Amex offers incentives to new Nectar cardholders

Amex offers incentives to new Nectar cardholders
Latest move in credit card rewards battle

American Express is offering newly signed up customers to its Nectar credit card 5,000 bonus points for the UK coalition loyalty scheme.

The points are worth a minimum of £25, but up to £50 when redeemed with selected brands including Amazon, Argos, Eurostar, Homebase and Sainsbury’s. Bonus points will also be awarded when the new cardholder spends £500 in the first three months.

At selected retailers including Alton Towers, Ask, Madame Tussauds and Thorpe Park, 500 points are worth £5 compared to the standard £2.50, which equates to a £50 bonus with the introductory offer.

The Amex move is the latest in a number of recent incentives offered by UK credit card issuers. Lloyds TSB has started giving a bonus of up to two free to new holders of its Airmiles Duo credit card, provided they spend ‘normally’ on the card in the first three months.

As reported on Loyalty yesterday, new research from moneysupermarket.com shows that more than half of the credit card users questioned chose their card because of the reward it offers, indicating the importance of loyalty rewards on payment cards.

Reward confusion

Moneysupermarket,com is also carrying the following blog:

Hi guys,

Not sure if i’ve got this right so here is a scenario…. If i spend £100 in tesco with:

Amex Nectar (+tesco clubcard for points) I get 100 tesco points and 100 nectar points. 100 tesco points = £1 and 100 nectar points = 50p so reward rate is 1.5%

If however I use the Tesco Clubcard Credit Card (5 points per £4 spent) I get 125 clubcard points so the reward rate is 1.25%

Presumably you don’t get normal clubcard points in addition to the clubcard credit card points, in which case doesn’t it seem a bit odd that a Nectar credit card gives you a better return in Tesco’s than using a Tesco credit card in tescos??!:confused:

Loyalty suggests that Tesco would do well to put this right.

The £50 Nectar offer from Amex is in addition to the card’s standard rewards, which include two points per £1 spent on the credit card at selected stores such as Homebase and Sainsbury’s. This means collecting up to four points for every full £1 spent at most participating partners when cardholders “double dip” (pay with their Nectar credit card and use their Nectar loyalty card at the same time).

There will be one point for almost every £1 spent on the card everywhere else.

American Express also recently launched the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card in partnership with Starwood Hotels.

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