I don't understand what you mean about fraud.
Does the Lloyds card offer more protection shopping online, or do the transactions show up faster or something?

I keep the card seperate from my other transactions. I know what I purcahse / order and anything else that comes up isnt mine.

Sorry, I must be missing something, how is that different to Amex?

I use the Amex card fore when i travel and bigger expenditure. So kept seperate from my online shopping.

Just a point of note - on the Avios site they are offering the Lloyds card with a different offer. 5x the usual points on AmEx spend for the first 3 months - i.e. 5 Avios per £1 spent.

If you have some heavy spending coming up that you can put on AmEx it might be good?

EDIT: The Premier (fee paying) version has 10x Avios for the first 3 months!

The bonus for opening LloydsTSB Duo Avios card accounts using the link at avios.com is 5x earnings on the AmEx for the first three months, i.e. 5 Avios per £, no minimum, no maximum. 10 Avios/£ for the Premier AmEx.
http://www.avios.com/collect/lloydst...sDW_CollectNav

Using the link via LloydsTSB produces the bonuses already mentioned.

ETA Olly types faster than Roger!

10 Avios per £1! Wow. Hope this is still available before we next drop £10k on a holiday!

PS. You may want to experiment with booking refundable BA flights at the 10x rate and then refunding them when back on the basic rate ....

That's pretty strong.

I'm pretty sure that it said the offer was on until February 2012 so hopefully that'll give you enough time.

Fantastic offer. Hopefully more earning offers soon, maybe we need an earnings thread as I see AA and Iberia have lots more options to earn as well.

The bank that likes to say NO.
 

I signed up through Lloyds last week, waiting for card still.

Noticed they have charged the card fee already!

I thought I'd put in a cheeky call to Lloyds to ask them if they could match the Avios offer, spend multiplier, refund my fee, do something to make my deal slightly better.

But the answer was a big fat NO, they were quite happy to let me cancel and reapply for the Avios offer. No bonus points, no fee waiving, not even a kiss ;)

Now I'm wondering whether I should cancel and reapply or not, since I have now taken 2 Amex and 1 Lloyds in the last 3 months I'm worried about the implications for my credit score. (I would do about 2k UK spend a month on it so the difference would be significant if I got the avios offer)

I'll probably end up getting the Avios offer under Mrs P's name then it doesn't really matter either way. The Lloyds card is still worth keeping long term and for overseas spend.

"Credit score" does not exist in the UK in the same way it does in the US. It is a more holistic thing in the UK.

Same principles, though:
1. Don't apply for lots of cards (or even lots of credit, and this includes getting a new mobile phone contract etc) at once. It makes you look desperate for money which worries them.
2. Your credit report shows your credit limit and your outstanding balance. Keep below the limit on your existing cards, as again it looks bad if you always push your limit to the edge.
3. Close down cards you don't use. There is a limit to how much credit you will be offered in total across all your cards from all issuers, based on your salary.
4. Obviously don't miss payments on anything, cards, mobile of whatever.

I already have an existing Airmiles Lloyds Amex. Will I be able to apply for the amazing 10 Avios per £ offer or will I have to cancel my existing cards in order to be able to do so?

You'll have to cancel and reapply, and there is no guarantee that you will be accepted, and if you're accepted, there's no guarantee you'll have the same credit limit.

You need to cancel now and reapply. This discussion came up the last time this promo ran - someone was told by Lloyds there needs to be a 3-month gap before it is treated as a new application and thus you get the bonus again. YMMV.

However, if you cancel now you have 3 months and 1 week before the offer expires at the end of Feb to reapply.