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Tesco Bank makes big changes to the Tesco Premium credit card – will it re-open?

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The Tesco Premium credit card was closed to new applicants in June.  Tesco Bank has just announced major changes to the benefits package for existing cardholders which makes me think that it may be reopened to new applications at some point.

The Tesco Premium credit card was a surprisingly aggressive offering:

  • £150 annual fee
  • Comprehensive travel insurance
  • 5,000 bonus Clubcard points (12,400 Avios) for spending £5,000 in Tesco per year
  • 1 Clubcard point (2.4 Avios) per £1 spent with Tesco
  • 0.25 Clubcard points (0.6 Avios) per £1 spent elsewhere

This was a real ‘Marmite’ card.  For people who spent a lot at Tesco – and fuel purchases were included in the £5,000 target – it was a decent deal and a very good Visa / Mastercard option for collecting Avios.  If you couldn’t spend £5,000 per year, it wasn’t worth it unless you needed the travel insurance.

Tesco Bank pulled the card from the market shortly after Tesco Direct was closed.  Tesco Wine closed shortly afterwards.  I think that a lot of people had been relying on Tesco Direct spending to reach the £5,000 target and these people were now stuffed.

Tesco Bank has announced that the card will be relaunched for existing cardholders from February 2019.  Your benefits will change on your next card anniversary after 1st February, which means that some people will remain on the £150 package until January 2020.

Details are on the Tesco Bank website here.  In summary:

  • the annual fee drops to £36
  • the travel insurance benefit is removed
  • the bonus is realigned to offer 2,500 bonus Clubcard points (6,200 Avios) for spending £2,500 in Tesco per year
  • 1 Clubcard point (2.4 Avios) per £1 spent with Tesco (unchanged)
  • 0.25 Clubcard points (0.6 Avios) per £1 spent elsewhere (unchanged)

I think, if you can hit the £2,500 of annual Tesco spend – which many people could do just on fuel, even without buying any food – this looks pretty good.  The £36 fee is easily justified by the 6,200 bonus Avios for spending £2,500, and you have the added benefit of earning 0.6 Avios per £1 on all your other Visa / Mastercard spend.

It is less clear cut if you collect Virgin Flying Club miles.  The free Virgin Atlantic credit card, which currently has a 10,000 mile sign-up bonus for another 10 days, earns 0.75 miles per £1 spent, is better.  For day to day spending, it trumps the Tesco Premium credit card.  You could still justify using the Tesco Premium credit card purely for Tesco spending as long as you knew you’d hit the £2,500 annual target – but it does mean another card in your wallet.

For clarity, there is no certainty at the moment that Tesco Bank will reopen the Tesco Premium credit card to new applicants from February.  If they do, however, it will become the best Visa / Mastercard option for many Head for Points readers.

PS.  I did a segment on Radio 4’s ‘You and Yours’ yesterday lunchtime, discussing the recent changes to petrol loyalty with Esso dropping Clubcard and BP dropping Nectar – which Esso is joining!

You can listen by clicking here (log-in required) and fast-forwarding to 29:25.

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Category

Tesco Clubcard

Comments (140)

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

  • meta says:
    4 Dec4 December 14:06

    O/T Anyone having issues transferring Amex MR points to Krisflyer. I have been trying this morning and just now and no luck.

  • Jill (Kinkell) says:
    4 Dec4 December 14:21

    O/T. Am looking to book a couple of nights in Atlanta next year. I have IHG points, Marriott points (110k) and various hotel statuses via Amex plat. Any recommendations for somewhere nice to finish off a road trip before flying home?

    • Alan says:
      4 Dec4 December 14:32

      Depends on the route your going, but Chattanooga is nice (esp the views from Lookout Mountain – Cafe on the Corner does some great food). Heading from there into Atlanta the suburb of Roswell (different to the aliens one!) is pretty nice – Roswell Provisions on Canton Street is also a good choice.

      • Chris says:
        4 Dec4 December 15:10

        Quite a drive (2hrs+ without traffic) though. But yes, nice place to stay and lots of options.

        Some v nice hotels in Buckhead – stayed at the IC last time and mostly good bar a room service disaster and terrible after service

        • Alan says:
          4 Dec4 December 15:29

          As I say depends on the route you’re taking to Atlanta 🙂 We were on a big loop from Charleston to Nashville to Memphis then back to Atlanta so less of a detour!

        • Chris says:
          4 Dec4 December 15:43

          I mostly meant for if the night before flying back part was important (ie 7am flight!)

          If it can be fitted in Chattanooga is my recommendation too – I stayed at the Hampton in lookout mountain, cheap and nice (and happily moved my non changeable reservation that I booked for the wrong month)

          • Alan says:
            4 Dec4 December 15:51

            Ah, got you – we were a 10pm flight so actively looking for things to do during the day 🙂 Stayed in a suite at the HI Chattanooga, decent price. Tourist info in the city there were pretty useless though, just said ‘errmm, there’s an aquarium'(!) – thankfully we found the lovely art district, had a nice walk and coffee then walked across the bridge!

    • Jill (Kinkell) says:
      4 Dec4 December 18:27

      Thanks all. Will look into it. We are driving Washington to Atlanta, but haven’t finalused our itinerary.we thought a couple of nights in Atlanta, but may well reduce to one given Flight back is late evening ( F with 241) sounds as if I need to factor in a route that includes Chattanooga .we have plenty of time to tour about.

      • Alan says:
        4 Dec4 December 18:42

        Ah, enjoy – we were on the same flight timing (and in F using Avios+241 too!). BTW just to forewarn you, Atlanta airport is massive, with 2×6-lane freeways heading into it. Then takes an age to get a bus from car hire drop-off to the international terminal. No premium security and pre-check (if you get it) closes early so can take a while to get through. Therefore want to arrive with plenty of time – downside is the contract lounge that BA use is heaving, even though they keep a separate area for certain airline passengers. Don’t expect much by way of food pre-flight there.

    • Clive says:
      4 Dec4 December 21:46

      Buckhead is usually the best. Avoid downtown

    • Liz says:
      4 Dec4 December 22:59

      We just booked the HIX Downtown. We flew in to Atlanta and didn’t hire our car till we were leaving Atlanta. That hotel is within walking distance to CNN, Coca Cola, Olympic Park etc. Tram right outside takes you out the Martin Luther King places. We booked 3 nights. One for the first night/travel day and 2 full days is plenty to see everything.

  • Sundar says:
    4 Dec4 December 14:33

    @ Rob – Any Taxi discount codes from non-UK airports ? Remember you had some earlier this year which was very useful.

  • RTS says:
    4 Dec4 December 16:56

    Has anyone received their points yet from Marriott following their 29 ways to stay? I still haven’t had any!

    • FlyUpTop says:
      4 Dec4 December 17:03

      My wife’s account received one days win of 50 points over two weeks ago but nothing since, she won 2k.

    • Russ says:
      4 Dec4 December 17:45

      If you’re referring to the game, then none for us. If you’re referring to the extra 2000 points for staying at a new brand, then yes.

  • Shoestring says:
    4 Dec4 December 17:46

    O/T check your BAEC a/c for the extra 1224 points from Tesco conversion if you took advantage of the +20% bonus a few weeks ago – extra points starting to get awarded.

  • Shoestring says:
    4 Dec4 December 18:57

    Raffles: [50% avios sale for return flights from MAD to BOS, JFK, ORD @ Iberia for existing members]

    Could be more destinations than that, of course

  • Go says:
    4 Dec4 December 19:45

    How long does it take Amex to add Marriott as a transfer partner. I added it this morning but it still shows as pending

    • Crafty says:
      4 Dec4 December 23:41

      Did it last week, took 2 days on one account and 7 days on the other.

  • Alex D says:
    4 Dec4 December 21:22

    OT; I have asked before but i lost track of where the comment was…Can we track old comments?

    Looking to book 241 return flights to BKK – Which is the best overseas BA office to call and what number? Lots of info on other sites but it is all out of date and the website link no longer works which Rob did an article on.

    Many thanks

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