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Tesco drops the Tesco Premium Credit Card

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A couple of weeks ago, I wrote this article about the Tesco Premium Credit Card.

I suggested that the card did not have much of a future given the closure of Tesco Direct in three weeks, because the main feature – 5000 bonus Clubcard points if you spent £5000 annually across all Tesco businesses – would now become trickier.  I know some people relied on putting large household purchases through Tesco Direct in order to hit the £5000 target.

It seems that Tesco Bank agreed with me.  The Tesco Premium Credit Card is being withdrawn from the market for new applicants.  I don’t know if it is being closed to existing cardholders too.

If you were on the fence about applying, the application form might still be live if you click here.  There is a 5,000 Clubcard points bonus (worth 12,400 Avios or 12,500 Virgin miles) for signing up.  I have been told that it will be gone by the end of today, if it hasn’t gone already.

Whilst this was definitely a niche product – and one I struggled to get excited about – it does have potential.  It may have suffered from poor marketing, because the free travel insurance benefit would have been valuable for a lot of mainstream card users who will not have Amex Platinum, HSBC Premier etc.  At a lower fee (say £50) or with a different benefits package, it may have worked well for a lot of HFP readers as a strong points earner.

I have updated our core ‘best credit card’ articles, all of which are listed on this page of HfP, to reflect this change.

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

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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

Tesco Clubcard

Comments (154)

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

  • DTB says:
    14 Jun14 June 16:33

    Anyone receive an email from Virgin Atlantic re: the new credit card? says it’s targeted.

    15,000 extra miles per month as long as you spend £1.5k, valid for 3 months, so 60k miles in 3 months essentially including the sign up bonus.

    will apply on that basis

    • Tom H says:
      14 Jun14 June 16:36

      I Got :
      A welcome bonus of 15,000 miles,
      Plus, a bespoke offer for you – an extra 6,000 miles a month for the first three months your account is open. You just need to spend a minimum of £1,000 each month on your card to qualify.

    • YoungL says:
      14 Jun14 June 16:40

      That sounds very good.

    • KevMc says:
      14 Jun14 June 16:40

      I have just received one with 6,000 extra a month for 3 months if spending £1k, so looks like it is targeted. I only spent my £10k on the MBNA card to get my two vouchers and then stopped using it, so perhaps this is the reason for a lower offer than yours?

      • Rob says:
        14 Jun14 June 16:50

        Now, here is some news no-one will tell you. This offer is retrospective. If you had the MBNA cards and applied for this already, you will get the 18k. I am still looking for clarity on exactly how (a one-off drop or a spend target) but you will not be worse off.

        • KevMc says:
          14 Jun14 June 16:52

          Do you think it is worth holding out for a better offer like the one DTB was sent, or is the 18k as good as it is going to get?

        • Louise says:
          14 Jun14 June 17:00

          So is the offer not going to be targeted Rob? I still haven’t got round to applying but no email (as yet)

          • Rob says:
            14 Jun14 June 18:19

            It is targeted but all MBNA cardholders are getting some version of it.

        • Melvin says:
          14 Jun14 June 17:11

          For clarity, my offer is for 33,000 miles total (18k + (3 x 6k))

        • Jonathan says:
          14 Jun14 June 21:07

          @Rob, will this only be for recently active MBNA card holders in the sense that i have held both VS MBNA white and black cards in the past but cancelled them about 6 months ago?

        • Camille55 says:
          14 Jun14 June 23:57

          Mine is also 15K + (3 x 6k). However, I HAVE already applied for the Reward+ card, which I received last month and have been spending on it.

          Rob, I’d be interested to know when you find out – ie. whether the 18k will be a one-off drop at the end of the 3 months, or whatever. Thanks in advance.

          c55

          • Rob says:
            15 Jun15 June 08:32

            I know now. You will get an email with a spend target like everyone else. Emails being staggered over 2 weeks.

    • Lev441 says:
      14 Jun14 June 17:13

      I got the same. Before this i wasn’t really interested in getting the card but this is giving me some food for thought…

    • John G says:
      14 Jun14 June 17:13

      I got: 5000 on card opening + an extra 2000 miles for the first 3 months when spending £500 per month. This is for the free card. For the fee card I go the 6000 per month as above.

      Note I haven’t had a VS MBNA card for years.

    • the_real_a says:
      14 Jun14 June 17:35

      Yup also got 15k plus 3 x 15k for 1.5k spend in first three months (60k total bonus miles)… I wasn’t going to bother getting the virgin cards for a while until i burnt down my stash of miles but this might change my mind.

  • DTB says:
    14 Jun14 June 16:55

    I’ve had the black virgin card for 3 years, probably spend £30k-£40k on average, so it’s potentially targeted on that basis?

    never paid any interest though

  • the real harry1 says:
    14 Jun14 June 17:13

    @Alan – sounds like dumping 2 of your 3 cards here would not be a particularly good idea 🙂 (not until 3 months is up, anyway!)

  • Melvin says:
    14 Jun14 June 17:14

    For BETTER clarity (doh), my offer is for 33,000 miles total (15k + (3 x 6k))

    • Alan says:
      14 Jun14 June 17:38

      Do you have a link to the generic landing page for the 3x6k offer? I’d like to find out if I could be eligible for it too (as an existing MBNA VS cardholder but not currently holding the premium card).

  • the real harry1 says:
    14 Jun14 June 19:18

    O/T bits – Stobart fun & games (Southend Airport etc) – see FT story (and others) 🙂
    https://www.google.co.uk/search?client=opera&q=stobart&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

    Bit of a shame on the PR front coming just 1 day after RyanAir announced Southend will become another RA base

  • W says:
    15 Jun15 June 10:28

    More interestingly, does that mean the Virgin Atlantic sign-up bonus will increase eventually?

    • Rob says:
      15 Jun15 June 14:03

      Don’t think so. Never say never but the discussions I had pre-launch with Virgin were based around the very tight economics here. Perhaps if the cards prove more profitable than expected ….

  • Richmond says:
    15 Jun15 June 11:08

    I have to check if I can get card in Poland. Have some credit history there, just no income …

  • Richmond says:
    16 Jun16 June 11:44

    I reached my Curve limit of £10K and they are not keen to upgrade it until I will build more history. Obviously I won’t since I won’t be spending on a card any more. So what are my other options to earn points/miles/whatever on HMRC payments?
    I think there was Tesco debit card giving points? Is it still around? Any other options to earn rewards on HMRC payments?

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