Tesco announced a pile of changes to the Clubcard scheme yesterday. We have covered these in detail on Shopper Points today – click here. We covered them for The Guardian as well – see here.
In general, the changes are bad.
Some little-used ‘two times’ deals will now give 3x face value, but a lot more deals which used to give 4x face value are dropping to 3x. This mainly impacts restaurant and days out vouchers.
From a travel perspective, it is actually positive to neutral:
National Express, Megabus and redspottedhanky.com (train tickets) credit now gets you 3x the face value of your Clubcard vouchers, up from 2x
There is no change to the Avios or Virgin Flying Club conversion rates
You have also gained Uber and hotels.com as new 3x face value redemption partners this year. Uber is now my preferred redemption as we use it heavily and it is a genuine ‘3x’ value. If I took Avios instead I would be giving up £3 of Uber for every 240 Avios I earned which means I would be ‘paying’ 1.25p per Avios – and I don’t value them at that.
To do this without ANY notice at all stinks, however. It particularly stinks that we are just 9 days from the end of the current Clubcard collection quarter. People have 10 weeks of points locked up inside Clubcard which cannot now be spent at the old 4x redemption rate.
Love Clubcard, don’t collect Avios? You should be reading our sister site, Shopper Points (www.shopperpoints.co.uk), which covers the latest Clubcard and Nectar offers without any distracting frequent flyer talk! Why not check it out now?
About Head for Points
I cancelled my Platinum AMEX a month ago. If someone refers me, would I be able to get it again now (I know I won’t get the sign up bonus) or do I have to leave a gap? I have a multi city holiday with the family coming up and the airport lounges and travel insurance alone would be really worth having.
Also, I have an SPG Amex for which my partner has a supplementary. Could a supplementary cardholder refer someone for Amex Platinum and get the 5k SPG bonus? Thank you.
Yes (if Amex lets you, but there is no rule against it) and No.
Has anyone found Amex more strict now on applications? I’ve been declined after applying again following the 6 month break. My credit score on Experian is 999.
Their letter states that their decision takes into account ‘past and current Cardmember information’.
Maybe churners are no longer welcome?
I last applied for a card in September and that went through OK. Won’t know for another month or two whether we will have any issues with my wife’s next card.
Interested to know whether others have faced more issues with their applications though.
I have just received my new Amex Gold after having previously held an account 7 months ok.
as has my wife, and me as well soon.
Re Amex Preferred Gold card. I cancelled mine on 23/07/17 so does that mean on 24/01/18 (6 months later) I could re-apply and get the bonus again or would I need to leave it a bit longer? Worried if I leave it any longer then the top post above about not getting bonus if new rules come into affect will mean I don’t get the bonus?
I usually leave it for another week, but I think I have cut it finer than that and have never missed out.
I phoned them recently to reapply and was told I’d have to wait 2 YEARS after to cancellation to be eligible for the welcome offer again