I can now refer you for the Tesco Mastercard, earning you 1,000 Clubcard points (2,400 Avios)

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

• C. Redit Card says:

  16 Mar16 March 08:49

  So if someone wants to find out your credit card number, they just have to pretend to want a referral…

  • Mike says:

    16 Mar16 March 09:03

    Let me correct that:

    So if someone wants to find out your **clubcard** number (and address), they just have to pretend to want a referral…

    • C. Redit Card says:

      16 Mar16 March 09:37

      Oh, well that’s fair enough. I was worried that there was a gaping security hole in this!

      • David says:

        16 Mar16 March 09:49

        Up until a couple of years ago, your main creditcard number was the clubcard number.

        This was a security problem, not because of the referral setup (it only asked for last 4 digits), but rather because of the numerous promotions elsewhere in the Tesco world that wanted you to write down you clubcard number to enter.
        – that was assuming they would accept your Tesco creditcard number was clubcard number, given that it was a different number of digits, with a different starting pattern, and different ‘checksum’ rules.

        As a result, a few years ago Tesco very wisely changed it so that everyone had a normal style clubcard number and wasn’t using their creditcard main number as it.

        • Mike says:

          16 Mar16 March 10:31

          Thanks for extra info. I wonder why they still bother with the 16 digit clubcard numbers then, as I gave them my 18 digit one when applying for the credit card. Why not just keep it the same instead of creating a new clubcard account and then having to merge them?

• Geoggy says:

  16 Mar16 March 09:16

  Isn’t the BMI Visa card still a better earner for Avios at 1 per £1?

  • David says:

    16 Mar16 March 09:35

    Sadly no longer available to new applicants.

    This is the best non-Amex that is available now if you want Avios.

    • Geoggy says:

      16 Mar16 March 10:02

      But if I have a BMI card not worth ditching for this?

      • David says:

        16 Mar16 March 12:55

        Keep what you have!

        The most final bmi credit cards were Amex/Visa combo cards. Where you recieved a higer paying Amex card, and a lower paying Visa card as well.

        The fee-free Visa paid (or pays if you still have it): 075 DC Miles (0.75 Avios) per £.
        The £85 annual fee combo Visa paid (or pays if you stil have it) 1 DC Mile (1 Avios) per £.

        The new Tesco card pays 2.4 Avios per £4. or 0.6 Avios per £.
        However this is assuming you convert your Tesco clubcard points to Avios points without any bonus.
        If a 40% bonus came along, you would be at 3.36 Avios per £4, which would be 0.84 per pound. So slightly ahead of the bmi free card. But note that the bmi card doesn’t have the high £4 unit size. So with the bmi you earn on low value transactions, and also earn more on the scraps of value above the last £4 mulitple in your transaction value.
        Keep the bmi free card, although I would get the Tesco card too – just to bank it, incase the Tesco deal gets worse, and the bmi cards stop!

        Very happy to refer you for a Tesco card! But keep what you have too.

        If a 50% bonus came along, you would be a 0.9 Avios per £, so still below the bmi paid card. So keep that one if you have it, and if it justfies the fee for your spend earning.
        Again, there would be an argument to get the Tesco card now just to ‘bank it’, in case the tesco card offering gets worse.

        [Some people have the very old BMI ‘mastercard’ which now pays 1.5 Avios/ £ on free version, and 2 Avios/£ on the paid one. Obviously these are better still. Keep.]

        The old Tesco credit card, no longer available to new applicants, pays the equivalent of 1.2 Avios/£ with £2 multiples rather than £4. This is not available to new applicants, but keeps working for thouse of us who have it.

        That’s part of why I’m saying it may make sense to bank the current tesco card now, in case the offering gets worse than 2.4 Avios/£4. You never know when the bmi cards will stop. Tesco will be around, and they have shown they also keep the old cards running.

        If a new better tesco card did appear, you can always switch to it, as it would be a currant product.

        Happy to refer, but I’m sure many other people are too!

        • Trevor says:

          16 Mar16 March 14:24

          Yup, I have the very old BMI MasterCard still, which not only offers offer 1.5/£, but offers you points based on your month’s spend total, not transaction total, so you get the max points. This is definitely a card to keep in the arsenal, and I always fall back on it should Amex not be accepted or when I don’t have a min qualifying spend to work off.

• Neil Spellings says:

  16 Mar16 March 09:56

  Let me know if you want me to send you a referral form Raffles 🙂

• Kiran K says:

  16 Mar16 March 11:06

  I got this card last year because it offered 0% on purchases for 15 months. Came in very handy for upgrading to wood flooring in our new home. In spite of entering my Tesco Club Card number during the application process, they haven’t credited any points in the last year or so. I keep calling them and they keep saying they will do it. Also, it is almost impossible to get an additional card. I have been asking for an additional card for my wfie. You can’t do this online. They will want to send you a paper form. The form took 2 months to arrive. We fill up the form and they take another month to get back to us. They now want a bunch of documents including *attested* copies of her passport. I honestly don’t have the patience to go find someone who can attest documents. This is silly especially I have never defaulted on any of my accounts. Both Amex and Barclays were very happy to give me an additional card simply by applying online. I’ll be cancelling this card at the end of May when the 0% on purchases offer ends.

  • Mike says:

    16 Mar16 March 23:16

    Well, my clubcard number was merged automatically into the new one they set up with the card.

    Ordering the form for my wife on the website did not work, but after 3 tries and 1 month, I called them, and the form then arrived in 3 days. The card arrived 1 week after I sent the form. Your wife is probably not on the electoral roll if they want her ID?

• dannyrado says:

  16 Mar16 March 12:02

  Bagsy reffering you Raffles if you’ve not already been reffered.

  • Rob says:

    16 Mar16 March 13:29

    I got a direct invite in the mail from Tesco offering 1k points AND 18 months interest free credit. Assuming 2.25% on the money in the bank, 18 months at £7750 (my credit limit, which I will fill in 2 months, so use 17 months as the average loan period) is worth £250 on top, which will tax down to £150. Not a bad deal actually.

• Rob says:

  23 Mar23 March 08:14

  Here is an update on the referral scheme.

  It works AMAZINGLY well. Tesco is posting the referral points within 24 hours of receiving the form in the post!

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