Six reward credit cards that pay you to shop

If you are sensible about clearing your credit card debt each month there are a handful of cards on the market that could reward your effort.

Airline rewards and cashback deals are a popular option, but your favourite supermarket or retailer may also offer a credit card that will enable you to clock up loyalty points when you spend. 

You are unlikely to earn a fortune or be able to use points to pay for your entire weekly shop but they do give you something back for your spending. 

Rewards points are always tempting but before you read what’s on offer below, you should ask yourself a few questions to make sure this is the right type of deal for you.

Question 1: Will you clear your credit card balance each month? If the answer is no then stop right here. These deals are only worth it if you are disciplined. They are designed to encourage you to spend with the hope that you won’t clear the debt and they can then charge you interest.

Interest is typically charged at 18 or 19 per cent APR but some of the below options charge as much as 24 per cent. This will quickly outweigh any rewards benefits. 

Question 2: Do you plan on using it to make a large purchase?

If the answer is yes, and you will need some time to clear it, you will be better off with a card with an interest-free promotion on purchases.

A couple of the deals below come with 0 per cent interest purchase deals attached. 

But if you do decide to take advantage of the feature, remember, any extra spending before you clear the amount will just add to your debt and make it harder to repay before standard interest kicks in. 

You can read more about purchase credit cards here. 

If you need to clear an existing credit card debt you should skip straight to our regularly updated guide to the best balance transfer deals. 

SIX OF THE BEST REWARD CARDS 

M&S

Promotion: Receive 500 points (worth £5) when you sign up and make your first purchase on food, clothing or home items.

Plus if you apply through MoneySupermarket here you earn a £50 reward voucher to spend on M&S clothing, footwear, lingerie, beauty, homeware, accessories, food or flowers when you spend over £100 or make a balance transfer of the same value before 30 September.  

Points: The M&S Shopping Plus credit card pays one point for every £1 you spend in M&S on your card and one point for every £5 you spend elsewhere.

If you have a paid-for M&S Premium Current Account [HOW MUCH DOES THIS COST A MONTH?] you will get a boosted rate of three points for every £1 spent at M&S on your M&S Credit Card.

For every 100 points you earn you will be given £1 in vouchers. Any earnings will be sent to you four times a year.  

Other perks include preferential rates when you use your M&S Credit Card to order M&S Travel Money. 

Card details: The card comes with a fairly competitive 0 per cent purchase deal at 25 months. You get the same term on balance transfers made within 90 days (2.9 per cent fee applies).

There is no annual fee and it charges 18.9 per cent APR. Overseas spending comes with a 2.99 per cent transaction fee, as do cash advances.

John Lewis Partnership: The rewards card pays for spends made in Waitrose too

John Lewis/Waitrose 

Points: The Partnership card pays one point for every £1 spent on your card at John Lewis and Waitrose, plus on John Lewis insurance and currency.

There are often double points promotions you can sign up for email reminders about and you can add up to three cardholders to help clock up as many points as possible.

Once you reach 500 points you get a £5 giftcard, sent out to you three times a year.

Card details: The card has no annual fee but it charges 16.9 per cent APR interest.

You get 6 months interest free on balance transfers (2.5 per cent transfer fee) and purchases.

Using the card abroad comes with a 2.75 per cent non-sterling transaction fee and a 2.5 per cent charge for using an ATM. 

Rewards: The Platinum credit card pays the equivalent of 0.75 per cent on Amazon spends

Amazon 

Promotion: You get a £10 gift voucher when you sign up.

Points: With the Amazon Platinum Credit Card you earn 1.5 points for every £2 spent on the Amazon website, plus spenders get one point for every £2 spent on the card elsewhere. 

This works out as 0.75 per cent back on Amazon spending and 0.5 per cent on anything else. 

Once you get to 1,000 points, you get a £10 gift voucher added to your account to spend on Amazon.

Card details: It comes with 0 per cent interest on purchases for the first three months. 

There is no annual fee and it comes with an APR of 21.9 per cent. 

Cash advances cost 3 per cent and there is a 2.75 per cent foreign transaction charge.

Sainsbury’s 

Promotion: 1,000 Nectar points each time you spend £35 in your Sainsbury’s shop for the first two months.

Points: With the Sainsbury’s Nectar credit card you collect 2 Nectar Points per £1 spend on shopping and fuel at the supermarket and 1 point per £5 spent elsewhere.

You can use your card to buy currency with Sainsbury’s with no cash advance fee.

Each point is worth 0.5p so 500 points gets you £2.50 off your shop. You need a minimum of 500 points before you can exchange your points online.

Card details

The Purchase Credit Card comes with 31 months 0 per cent interest on spending and three months 0 per cent on balance transfers (3 per cent handling fee).

It also offers a Dual Offer Credit Card offering 30 months on purchase and balance transfers (2.74 per cent handling fee).

Both come with standard interest of 18.9 per cent APR.

There is also a Low Rate Credit Card charging 5.9 per cent. 

On all three cards cash advances cost 3 per cent and there is a 2.75 per cent foreign transaction charge across all three options.

Supermarket spends: Tesco offers one of the most rewarding loyalty schemes

Tesco  

Points: Shoppers earn one Clubcard point for every £4 spent in Tesco and one point for every £8 spent outside Tesco.

This is in addition to the existing loyalty card earnings at one Clubcard point per £1 spent in stores or one point per £2 spent on Tesco Fuel.

Each point is currently worth 1p if spent in-store at Tesco and up to 4p if redeemed using Tesco’s Clubcard Rewards Vouchers depending on which partner you choose.

The supermarket also recently announced spenders would be able to swap points money off Uber rides. 

Every three months, your Clubcard points get turned into vouchers.

Card details: As with Sainsbury’s there are a few card options. There is a Low Rate Clubcard Credit Card charging a rate of 5.9 per cent. It comes with a one-month 0 per cent interest deal.

Tesco also offers a purchase credit card offering 30 months 0 per cent interest on purchases with a balance transfers promotion of 3 months (2.9 per cent fee).

There are several specific balance transfer deals including a 40-month interest-free deal, but if clocking up rewards through spending is your main aim you are better off not using the same card to clear debts. 

There is a 3 per cent cash advance fee and foreign transactions cost 2.75 per cent. 

Debenhams 

Promotion: You get 10 per cent off for a week and 500 points (worth £5).

Points: The Debenhams credit card pays 3 points per £1 spent in stores and one point per £2 spent elsewhere. 

Every three months your points are converted into Rewards Vouchers. 

There are some extra benefits for cardholders of free delivery, 10 per cent off lunch or afternoon tea at its restaurants and cafes, preferential rates on currency.

The card: The card comes with interest at a higher rate than the rest at 24.9 per cent so watch out – you will need to be even more careful to clear it each month. 

When you are abroad you will pay 2.75 per cent in non-Sterling transaction fee and a 3 per cent cash withdrawal charge.