Changes to Tesco Clubcard Credit Card.

King_Of_Fools · 2 September 2015 at 11:08PM

Sad but inevitable!

I note that Barclaycard were very specific in their statement:
"has no plans to change the value our customers receive from the Freedom Rewards card at this time"

So I guess we should read that as:
"has definite plans to reduce the value our customers receive from the Amex/Visa cashback card"

eagle · 3 September 2015 at 9:11AM

This is good timing for me. Was just looking for a way to maximise my Avios/BA points and was considering the Tesco Credit Card as an alternative to Amex. At least now I will think about one less card from my shortlist!

chambta · 3 September 2015 at 8:09PM

I've got a Santander 123 card already so looks like the end of my Tesco credit card. Shame as I've had it for a long time, certainly the longest I've ever had one.

Ballard · 3 September 2015 at 8:41PM

I've had my Tesco credit card for quite a while. So long, in fact, that I get 1 point for every £2 spent rather than for every £4. Moving it to a point per £8 would make it almost literally pointless to keep it.

I don't blame Tesco, though, all of the operators are doing the same due to the law change. I've maxed out my Santander 1-2-3 account (at 0% until January 2017) so will look at my options. I'm not going to look too hard, though, as I think that the rewards are diminishing too fast.

My love affair with credit cards started by stealth. I bought a new kitchen on a card which had 0% interest for 9 months and it was only 7 1/2 months into this period that I realised that I could transfer the balance (with no fees in those days) and defer payment for another x months. A couple of years later I got to my record £49,500 on a variety of credit cards (mostly at 0% but some at 1%). Combined with an offset mortgage at around 5% at the time I reckon that I saved somewhere between £3,000 & £4,000. Happy Days.

Sea_Shell · 4 September 2015 at 6:48AM

What a shame! We've had ours for years, and although we've recently been making more use of our 1-2-3 card, we still put other spends on here as we too were getting 1 pt per £2 spent.

We'll probably keep it, as its got a good credit limit (if needed), but as has been said above, i wouldn't now be surprised if Santander go the same way.

SnowTiger · 4 September 2015 at 7:34AM

zerog wrote: »

You do know you get £5 back per month if you spend £300 on the clarity card as long as you've paid in £1000 per month to your current account for 3 months?

There's no requirement to pay £1,000 in to your current account every three months.

http://www.halifax.co.uk/creditcards/help-guidance/terms-and-conditions/clarity-card/:

11.2 - To be eligible for the reward set out in condition 11.1, you must, at the time you enter into this agreement:-

(a) hold a Halifax current account and pay in £1,000 or more each month;
(b) use our switching service to move your current account to a Halifax Current Account and agree to pay in £1,000 or more each month;
(c) open or hold a Halifax Ultimate Reward Current Account.

"At the time you entered into this agreement" are the important words.

Some punters have even closed their Halifax account after getting a Clarity card and still receive the fiver.

carmina_piranha · 4 September 2015 at 8:55AM

I wonder if M&S will change theirs?

I've just taken out their card for a big purchase on a long 0% on purchases offer. It was the best spending card offer at the time, but at the time their reward points scheme didn't compare well with the tesco one for me.

King_Of_Fools · 4 September 2015 at 9:18AM

As others have said, if things stay as they are Tesco will stop being my main non-Amex card. However, I would be surprised if there will be many non-Amex cards offering more than 0.25% after November.

As it stands, my effective* rate on Tesco is 1% but this will drop to 0.25%. At the moment I have a number of of other cards offering 0.5% in one form or another (Nationwide, Barclaycard, M&S, Debenhams) but I somehow doubt they will be happy to make a loss so expect them to cut their cashback. Come November, I might find that Tesco is still the best non-Amex rate available to me.

* I always use Clubcard deals of at least 2x and sometimes 3x, 4x or 5x.

jmfwilts · 7 September 2015 at 11:47AM

I had my letter this morning from Tesco. What a great shame. I have had this card for over 10 years, and still benefit from the 800 Avios rate per £2.50 in clubcard vouchers. It now means to get a 15000 Avios flight (typical points required for a return trip to Europe) then my spend on the card now needs to go from £9375 to £37,500 ! If you get the typical 600 Avios rate your spend will go from £12,500 to £50,000 !!! Also, you will only get points for multiples of £8 spend - so spending £7.99 will get you 0 points, £8.00 1 point, £15.99 1 point.

Looking around this morning, I think my best bet is to switch to an Amex card.

redpete · 7 September 2015 at 12:45PM

jmfwilts wrote: »

Also, you will only get points for multiples of £8 spend - so spending £7.99 will get you 0 points, £8.00 1 point, £15.99 1 point.

Or £1503.99 in a month gets 187 points, £1504 gets 188 pts, £1511.99 gets 188 pts - pretty irrelevant effect compared with the halving of the total number of points.
*Looks like I didn't understand how the card I've had for years works! - see jmfwilts' post!*

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