Nectar Connect is growing on me, because it doubles up with Amex cashback offers

Nectar has a ‘card linked offers’ programme called Nectar Connect.

This allows you to earn Nectar points (and therefore Avios) when you link your credit and debit card details to your Nectar account and spend at participating retailers.

What is good about Nectar Connect is that it doubles up with other deals, such as American Express statement credit offers. I am finding this increasingly valuable.

We wrote a long introductory article on Nectar Connect here. The reason we don’t cover it more is that, if you read the small print, you are required to give Nectar a huge amount of access to your financial data.

Nectar accesses the transaction history on your linked cards

To quote from the T&C:

“After you link your payment card account(s) to Nectar as part of Nectar Connect we receive between 6 to 36 months of your historical transaction data, depending on your payment card.”

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.

The only upside is that, under FCA rules for accessing such a level of data, you need to renew your permission every 90 days. If you connect your cards to take advantage of a one-off offer, you don’t need to worry about Nectar having access your spending data until you die (or your card expires).

If you are concerned about Nectar harvesting your financial data, you could register a credit or debit card that you rarely use. However, you’d be missing out because the real value – at least for me – is doubling up on American Express offers.

If you are not a Nectar Connect member already, you need to know two things:

• you cannot see your offers until you have registered a payment card, so you have to give up your financial history before you find out what offers you will get

• offers do not appear immediately after registration – you need to wait a couple of days for Nectar to analyse your card data first

I got a good result with LNER last week

The reason I am mentioning Nectar Connect today is that I have had a good couple of weeks in doubling up with American Express cashback deals.

Last week I had to spend £201 with Grand Central trains. I booked this via the LNER trains website because:

• I had a 12% LNER cashback deal on my American Express Platinum card

• I was offered 10 Nectar points (6.25 Avios) for every £1 spent at LNER via Nectar Connect

Because I redeem 100% of my Nectar points at Caffe Nero, where I get 0.9p per Nectar point (350 Nectar points gets you any drink), I value 10 Nectar points at the equivalent of 9% cashback. This means that I got a total of 21% back on my LNER spend – 12% via Amex and 9% via Nectar.

The rewards have already posted on both cards: £24.12 from Amex and 2,010 Nectar points.

You can combine Nectar Connect with Amex offers, but not necessarily other payment cards

You can be certain, because of the way that American Express sets up its cashback deals, that you will always be able to double up an Amex offer with a Nectar Connect offer if there is one.

This is not necessarily the case with other credit card offers. If you have a cashback deal on your Virgin Atlantic card, for example, it may cause ‘offer clash’ with a similar Nectar Connect offer. Most of the schemes are run by the same company behind the scenes and a merchant will only pay them once on any transaction. This ‘clash’ is one of the biggest issues facing the card linked offers sector, because people are not being paid out for offers they think they are entitled to receive.

Use an American Express cashback offer alongside a Nectar Connect offer and you should be perfectly fine.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2025 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 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

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 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:

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

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

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