NEW: Earn Nectar points on in-store spending with Nectar Connect
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Nectar Connect, which lets you earn Nectar points from your day-to-day card spending, has now launched.
Like other schemes, Nectar Connect lets you earn points from spending on your existing credit or debit cards. You do not need to waive or scan any other card and you DON’T need a Nectar-branded credit card. Points are accrued in the background, with Nectar liaising directly with your card provider.
You can opt in to Nectar Connect here.
How to sign up to Nectar Connect
You can sign up to Nectar Connect online or via the Nectar app. An invite to the scheme should be prominently displayed.
Click through and you are given a brief summary of why you should opt in to Nectar Connect. The following page details the terms and conditions and privacy policy, which you must agree to.
Are there privacy concerns with Nectar Connect?
As per the terms and conditions, you must to give Nectar Connect access to all payment transactions and transaction history from the cards you link:
“As part of Nectar Connect, we will be able to view the payment transactions and transaction history of any debit card or credit card that you link to Nectar.
This account linking and viewing of payment transaction data is required for us to operate Nectar Connect.
This data will be added to your Nectar profile, so we can analyse and understand your shopping behaviour over time and target you with relevant offers from Nectar & our partners.”
Nectar will NOT just be using your card data to award you points from participating retailers. It will be actively mining all of your credit card spending information to find ways of pushing new deals at you.
If privacy is a concern for you, you may prefer not to opt in to Nectar Connect.
Linking your debit or credit cards to Nectar Connect
Once you’ve agreed to the terms you can connect your debit or credit card. You can connect more than one card. It’s not clear if there is a limit on the number of cards.
Note that, if you have registered for other similar schemes which offer in-store spending rewards, you may get ‘offer clash’ and your Nectar reward may not trigger in favour of another scheme.
It should double-up with any American Express cashback rewards, however, as these are managed differently.
Nectar Connect is compatible with most banks and credit card companies. The full list includes:
- American Express
- Bank of Scotland
- Barclaycard
- Barclays
- Capital One
- Chelsea Building Society
- Dankse Bank
- First Direct
- HSBC
- Halifax
- Lloyds
- M&S Bank
- MBNA
- Monzo
- Nationwide
- Natwest
- RBS
- Revolut
- Sainsbury’s Bank
- Santander
- Starling
- TSB
- Tesco Bank
- Wise (formerly Transfer Wise)
- Ulster Bank
- Virgin Money
- Yorkshire Building Society
Connecting your card is easy and is performed via TrueLayer technology. This means that Nectar will direct you to your bank which will let you choose which cards to connect once you have logged in.
Once selected you are redirected to Nectar Connect and the process is complete.
Note that any cards you add will automatically be removed from Nectar Connect after 90 days unless you choose to renew each connection. This seems quite aggressive and is possibly driven by regulation, since there is no benefit to Nectar in throwing you out of the scheme every 90 days. You can revoke card access at any time.
What retailers currently have Nectar Connect offers?
Once you have linked your cards you are shown a list of retailers.
The list of offers is pretty small right now. The full list is Just Eat, Coach, Papa John’s, Pets at Home, Costa, Interflora, QUIZ, Harvey Nichols, Kate Spade and Lakeland.
Note that you must opt in to each offer to be eligible: you will not be automatically enrolled.
All my offers are for a minimum of 10 Nectar points per £1 spent, which is not bad. The highest offer I had was for 30 points per £1 spent. This is the equivalent to earning 18.75 Avios per £1 if you convert your points under the new Nectar/Avios program.
Nectar has told us it is working with 150+ retailers to source offers from, so we should see more as time goes by.
It is worth giving Nectar Connect a go and seeing what offers you get – it is an easy way of picking up a few Avios. If you don’t want to continue you can always revoke access to your cards. You can opt in to Nectar Connect here.
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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (January 2025)
As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous 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 Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review
Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review
There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:
British Airways American Express Premium Plus
30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review
British Airways American Express
5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review
You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.
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
50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review
Run your own business?
We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.
Capital on Tap Visa
NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review
Capital on Tap Pro Visa
10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review
There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:
British Airways American Express Accelerating Business
30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review
There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.
American Express Business Platinum
50,000 points when you sign-up 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
Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.
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