The credit cards that reward spending

There is nothing like a little reward to make you feel like a valued customer. Food, petrol and shopping loyalty cards have long been a bastion of this scheme to keep us coming back for more.
So if you appreciate a little thank you every now and again, you should perhaps consider a credit card that offers you a reward on your spending.
Holidays
How do you go about funding a holiday? With some reward credit cards you could spend your way to your dream destination!
One that's definitely worth a look is the Lloyds TSB Duo Avios. With your card duo (one American Express and one MasterCard, so you can still rack up rewards even in shops that don't accept American Express) you can earn Avios points on your purchases which convert into flights, days out, theatre trips and a whole lot more.
The trouble with the Avios scheme - formerly known as Airmiles - is that it can be quite limiting in terms of the airlines you can use. However, all sorts of airlines now offer their own credit cards which boast reward schemes, allowing you to save money on your flights. For example, Virgin Atlantic has both the White and Black credit cards, while Flybe and BMI have their own deals too.
Flybe has an introductory offer on at the moment of one return flight to selected destinations in the UK and Europe (all you have to pay are the taxes and charges) plus two free executive lounge passes when you take out their credit card- so you don't even have to start spending to be rewarded!




Card


Interest Rate


0% period on purchases


0% period on balance transfers


Rewards






British Airways American Express


19.9%


None


None



Receive 1,000 Avios when you spend £500 in the first three months.
Collect one Avios for virtually every £1 spent.
Spend £20,000 on your card in a year and receive a companion ticket when you redeem your Avios for a British Airways flight.
Travel insurance up to £75,000





Lloyds TSB Duo Avios


15.9%


None


0% for 6 months



Collect 1,500 Avios for every whole £1,000 balance transferred from a single provider.
Collect one Avios for almost every £1 spent on the Lloyds TSB Duo Avios American Express Card.
Earn one Avios for almost every £5 spent on the Lloyds TSB Duo Avios MasterCard.
Collect double Avios on your spend abroad.
Spend Avios on travel and leisure





Virgin White credit card


17.9%


None


0% for 6 months (2% fee)



One account, two cards, more Flying Club miles.
Earn one mile for every full £1 spent on the American Express card and one mile for every £2 you spend on the Visa card.
You can convert your Tesco Clubcard points into Flying Club miles too.
Receive 3,000 Flying Club miles when you make your first purchase within 90 days of your account opening.
Earn double miles when you spend direct with Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Holidays.





Virgin Black credit card


18.9%

None

0% for 6 months (2% fee)



One account, two cards, more Flying Club miles.
Earn two miles for every full £1 spent on the American Express card and one mile for every £1 you spend on the Visa card.
You can convert your Tesco Clubcard points into Flying Club miles too.
Receive 6,000 Flying Club miles when you make your first purchase within 90 days of your account opening.
Earn double miles when you spend direct with Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Holidays.
Comes with an annual fee of £140




Flybe Credit Card
18.9%
None
0% for 12 months



Flights – one Rewards4all point for every £250 you spend (24 points can get you a return flight to European destinations) , plus extra points every time you fly.
Car hire - Exclusive 10% off Avis car rental worldwide
Parking – Additional discounts on airport parking
Hotels - Exclusive discounts at Flybe recommended hotels
Commission free travel money delivered direct to your door





BMI Credit Card
16.9%
0% for 3 months
0% for 12 months (3% fee)

Earn 1.5 miles for every £1 spent on card purchases with your bmi American Express Credit Card
1.5 miles for every £2 spent on Visa card purchases
Get a bonus of up to 20,000 destinations miles when you spend £250 within the first 90 days.
Earn double miles on flybmi.com




Household
If your strategy for reaping rewards is to help pay for food, drink, entertainment and home improvements then the Tesco Clubcard Credit Card and Sainsbury's Nectar Credit Card could work out best for you.
The supermarket retailers have usefully combined their loyalty card schemes with their reward credit cards to ensure you rack up the points whether you’re spending in-store or elsewhere.
With the Tesco card you can get one Clubcard point for every £4 you spend and if you are in-store you get those points plus the points from your food shop added on as well.
While at Sainsbury’s you can earn up to four Nectar points for every £1 spent in Sainsbury's stores and online or one Nectar point for every £5 spent elsewhere. Of course you need a Nectar card in the first place to join but that is easily arranged!




Card


Interest Rate


0% period on purchases


0% period on balance transfers


Rewards






Sainsbury's Nectar Credit Card


16.9%


0% for 6 months


0% for 15 months



Earn up to four Nectar points for every £1 spent in Sainsbury's stores and online
One Nectar point for every £5 spent elsewhere
Redeem at a number of shops like Homebase, Argos and Amazon.





Tesco Clubcard Credit Card


16.9%


0% 15 months


0%9 months(2.9% fee)



One Clubcard point for every £4 you spend when you have available credit.
The card also doubles as a Clubcard, so when you use your card to pay at Tesco, you will get one point per £4 spent plus you will collect standard Clubcard points.
Redeem points in store with vouchers.





High-street rewards
If your money regularly gets eaten up by high-street shopping, credit cards from M&S, John Lewis, The AA, RBS and NatWest could help balance spending with saving through their reward schemes.
For example, with the Royal Bank of Scotland YourPoints World MasterCard and the NatWest YourPoints World MasterCard you can get points anywhere and earn a good variety of rewards like vouchers for M&S, Boots and Amazon as well as flights and hotels.
Both Natwest and RBS hand out 2,500 bonus points to customer shortly after receiving the card and each year thereafter. So in no time at all you could have racked up 5,000 points, which gets you a £25 Boots voucher or even £10,000 points which gets you a Harvey Nichols £50 voucher.
The only catch with the Royal Bank of Scotland card is you have to be an existing customer.
Alternatively there's the AA Credit Card, which offers reward points on your spending, and double the points if that spending is on motoring products. You can even turn those points into pounds in the form of up to 4% cashback!




Card


Interest Rate


0% period on purchases


0% period on balance transfers


Rewards






M&S Credit Card


15.9%


0% for 15 months


None



One point for every £1 spend in M&S.
One point for every £2 you spend elsewhere.
Spend points in store or buy M&S Travel Money with no cash advance or foreign exchange fees.





AA Rewards Credit Card


16.9%


0% 10 months


0% 12 months(3% fee)



Earn one point for every £2 spent on motoring purchases like fuel.
Earn one point every £2 spent on other purchases.
Redeem your reward points by choosing from a large range of products including high street shopping vouchers and cash back.





John Lewis and Waitrose Partnership MasterCard


16.9%


0% for 6 months


0% for 6 months (2.5% fee)



Earn one point for every £1 spent in John Lewis, Waitrose, Greenbee and at Ocado.
Earn one point for every £2 spent elsewhere.
Vouchers issued once customer reaches 500 points in Feb, Jun or Oct when vouchers are automatically issued to customers.
Every 500 points is worth £5.





Added temptation
The temptation to spend on your card is made that much greater with the reward schemes on these cards.
But it's important to avoid the temptation to spend extra in a bid to boost points as you may find yourself deep in the red. There's no point racking up an unmanageable debt for the sake of a few extra miles towards a holiday!
Do you have a credit card that offers rewards? Or do you think that they are just a marketing gimmick? Let us know your thoughts in the comment box below.
The best money transfer credit cards
Top credit cards for poor credit
The best supermarket financial products
Sainsbury's Finance: top personal loan rates fall to 5.9%
Morrisons, Tesco, Asda or Sainsbury's: which store has the cheapest ...