Nectar Connect is closing – an easy source of Avios goes away

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 I found good about Nectar Connect is that it doubled up with other deals, such as American Express statement credit offers.

Unfortunately, Nectar Connect is closing on 27th October. It has already been removed from the Nectar app.

It’s not clear why Nectar Connect is closing, but I suspect it is a mix of:

• poor promotion, including the fact that you couldn’t see what sort of offers were available until after you had registered your credit cards

• new members did not see any offers for a few days after joining, meaning that momentum was lost

• an unwillingness by members to give Nectar the access it requested to your financial data (it looked at everything you spent on your credit cards and used this for marketing purposes)

• the requirement (because of the data mining above) to make members rejoin Nectar Connect every 90 days

• merchants waking up to the fact that they were paying out twice – for example, I was getting cashback on LNER train tickets via American Express cashback offers AND getting paid out via Nectar Connect for the same purchase

In general, I think that the card linked offers space is due for a shake out.

With the exception of American Express – which negotiates its own exclusive deals for products which are in line with its brand image and customer base – the other variants of this I see are very ‘me too’.

You’ve got the same offers across different card portfolios, from a relatively fixed number of merchants. It is virtually impossible to keep track of what is available via your different payment cards – I am currently juggling Nectar Connect, Virgin Money, American Express and MBNA cashback deals – and the reward, often just a £1 or so of cashback, isn’t worth the effort.

PR-wise, the other issue is that – American Express aside – the offers you are shown are very random, meaning that there is little value in people like ourselves giving them publicity.

The reason we cover Amex cashback deals is that a) they are usually for meaningful sums, eg £100 back on a hotel booking and b) most readers will find a particular offer on one of their cards. You can’t say this about Nectar Connect, MBNA or Virgin Money.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

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:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

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.

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, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

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.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

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.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.