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Get up to £400 for taking out the American Express Nectar credit card

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We have never covered Nectar points much.  The little coverage we did give it has now migrated over to Shopper Points since we launched that site last December.

Head for Points mainly focusses on credit cards which offer airline miles or hotel loyalty points for your spending.  However, easyJet and Expedia are partners with Nectar.

Nectar has launched an exceptional sign-up bonus

Full details of the American Express Nectar credit card can be found on the website here.  As you can see, the standard sign-up bonus is 20,000 Nectar points.

However, starting from 1st October, you will receive 40,000 Nectar points if you apply via the link on the Nectar website or in the Nectar app.

This is an exceedingly generous deal as I will discuss in a minute.  NOT EVERYONE WILL HAVE THE OFFER although it seems very widespread.

Before we go on, I need to tell you that the Nectar credit card has a representative APR of 25.0%, including the £25 fee (which is waived in year one if you do not have any other Amex cards), based on a notional credit limit of £1,200.

What can I get for 40,000 Nectar points?

In 90% of cases, a Nectar point is worth 0.5p.

You will 0.5p if you swipe your Nectar card in Sainsbury’s to pay for your shopping, or use the points to pay for Expedia flights or hotels, or book an easyJet flight.  In the worse case scenario, your points are worth £200.

If you are prepared to sit on your points for a while, you could do better.

Over the last year Nectar has been offering special deals on redemptions.  Let’s imagine that you hold on to your points until a ‘1p per point’ deal comes along.  Your sign-up bonus would be worth £400.

You need to spend £2,000 within three months to receive the 40,000 points.  You cannot apply if you have held the Nectar credit card in the last six months.

If you have a BA, SPG, Platinum, Gold etc American Express card then you will definitely receive the bonus.

Note that you receive the bonus in two parts.  American Express will award the standard 20,000 points via your statement whilst Nectar will add an additional 20,000 points directly to your Nectar account.

What is the annual fee?

The Amex website says that your first year is free and thereafter you pay £25.

The small print, however, says that anyone who holds ANY Amex-issued American Express card, or who has done so in the last six month, does not qualify for the fee waiver.

This means that almost all Head for Points readers will need to pay the £25 fee.  It will be refunded pro-rata if you later cancel the card.

What is the on-going earning?

You earn 2 Nectar points per £1 of general spend.  This is effectively 1% cashback at the very least.  This is not a bad deal, especially if you hold on to your points for a deal worth more than 0.5p per point.

Conclusion

This is a very generous deal and well worth a look.  The £25 annual fee should not put you off.

You can learn more about the card here – I recommend taking a look today if you are interested but do NOT apply!

Remember these two key things:

you MUST apply via the Nectar app or after logging in to the Nectar website via the special promotional page

you must apply in OCTOBER so don’t risk it by applying today, wait until Saturday!

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2024 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

15,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.

Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card

1% cashback uncapped* on all your business spending (T&C apply) Read our full review

Category

Sainsbury's and Nectar

Comments (81)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Frenske says:
    30 Sep30 September 06:23

    Homebase is dropping out of the Nectar game very soon.

    Darn I got the Nectar Amex card a couple of months ago.

  • Nick M says:
    30 Sep30 September 06:31

    Are Amex still strict on the 2 credit cards plus 1 charge card rule?

    • Simon says:
      30 Sep30 September 06:46

      No, I’ve currently got 3 credit cards (BA, SPG, Nectar) and one charge card (Platinum). I’m not sure it has ever been a rule, a couple of years ago I had a similar setup but with the Gold card instead of the Platinum.

    • Roger says:
      30 Sep30 September 06:49

      Rob any official word on this as many readers here may already have 2 credit cards issued by Amex.

    • Rob says:
      30 Sep30 September 08:16

      I thought it was 2 + 2. Need to see, if I get accepted I will be on 3 credit and 1 charge.

  • VJ says:
    30 Sep30 September 06:42

    O/T Any one got £20 on their MoneyCorp prepay card as adviced here couple of months back.

    • Roger says:
      30 Sep30 September 06:48

      Not yet. Applied in dying days of the offer.

    • John G says:
      30 Sep30 September 07:59

      No I haven’t either. I applied right after it was mentioned here. Technically there are still a few weeks to go before the point they say the money will be paid but a little frustrating that many others seem to have something from them already. Makes me think nothing will happen without a nudge!

    • STREET says:
      30 Sep30 September 08:29

      I had to write to them and then soon after it appeared in my account

    • FlyingChris says:
      30 Sep30 September 08:39

      Nothing for me yet, though I did apply in the latter days of the offer. Wondering if worth a nudge.

    • N says:
      30 Sep30 September 08:56

      Not yet. Date in my diary to chase is 29 Oct

    • Nick says:
      30 Sep30 September 09:59

      I checked my money Corp account last night and they’ve paid me 20 Canadian dollars instead of the 20 GBP I went for.

    • Andrew says:
      30 Sep30 September 22:01

      Yes, I put some US dollars on the card in July (which I spent a few weeks ago) and the £20 arrived in the sterling wallet in August.

  • Janet Thomas says:
    30 Sep30 September 07:22

    I never even received my card! Customer service was terrible, but Rob gave me a contact person & I have been promised a refund & goodwill gesture of £40. Thanks again Rob.

    • Paul says:
      30 Sep30 September 08:59

      Can you assist with this? I applied, got my card, wife applied, money taken from her account and email that card was en route but never received it. Called them up to be told no record of her, despite money being debited from her bank account and email confirming card on way. Email sent to query, no response, also asked about it at Stansted Moneycorp desk, provided details and email address and phone number, no response. Getting annoyed now!

      • Guesswho2000 says:
        30 Sep30 September 20:59

        Same here – I got mine no problem after three days (still no £20 bonus though, btw), my OH got the emails and after two weeks I chased it, they had no idea. Luckily I kept the email, but it had no reference number which they insisted it should have.

        In the end I had to kick up a massive fuss because we were moving and wouldn’t have access to the address! They did eventually get back to us and refunded it, but it’s a pretty poor operation.

    • Alex W says:
      30 Sep30 September 22:49

      Mine hasn’t arrived either – details please?

  • Paul says:
    30 Sep30 September 07:24

    Award of 40,000 nectar points is undoubtedly attractive but valuation at £400 is a little fanciful:
    – The Summer Rewards are by far the most valuable nectar redemption – but there are only so many cinema visits/pizzas to enjoy in the two months available for use.
    – Homebase will leave nectar at the end of 2016. There have been few redemption deals there this year (none even?)
    – Sainsbury’ double-up is one of the most mean-spirited redemptions with a very short claim/spend window, low maximum redemption amounts and hostile spend restrictions
    – Caffe Nero – I don’t think this has been offered since last year

    eBay redemptions are the only worthwhile offer for significant amounts of points that earn more than the standard 0.5p value.

    • mrtibbs1999 says:
      30 Sep30 September 07:37

      £400 is easily achievable in store during double up. You simply look for items that are reduced already and do well on eBay. I would say a smart person could get over £400 if they chose items solely based on their resale value…

      • John says:
        30 Sep30 September 07:46

        Who wants to waste time reselling things on ebay? (you, I guess)

      • Stuart says:
        30 Sep30 September 12:37

        However the maximum double up PER purchase is very limited. You can’t just spend £100 in one go, for example.

        • Paul says:
          30 Sep30 September 15:55

          Exactly. Maximum redemption is 4000 points per category (=£40 at doubled up value), and promotions often disappear during the redemption period. You can’t even buy an item at, say, £18 or £19, with £20-worth of vouchers, writing off the ‘change’.

    • Alan says:
      30 Sep30 September 10:22

      I had the Cafe Nero offer on my account this year. Never used it though. I did use the Pizza Express offer though.

      Even if you only buy stuff at Sainsbury’s or Expedia, £200 is worth having for a 2K spend surely?

      • Rob says:
        30 Sep30 September 12:24

        I had a LOT of coffee out of that offer! Would have done more but Nero involves a bit of a diversion for me.

      • Mr Dee says:
        30 Sep30 September 15:13

        Well the Sainsburys value puts a minimum value on the points, if your willing to wait then you can probably do better than £200 if the redemptions suit you. I am not a fan of the pizza redemptions.

    • tim says:
      30 Sep30 September 12:12

      I agree that the £400 valuation Raffles uses is IMHO too high. The £200 valuation is probably too low though. Personally, I’d put it at £300 which reflects the rate that you can get the standard Pizza Express vouchers at.

      But anywhere between £200 and £400 is pretty decent in my view.

      • Rob says:
        30 Sep30 September 12:21

        ‘Up to’ are the key words in the headline! But I think we all agree that if you accept just £200 you’re leaving money on the table.

  • Erico1875 says:
    30 Sep30 September 07:58

    even at 0.5p thats a couple of RTN flights to Malaga or similar with Easyjet. No RFS fee either. You are likely to get an additional 3 or 4points per £1 if your £2K is achieved via Nectar partners, so overall maybe 48K points

    • John G says:
      30 Sep30 September 08:03

      Yeh but who wants to fly an airline that charges you for food and drink, seat selection and has a narrow seat pitch. Would much rather fly BA. Oh wait …

    • Graeme says:
      30 Sep30 September 08:04

      There is a £13 (or so) admin fee though.

      My partner and I both got the 20k bonus in recent months and have had free-ish flights to Athens and Copenhagen using them. If you’ve got no other target to hit you might as well.

      • Roger* says:
        30 Sep30 September 09:20

        When I pointed out the admin fee in an earlier discussion – not sure whether here or at FlyerTalk – I was informed that the end result was the same. I checked and, bingo, it was.

        I think it’s to do with easyJet charging an almost hidden fee on regular bookings. Try pricing up a ticket for one person, then 2/3/4 and see the price per person change.

  • ThatGuyOverThere says:
    30 Sep30 September 08:17

    No sign of my Moneycorp monkey yet either. I have diarised T+90d to chase them up 🙂

  • bill says:
    30 Sep30 September 08:33

    damm, i applied a couple of days ago for a 30,000 sign up bonus….

    the application hasnt been approved yet.

    if it’s approved on Monday, will i get 30,000 or 40,000 ?

    • Johnnycl says:
      30 Sep30 September 09:26

      +1 I got the 30k too but haven’t used the card yet. Will have to make a begging call at some point I think.

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