Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: London, United Kingdom
Programs: Nando's Black, British Airways Gold, Hilton Gold, Accor Platinum, SPG Gold, IHG Platinum Ambassador
Posts: 97
There is a good review of this card on Head For Points which is worth looking at.
I do use it as my default Avios-earning MasterCard for Sterling spend where AMEX is not accepted, but am cancelling it shortly because I don't make use of the Lounge Key benefit (due to being BA Gold and rarely travelling on non oneworld airlines) or the other published hotel or travel benefits and HSBC seems to have done away with the annual points transfer promotion that used to occur around this time of year.
The other trap with this card is the 40,000 point (i.e. 20,000 Avios) bonus is now only being paid on the anniversary/renewal of the card, meaning you (will likely) need to pay the £195 annual fee for two years in order to get the bonus. Some readers of this forum and HfP have had success in pointing out to HSBC that this is not expressly set out in their terms and conditions, however it's worth taking into account that you might need to fight HSBC for the points if you intend to cancel the card once you have spend £12,000 (and you may not be successful there).
The terms say that the anniversary bonus is awarded within 60 days of "point of qualification". To a card holder, you would interpret that to be 60 days after spending £12k. HSBC currently interprets the terms to mean within 60 days of the card anniversary. Naturally, "point of qualification" is not defined in the terms.