The Best Reward Credit Cards in the UK

Last Updated on 24 August 2025 by Dan Wilderness

Hello everyone! In a recent post, we highlighted that there can be several good reasons to have a credit card, even if we don’t think racking up debt on them is a good thing. Today we’re looking at UK Rewards Credit Cards as one of the means by which you can get something good from your card.

The great thing with Rewards Credit Cards that you spend on the card and get something in return for that spending. If you’re paying it off in full each month (as you should with these) that’s absolutely fantastic – you’re literally getting given something extra for money you’re spending anyhow.

Where I want to be clear about is that rewards credit cards are not for you if you cannot pay these off in full each month, as they tend to attract higher interest payments than other types of credit cards.

You also generally need to have a good credit history for these cards as restrictions are tighter – you should always complete a free eligibilty check on the issuers website before applying so as not to dent your credit history if you get rejected.

You can find out the factors that influence credit score at this article, and how to improve your credit score within this one.

So let’s walk through the pick of the UK Credit Reward Cards!

Best UK Reward Credit Card Sign Up Bonuses

Many of the cards below are American Express, and offer a very significant welcome bonus on signing up. Generally speaking these involve hitting a spending target in the first three months of card ownership, and vary depending on the card you pick.

Competition in this space is fierce, and most of the below reward credit cards pay a very generous signup bonus. These are generous in most cases and can make a card very appealing in the short term, so we’ve marked out those below for each card.

There are some restrictions in that you cannot have had an American Express issued card (it’s fine if you’ve had an American Express card from other provider) in the past two years. You can still get the card, just not the signup bonus.

How to get the Best UK American Express signup bonus

The best way to sign up for an American Express credit card is through their refer a friend/family member scheme, because you’ll get an even larger signup bonus than if you did it direct – plus your friend or family member will get something as well! (Please note that the 2 year restriction on receiving a signup bonuses does still apply.)

If you have a family or friend with an American Express card that can do this then you should ask them if you can do it via them.

Otherwise the Wilderness is very happy to refer you by clicking my link here so you can get the bonus. (It’ll initially refer you to the BA Card which I have, but just click “show all cards with the cashback offer at the top to make the change).

What is the best Reward Credit Card in the UK?

There’s no “outright winner” or clearly most rewarding card amongst the UK Rewards Credit Cards – the best card will depend on if you want particular types of rewards, if you fly on a regular basis with a specific airline and how willing you are to trade off between flexibility and earning rate.

A high-spending frequent flier will get more out of some cards than a non-travelling mid-spender.

I’ve tried to provide a guide below to help provide the best direction based on your objective and profile – clicking these will take you straight to the relevant section of this review page, or keep scrolling if you’d like to see everything!

• I want to maximise flexibility of rewards: American Express Gold
• I want to maximise simplicity and minimise cost: American Express Rewards (or look at cashback cards)
• I often fly BA and will spend £15k+ a year: BA Premium Plus American Express
• I often fly BA and will spend £10-15k a year: Barclaycard Avios Plus
• I often fly Virgin and will spend £10k a year: Virgin Atlantic Rewards+ Credit Card
• I often fly BA but spend less than £10k a year: BA American Express
• I often fly Virgin but spend less than £10k a year: Virgin Atlantic Rewards Credit Card
• I mainly care about having a cheaper credit card bill: Look at Cashback credit cards instead.

Our pick of the UK Reward Credit Cards:

All information is correct as of our last update on 14.04.2025. We’ll do our best to keep our information up to date, but details can change all the time so you should double check this yourself.

The Financial Wilderness may also receive a small payout if you make a purchase through a link on this site. It won’t affect the service you receive and we recommend only what we honestly believe to be the best available, not what gives us commission. You can read more about our affiliate policy on our disclaimers page.

American Express Gold Credit Card

Representative APR: 87.8% APR Variable

Annual Fee: Free in Year 1, £195 per year thereafter.

Signup Bonus: 20,000 points when spending £3,000 in the first three months of card membership;

Earnings Rate: 1 point per £ on regular spending, 2 points per £ on spending with airlines. (1 point is worth approximately 0.5p)

Additional Rewards: £10 (2 x £5) Deliveroo credit each month. Four free “Priority Pass” airport lounge access passes per year.

Positives

• Excellent flexibility in choice of rewards
• Excellent signup bonus
• Decent ongoing rate
• Deliveroo/Lounge Access nice add on perks

Negatives

• Once past fee-free period relatively expensive
• Earning rate can be less than airline cards
• Amex isn’t accepted everywhere

Review of the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card

The American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card is a great option…..for a year. The initial signup bonus coupled with the fact that you can have the credit card for free in year one make this a compelling introduction to a UK reward credit card.

Longer term it’s more debatable, as £195 is a reasonably hefty annual fee and in the longer term, that offsets some of the rewards – especially when no longer getting the generous signup bonus.

However if you value flexibility in how you spend your rewards, you might want to consider keeping this card longer – it’s pretty unmatched for the number of partners you can transfer your points too, including most major airline rewards schemes and big names like Amazon. Remember the best reward is one you actually use, so that element of choice can be powerful.

You’ll also get two free visits to airport lounges as well, which is a nice little extra. These will be basic lounges at airports, rather than the airlines own highly plush ones, but can definitely beat waiting in a terminal!

If you order off Deliveroo frequently (you may be interested in our thoughts on Deliveroo Plus if so), the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card will also give you £5 of credit off an order twice a month.

That breadth comes with a trade off in the fact there are other UK rewards credit cards which will give you more in terms of return if you want to maximise the value of those points.

Some of the UK airline rewards credit cards below pay out as around the 1p per pound mark if you’re willing to commit to spending on flights and being locked into a particular carrier.

In conclusion – if you want a consistent variety of rewards choices, the American Express Gold Card is decent option.

Personally I’d suggest taking the American Express Gold Card for a year based on the introductory bonuses, then cancel it at the end of that year to avoid the Year 2 charge. I can maintain a lot of the benefits of flexibility without the ongoing fees by switching to the American Express Preferred Rewards Card below which is less flashy, but just as effective.

There is an exception – if your lifestyle means you are taking advantage of the Deliveroo credit twice every month, this card is probably worth sticking with!

We can refer you by clicking my link here to get a signup bonus. 

American Express Rewards Card

Representative APR: 30.4% APR Variable

Annual Fee: Not applicable.

Signup Bonus: 10,000 points when spending £2,000 in the first three months;

Earnings Rate: 1 point per £ on regular spending. (1 point is worth about 0.5p)

Positives

• It’s free!
• Same earning rate as the Gold card
• Excellent flexibility in choice of rewards
• Extremely simple

Negatives

• No frills means no extra rewards
• Earning rate can be less than airline cards
• Amex isn’t accepted everywhere

Review of the American Express Rewards Card

Whilst the signup bonus on the American Express Preferred Rewards Card is considerably lower than the American Express Gold Card above, this card offers a similar ongoing rate payout for your spending, excluding that extra bonus for spending with airlines. Given that, it’s a real plus that this card has no fee.

There’s nothing flashy here – it’s just a good solid basic rewards credit card that offers a good return on spend given there isn’t an annual fee.

In conclusion: I think the American Express Gold Card is a better card to take first for the signup bonus, but the American Express Preferred Rewards Card is better to hold on an ongoing basis if you want to use a UK Rewards Credit Card for a longer period and simply earn Membership Rewards Points

We can refer you by clicking my link here to get a signup bonus. 

British Airways American Express Premium Plus Credit Card

Representative APR: 138.5% APR Variable

Annual Fee: £300 a year

Signup Bonus: 30,000 bonus Avios when spending £6,000 in the first three months.

Earnings Rate: 1.5 Avios for every £1 spent, and 3 Avios for every £1 spent with British Airways or BA Holidays.

Additional Rewards: You get a BA Companion Voucher at a £15,000 spend,which allows you to cash in the same Avios for 2 seats on a journey rather than 1 with a 2 year validity.

Important: This card lets you use your companion fare in any class of cabin, whereas the non-Premium BA Amex below does not.

Positives

• Companion Voucher can result in a huge save if used in a Premium cabin
• Ongoing Avios earnings rate is amongst strongest available

Negatives

• Annual cost of card is high
• High spend target to get the Companion Voucher
• Not everywhere takes Amex

Review of the British Airways American Express Premium Plus Credit Card

For starters, £300 is a massive amount to spend on any credit card, even if the rewards on the British Airways American Express Premium Plus Credit Card are excellent.

I’ve emphasised before that the only good rewards are ones you use – so if you’ll definitely take a flight purchased with Avios and use that companion voucher, this one actually can offer you a lot of benefit in owning save you money. If you won’t buy a flight with it, it’s an expensive bit of plastic that isn’t worth the fee.

American Express have put up both the price of this card and the target you need to hit to get the companion voucher. If you’re not going to hit the £15k spend, this isn’t the card for you. If you are, the ability to use the companion voucher in Premium cabins does make the card still worth it as long as you redeem your companion voucher for a Business or First Flight.

The value of an Avios can massively change depending what you spend it on, but 1p per Avios is generally a fair assumption with the British Airways American Express Premium Plus Credit Card using a long haul flight.

In conclusion: The earnings rate is good, and if you’re happy taking your rewards in Avios the return rate is much better than the other rewards cards above. However the fee is extremely steep – this one is only right for big spenders who are likely to fly in BA’s Premium Cabins.

We can refer you by clicking my link here to get a signup bonus. 

British Airways American Express Credit Card

Representative APR: 30.4% APR Variable

Annual Fee: Not applicable

Signup Bonus: 5,000 bonus Avios when spending £2,000 in the first three months.

Earnings Rate: 1 Avios for every £1 spent.

Additional Rewards: You get a BA Companion Voucher at a £15,000 spend,which allows you to cash in the same Avios for 2 seats on a journey rather than 1.

Also Important: With this card the companion voucher is only valid on economy flights, a key distinction from the BA Premium Card above.

Positives

• It’s free!
• Still a good ongoing Avios earning rate
• Economy companion voucher can still save you money

Negatives

• Can only use the reward vouchers in Economy
• High spend target to get the Companion Voucher
• Not everywhere takes Amex

Review of the British Airways American Express Credit Card

For all except the biggest spenders targeting premium cabins the British Airways American Express Credit Card is a more sensible UK Rewards credit card to have.

It provides a excellent return rate on Avios for a free card, and you get the benefit of those earnings being more efficient for a higher earnings rate in exchange for tying yourself in to using the Avios with BA.

The only disadvantage is that the card can only be used in economy cabins. This can save you a bit of money and creates a much more usable reward – but the downside is the benefit of a rewards redemption in economy is significantly lower, plus the attraction of these cards for some is being able to use them to treat themselves to a business class flight!

As above, we think 1p per Avios as present is a fair representation of the value of earnings on the British Airways American Express Credit Card.

We can refer you by clicking my link here to get a signup bonus. 

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Credit Card

Representative APR: 69.7% APR Variable

Annual Fee: £160

Signup Bonus: 18,000 Flying Club Bonus Miles on your first spend on the card within 90 days.

Earnings Rate: 1.5 Virgin Points for every £1 spent on regular spending, 3 points per pound on Virgin Atlantic flights or Virgin Holidays.

Additional Rewards: After a £10,000 spend you can upgrade a round trip booked with miles to the next highest cabin from your booking, or you can choose a companion voucher. Lounge access is also available, as a reward choice – but I wouldn’t recommend this as a good value option.

Important Note: If using the Companion voucher in Upper Class, the companion voucher is a 50% reduction in points required if you’re Virgin’s basic flying club tier (Red). If you’re a Silver or Gold Flying Club member, it’ll be free. You can read more about Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and the tiers here.

Positives

• One of the best earnings rates of all airline cards
• Mutiples choices of rewards
• Good ongoing rewards rate
• Payment as Virgin points provides some additional flexibility
• Voucher goal is more achievable than BA cards.
• MasterCard maximises acceptance.

Negatives

• Virgin Atlantic have more limited routes, which may limit benefit to people.
• Need for Tier status for maximum rewards limits benefit

Review of the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Credit Card

The Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Credit Card is the card I had myself up until recently, as travelling on Virgin Atlantic routes reasonably frequently made that Premium Economy upgrade for a whole round trip offering quite considerable value to me!

The ongoing earnings rate of the card is also excellent, and with Virgin Atlantic’s quite generous reward routes can sometimes be slightly better than the BA cards in terms of what you get in terms of bang for buck.

It’s also a Mastercard rather than an American Express, which offers the added advantage of being accepted everywhere.

There are a few issues with this one though. Firstly, Virgin Atlantic don’t fly as many places as BA, so you’d want to be sure you’re frequently flying their routes if getting the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Credit Card. The expensive £160 annual fee is just not worth it otherwise.

As a nice extra, you can also combine spending on this card with Virgin Cashback.

Why Virgin Points rather than Flying Club miles?

FYI: Virgin have now changed their scheme to Virgin Points which lets you spend across the Virgin Group. Using those miles with Virgin Atlantic is still usually the best option but if you’re signing up for the card it’s nice to know there’s additional flexibility to use your points on things like trains and wine as well.

You can view more details about this card at Virgin’s website here.

Virgin Atlantic Rewards Credit Card

Representative APR: 26.9% APR Variable

Annual Fee: None

Signup Bonus: There is presently no signup or referral bonus on the Virgin Atlantic Rewards Credit Card.

Earnings Rate: 0.75 Virgin Points for every £1 spent on regular spending, 1.5 miles per pound on Virgin Atlantic flights or Virgin Holidays.

Additional Rewards: After a £20,000 spend you can upgrade a round trip booked with miles to the next highest cabin from your booking, or you can choose a companion voucher. Lounge access is also available, as a reward choice – but I wouldn’t recommend this as a good value option.

Important Note: If using the Companion voucher in Upper Class, the companion voucher is a 50% reduction in points required if you’re Virgin’s basic flying club tier (Red). If you’re a Silver or Gold Flying Club member, it’ll be free. You can read more about Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and the tiers here.

Positives

• It’s free
• Decent ongoing reward rate for a free card
• Mastercard accepted most places

Negatives

• £20k reward target unlikely to be hit by many
• Virgin Atlantic have more limited routes, which may limit benefit to people.
• Need for Tier status for maximum rewards limits benefit

Review of the Virgin Atlantic Rewards Credit Card

A free version of the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Credit Card that provides good miles gathering opportunity (and is also helpfully a Mastercard) but not quite as beneficial as the above in exchange for the trade off from having no fee.

However, if you’re unlikely to hit a £10k spend for the card above and or use the upgrade/companion voucher, this is a better choice for you in terms of gaining miles from your spending.

And as with the card above, you can save a little bit more by combining spending on this card with offers from Virgin Cashback.

You can view more details about this card at Virgin’s website here.

Barclaycard Avios Plus Credit Card

Representative APR: 80.1% APR Variable

Annual Fee: A monthly fee instead of annual, £20 per month.

Signup Bonus: 25,000 bonus Avios when spending £3,000 in the first three months.

Earnings Rate: 1.5 Avios for every £1 spent.

Additional Rewards: After a £10,000 annual spend you’ll either get an upgrade voucher for a return trip for one person/two one-way upgrades for two people when making an Avios rewards booking or the option to exchange this for 7,000 Avios. Discounted lounge access is also available, but only for non-airline lounges.

Positives

• Earning rate matches the Premium Avios American Express Card
• Cheaper than the Avios American Express Card
• Mastercard so can be used more widely than the Amex
• Upgrade voucher spend target now considerably less than Amex.
• Reward works well for a solo traveller.
• Decent signup bonus

Negatives

• Upgrade voucher generally isn’t quite as good as the 2 for 1 with BA Amex Premium
• £20 a month is still £240, which is expensive annual fee.

Review of the Barclaycard Avios Plus Credit Card

If you’re looking for an alternative to Amex (or something to use whilst you wait for your Amex signup bonus to reset) the Barclaycard Avios Plus is a good option.

The upgrade voucher is a nice perk to have, and the card earns the same amount as the American Express equivalent.

We think it’s a great card to have for a highish spender that’s likely to take a couple of flights with BA in a year if you’d make use of the upgrade option. If that’s not you and you just want to earn some Avios, just go for the free version below.

You can find more details about this card at Barclaycard’s website here.

Barclaycard Avios Credit Card

Representative APR: 29.9% APR Variable

Annual Fee: Not applicable

Signup Bonus: 5,000 bonus Avios when spending £1,000 in the first three months.

Earnings Rate: 1 Avios for every £1 spent.

Additional Rewards: After a £20,000 annual spend you’ll either get an upgrade voucher for a return trip for one person/two one-way upgrades for two people when making an Avios rewards booking or the option to exchange this for 7,000 Avios.

Positives

• It’s free!
• Earnings rate matches American Express Free Card
• Mastercard so can be used more widely than the Amex

Negatives

• Very high spend needed for upgrade voucher

Review of the Barclaycard Avios Credit Card

For most people who just want to earn some ongoing Avios points the regular Barclaycard Avios is a good option owing to it’s high spend rate.

Whilst the ability to still earn the same reward as the Premium card at a £20k spend is nice, realistically it’ll be out of the reach of most people. Unless you have a specific reason to, we think the basic Amex remains a better primary card with this as a good secondary option.

You can find more details about this card at Barclaycard’s website here.

Other UK Reward Credit Card options:

There are other reward cards out there, and it’s my intention over time to try and build this into a comprehensive article on the full range of reward cards available.

Another option is to look at cashback credit cards which I think are a superb alternative to a rewards card if you’re simply looking to minimise cost, and you can read my thoughts on the best cashback card options here.

If you think I’ve missed a reward card which offers great value I’d love to hear from you! Please note it in the comments and contact me and I’ll very happily take a look.

A final note on UK Airline Rewards Points

Points are not the same as cash. Which means the effective value of those points are subject to the whims of the airline and the value of what you can redeem them for can change at any moment.

It doesn’t happen often, but it’s always a threat and something you should go into with eyes wide open – getting your points spent is the best defense.

Any questions?

There’s lots to consider with these UK Rewards credit cards, and there’s often no true best option as it depends how you’ll use the card. If you have any further questions, please just leave a comment below!

Other articles in the Credit Card series:

• What type of credit card is best for you?
• The best cashback credit cards in the UK

And that’s it!

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