No more sign up bonuses on Sainsbury’s Nectar credit cards

The Sainsbury’s Nectar Credit Card offered a way of getting a one-off hit of 8,000 Nectar points, worth 5,000 Avios, due to its sign-up bonus.

It certainly wasn’t a great credit card for day to day spending, as I will explain, but arguably 5,000 Avios as a sign-up bonus on a free credit card was worth thinking about.

You no longer need to think about it. Sainsbury’s has pulled the Nectar Credit Card for new applicants and no longer offers a sign-up bonus on any of its credit cards.

Sainsbury’s Bank issues a number of credit cards with different features. All have the same earning rate per £1 spent.

Only one card – the Nectar Credit Card – came with a sign-up bonus.

This has now been removed from sale, to be replaced with the ‘Nectar Dual Credit Card’. This appears to be the same as the old Nectar Credit Card, but without any sort of sign-up bonus.

Why don’t we recommend Sainsbury’s cards for daily spending?

The earning rate on the Sainsbury’s cards is 1 Nectar point per £5 for general spending and 1 point per £2 for spending in Sainsbury’s, Tu Clothing and Argos. This is exceptionally bad.

Points are earned ‘per transaction’. This means that a £4.99 purchase outside of Sainsbury’s will earn nothing. A £9.99 transaction would only earn one Nectar point. Given that the return is so poor in the first place, this is astonishing penny-pinching.

What is a Nectar point worth?

In virtually all circumstances, a Nectar point is worth 0.5p.

1 Nectar point per £5 charged to any Sainsbury’s credit card is equivalent to a 0.1% rebate on your spend.

In reality, it is worse than this because your spending is rounded down to the nearest £5 per transaction before points are awarded.

With 1 Nectar point worth 0.625 Avios, you would earn 0.125 Avios per £1 spent outside Sainsbury’s. Inside Sainsbury’s and Argos you would earn 0.312 Avios per £1.

This is a joke compared to, for example, the free Barclaycard Avios credit card. This earns 1 Avios per £1 spent. You can transfer these to Nectar and get 1.33 Nectar points per £1, worth 0.66p.

Astonishingly, the free Barclaycard Avios credit card earns you 6.6x the rewards of a Sainsbury’s credit card. This is before you factor in the annual Barclaycard / British Airways upgrade voucher too!

Conclusion

The Sainsbury’s Nectar Credit Card had a half-decent sign-up bonus and we recommended it for a one-off hit of 5,000 Avios – as long as you promised to cancel it once you’d done that!

The on-going earnings rate of 1 Nectar point per £5 spent was always very weak. Even the ‘improved’ rate of 1 point per £2 spent in Sainsbury’s, Argos or Tu Clothing is a bit of a joke.

With no sign up bonus at all on the new Sainsbury’s Nectar Dual Credit Card, you don’t need to bother looking at the Sainsbury’s credit card range any longer.

PS. If you don’t have the Nectar American Express credit card, take a look at our review here.

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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