January 2023’s credit card & BNPL news & round-up

The latest news to help you get the most from your credit card.

Here’s my monthly update sharing changes for leading UK credit cards, as well as some of the relevant articles you might have missed on the blog.

January’s credit card & BNPL update video

I go into more detail on some of this month’s updates in this video.

January’s credit card & BNPL news

Huge American Express Avios welcome offer

There are two boosted offers for the British Airways American Express Premium Plus credit card. The one you’ll find on the Amex website increases the bonus from 25,000 to 35,000 Avios for spending £3,000 in three months.

The other, available via the British Airways Executive Club site (it’s free to join) doubles that to a massive 70,000 Avios points, with the same criteria.

What’s also great about this offer is existing Amex cardholders can get the bonus, as long as they’ve not had either of the BA Amex cards in the last two years. More details here.

Zilch reduces “pay in 1” cashback to 0.5%

Buy Now Pay Later app Zilch also offers the chance to earn cashback if you “pay in 1”, which means paying upfront and in full for the item – so essentially a normal purchase.

From 12 January that rate drops from 2% to 0.5% – so not a great earner compared to the leading cashback Amex cards and the Chase debit card.

However, you must connect a debit card to Zilch in order to make purchases, so if you have Chase, you may as well add that and earn both the Zilch 0.5% and the Chase 1% (for as long as that lasts of course).

Remember, avoid the BNPL option. Not only will you get charged £2.50 each time, but there are a number of risks spending this way.

Lloyds and Halifax cashback cards close to new customers

At some point towards the end of last year both Halifax and Lloyds removed the Cashback credit card as an option for new applicants. It wasn’t one of my top picks, even though it offered 0.5% on some purchases, so it’s no great loss.

I’ve contacted Lloyds group to see if existing cardholders will also be affected.

Sainsbury’s Bank offers boosted welcome offer

If you apply for the Sainsbury’s Bank Nectar credit card before 18 January 2023, and then spend £400 with the card at Sainsbury’s, Argos or Habitat, you’ll get 10,000 bonus Nectar points rather than the usual 8,000. That’s worth £50 in total.

You must have a normal Nectar card to get this credit card. If the offer doesn’t appear when you click through, see if it’s showing via your Nectar account.

This month’s best credit cards

As always when talking about credit cards the best credit card for you will depend on your credit report and why you need one. Make sure you read my rules for having and applying for a credit card.

But assuming you’ve got a great credit report, don’t need one to clear existing debts and will clear the balance completely each month, these are my top picks: