Annoying quirks with the new IHG and HSBC World Elite credit cards

Two of most interesting travel credit card offers around at the moment come from two newly released cards:

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard comes with a bonus of 20,000 Avios points (or Cathay, Etihad or Singapore miles) for spending £2,000 within three months and a further bonus 20,000 points or miles for spending £12,000 within twelve months.  This card is only available to HSBC Premier current account holders.  I am obliged to remind you that the representative APR is 59.3% variable including the £195 fee based on a notional £1200 credit limit.

The relaunched IHG Rewards Club Premium Mastercard comes with a voucher for a free night at any IHG Rewards Club property when you spend £10,000 per year.  You also receive IHG Rewards Club Platinum status for as long as you hold the card and there is a 20,000 IHG Rewards Club points sign-up bonus.  Representative APR 41.5% variable including the £99 fee based on a notional £1200 credit limit.

Because these cards are so new, we are only now beginning to work out how they function in the real world.

And, for both of the cards above, there appears to be a sneaky catch – the 12-month bonus will only be given at the end of your membership year.

This doesn’t make a huge amount of sense in either case.  If you can spend £12,000 on your HSBC card in three months (I know one reader who spent £40,000 in his first month via business expenses) then it seems unfair to make you wait another nine months to get your second batch of 20,000 miles.

With the IHG card, this is actually a backwards step.  When the card was issued by Barclaycard, the free night voucher was issued within a couple of weeks of passing the £10,000 spending target.  Delaying it until the end of your card year simply annoys the cardholder and does nothing to benefit the card issuer.

(Whilst we’re on the topic of the IHG card, another sneaky quirk has emerged.  Creation, the card issuer, is rounding down each transaction to the nearest £1 when calculating the IHG points due.  It is not basing them on your total monthly spending.  If you make a lot of small transactions, especially for £x.99, this loss will add up.)

What other cards behave like this?

To be fair to HSBC and Creation, there are two other examples I can think of where your ‘reward’ is held back from you until the end of your card year:

American Express Gold gives you 10,000 bonus Membership Rewards points if you spend £15,000 in a card year.  This is not paid until a month after your card renewal date.

Virgin Flying Club Black (representative APR 57.4% variable including fee based on a £1200 credit limit) offers upgrade vouchers from Economy to Premium Economy – for miles redemptions – when you spend £5,000 and £10,000 on the American Express card.  These are not issued until the year end.

What happens if I want to cancel my card and not pay for a 2nd year?

This is a common question I get asked and I expect it to become more common given the two cards above.

In general, it appears that if you do not use your credit card after the renewal date, you can cancel it at any point for a refund of your fee.

This seems to be the MBNA policy which applies to Virgin Black.  If you want to ensure you get your upgrade vouchers, stop spending, wait for the vouchers to appear and then cancel the card.  You are, in any event, unlikely to have yet paid the bill which included your renewal fee.

With American Express Gold, you can cancel the card at any point for a pro-rata refund.  Your worst case scenario there is that you cancel after a month when the 10,000 bonus points appear and get 11/12th of your annual fee back.  If you haven’t used the card I would expect to get it all back.

We do not know what the HSBC or Creation policy will be.  I am fairly certain that if you follow the same option – not using the card after the anniversary date – they will not impose the 2nd year fee.  

It is very unlikely that any attempt to make you pay for another year in order to get a benefit you earned in the first year would survive a complaint to the Financial Conduct Authority.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2025 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review