Nectar is a loyalty scheme that generally doesn’t get much attention on Tricks of the Trade. That’s largely because I have yet to come across many outstanding earning/redemption opportunities.
For the most part, my involvement with Nectar points is confined to sending across small balances of Membership Rewards points when closing an American Express Gold or Platinum account. Along with Club Carlson, Nectar is the only transfer partner that will allow you to tidy up balances of less than 100 points.
There are, however, promotions that allow you to achieve more than the regular (and poor) 0.5p per point of value if redeeming instore at Sainsbury’s. Some of these are available year-round, while others such as Nectar Summer Rewards, only run periodically.
That being the case, I don’t deliberately disregard fairly straightforward opportunities to keep my Nectar balance ticking over. The plan being I’ll bide my time before eventually cashing them out during one of these promotional offers.
The following offer is an excellent opportunity to rack up a large quantity of Nectar points at ‘zero cost’.
Nectar has a credit card partnership with American Express. The card normally offers a sign-up bonus of 20,000 Nectar points when you spend £2,000 within your first 90 days of card membership.
However, if you apply before 1st November 2017 you will receive an extra 10,000 points for a total of 30,000 Nectar points.
The bonus will be awarded in two tranches. You will receive 20,000 points on your American Express statement upon completing the required spend. A further 10,000 points will then be added directly to your Nectar account, by Nectar.
Day to day earnings rate
The basic earnings rate on this card is 2 Nectar points per £1 spent at most retailers. There is no additional bonus for using this card abroad unlike the American Express Gold card (reviewed here) for example.
Am I eligible for this bonus?
You WILL be eligible for the sign-up bonus on this card provided you don’t hold/haven’t held the Amex Nectar card in the last six months.
This is irrespective of any other Amex Gold/Platinum/BA/SPG card products you may hold/have held.
Annual fee
There is NO annual fee on this card for the first year. The cost is £25 p.a. thereafter.
The first year annual fee waiver is actually an improvement to Amex’s previous policy. The T&C’s used to state that if you held any other Amex cards, the £25 annual fee would be due for the first year as well. This is no longer the case.
How to apply
While further info about this card can be found on the American Express website here, you MUST apply via this dedicated link on the Nectar website.
The T&C’s are quite clear that only applications made via the Nectar website or app will be eligible for the added bonus.
This promotion runs from 28th September until 1st November 2017.
Verdict
30,000 Nectar points is undoubtedly a strong deal for this card. The bonus has been as high as 40,000 points in recent years, although that has been quite targeted. I am actually tempted to stick in a quick application myself. The good thing about this card is that since it belongs to a different card ‘family’ within Amex, it won’t affect your eligibility for bonuses on the Gold/Platinum/BA cards.
At the very least, even if you redeemed the points immediately for shopping at Sainsbury’s, these 30,000 points are worth £150. If used wisely, they could well become £300. For a free card, that’s a fantastic return.
The promotional page and card application link can be found here.
Disclaimer: The information provided by Tricks of the Trade is intended solely as a helpful guide to relevant travel rewards card products and their various features and offers. You should always conduct your own research as recommendations provided within may not be suitable for your personal financial circumstances.
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