars.

The Avios perks

The British Airways Prepaid Mastercard will enable you to collect Avios for nearly every purchase you make at home or abroad. These are usually added within seven days.

You will receive one Avios for every £2, €2 or $2 you spend, rounded up to the nearest full Avios. You’ll also collect 1,500 bonus Avios when you spend either £500, €500 or $500 in any one currency in your first 90 days.

You won’t receive Avios on the £2.99 monthly fee nor on certain other transactions including tax payments, court costs, rent on commercial premises and digital electronic payment methods such as Bitcoin and casino money.

You can pick up a few more rewards by linking your prepaid Avios Mastercard to the Collect on Card offers running with selected shops and eateries and advertised in the Executive Club app.

Why use a pre-paid debit card anyway?

A pre-paid card can be the cheapest way of spending money or withdrawing cash in another country. It can also help you to work within a budget if you want to ring-fence your holiday spending.

How does it compare to the Avios credit cards long-term?

Remember, you can continue using the card and earning Avios once you get home. So if you’re a keen rewards collector it may be worth considering a pre-paid Avios Mastercard as a long-term alternative to one of the Avios credit cards if you are not eligible for those, or prefer not to use credit.

If you do have the option of a credit card instead, how do they stack up?

Currently, in the UK, nine personal credit cards can help you earn BA reward flights with similar earning potential across two brands.

British Airways American Express Credit Card: free if you’re eligible, it earns you one Avios per £1 spent and 5,000 bonus Avios if you’re a new customer who spends more than £1,000 in the first three months.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card: £250 in fees a year, it earns you 1.5 Avios for each £1 spent and 25,000 Avios if you’re a new customer and spend more than £3,000 in your first three months.

Platinum Card from American Express: comes with a hefty fee of £575 a year, but you get 60,000 Membership Rewards points AND a £200 credit to spend with Amex Travel when you spend £6,000 within six months when you sign up before 25 October 2022. You earn 1 Membership Reward point per £1 spent and you can convert your Membership Rewards points to Avios at a rate of 1:1.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card: gives you a signup bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points if you spend £3000 in the first 90 days. This card is free for the first year, and then charges a £140 annual fee. You earn 1 Membership Reward point per £1 spent and you can convert your Membership Rewards points to Avios at a rate of 1:1. They’ll also reward you with a 10,000 points bonus if you spend £15,000 on your card in the first year.

Nectar American Express: no annual fee for the first year, and then just £25 a year after that. You earn 2 Nectar points per £1 spent, and these convert to Avios at a rate of 400:250. They offer a 20,000 Nectar points sign-up bonus if you spend £2000 in 90 days.

American Express Rewards card: there’s no annual fee with this card and you’ll get 1 Membership Reward point per £1 spent. These convert to Avios at a rate of 1:1. They have a 10,000 points bonus when you spend £2000 in the first 90 days.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard: £195 in annual fees, you earn 2 HSBC Points per £1 spent, which you can convert into Avios at a rate of 2:1. There’s a signup bonus of 80,000 HSBC Points, paid to you over a period of 2 years.

Barclaycard Avios: free to those eligible, it earns you one Avios per £1 spent and, as a new customer, you would get a 5,000 Avios bonus if you spend £1,000 or more in the first three months. (1,000 Avios for existing customers).

Barclaycard Avios Plus: £20 a month, it earns you 1.5 Avios for each £1 spent and 25,000 Avios for new customers when they spend at least £3,000 in the first three months (5,000 Avios for existing customers).

You can also earn annual cabin upgrade vouchers for BA reward flights on the Barclaycards if you spend over a certain amount and annual companion vouchers (essentially a two-for-one on BA reward flights) on the BA Amex cards. These work out rather nice perks to maximise your Avios redemption.

So, at one Avios per £2 spent, the everyday earning potential of the British Airways Prepaid Mastercard is half that of the two free Avios credit cards above (even lower compared to the fee-paying ones) and it has the added snag of the £2.99 monthly charge after six months.

It would take a long while before you’re able to make an Avios redemption for BA rewards flight using the pre-paid card alone but it’s cheaper to use abroad than a credit card and, if you’re points collecting aficionado, it’s one more option you could add to your Avios-earning toolkit.

Are you eligible?

To be entitled to a British Airways Prepaid Mastercard you don’t need a credit check but you must:

• Be over 18-years-old
• Be a UK resident
• Hold a valid debit card which is registered against a UK bank account.
• Be a member of the free-to-join British Airways Executive Club and download the app.

You simply need to select the Mastercard icon in the British Airways Executive Club Rewards app to apply for your card.

Remember there are several brands of pre-paid debit cards designed for travel so you may wish to compare the BA card to the other non-Avios versions before you make any decisions. And, of course, it’s always best to see independent financial advice.

Original Source — https://rewardflightfinder.com/news-and-advice/the-british-airways-prepaid-mastercard-what-s-it-all-about