M&S Reward Plus Credit Card review

The M&S Reward Plus Credit Card offers its users the ability to accumulate twice as many points on eligible transactions compared to other credit cards offered by M&S. Featuring an APR rate of 19.9%, the card also gives its users a £20 promotional voucher.

M&S vouchers can be obtained by paying for products or services that its customers would do anyway with the Credit Card offered.

So, as described in its name, this is a credit card that offers reward points as payments are made, making it a great alternative for customers looking for cards that offer loyalty points.

This benefit, however, means that other benefits and features offered on other M&S cards are not available on the M&S Reward Plus Credit Card, such as a long interest-free period on new purchases, or balance transfers between cards, thus making it an option intended for customers able to meet their debts and spending every month.

What does the card offer you?

When applying for the M&S Reward Plus Credit Card, the user instantly earns 2,000 reward points, which can be used in the company’s points store to redeem rewards. In addition, this step also includes a £20 promotional voucher, which can be used to make any purchase in the store.

The credit card also offers a bonus of 500 points, the equivalent of £5, on the first purchase made through the credit card. If this benefit is factored into the application rewards, users can count on a starting amount of £25.

The rewards, however, are M&S loyalty points, not Sparks points, which are also offered by the institution.

For the first 12 months, the credit card offers its users double the points for every pound spent. When the promotion period comes to an end, customers then get one M&S Loyalty Point for every £1 spent on eligible transactions.

If an M&S Premium checking account is opened in conjunction with the credit card application, customers can triple the amount of points earned on each payment, redeeming up to six points for every pound spent.

At first, this offer may seem perfect. However, opening the account can generate a monthly expense of £10 for users. As such, if users do not redeem rewards consistently or utilize the other benefits of the M&S Premium checking account, this is not a pleasant offer.

If users make a purchase outside of M&S stores, they will have to spend £5 to earn a point.

So, assuming the customer spends the average £25 in M&S stores using this credit card, it will be possible to acquire the amount of £26 in bonuses during the first year of use. If the user also has an M&S Premium current account, this amount can reach £78.

If the amount is added to the initial bonuses, which add up to £25, users can earn a total of £51 during the first year of using the credit card, provided they make their purchases in M&S stores.

From this point on, the benefits offered by the credit card will be significantly less, however, this is still a great alternative for regulars in M&S stores.

If the M&S Reward Plus Credit Card offers appeal to you, then you can apply for this credit card here.

M&S Reward Plus Credit Card and its alternatives

Before applying for this credit card, first, it is important to compare its benefits with the offers of other similar cards available in the market.

The initial £5 pounds is not a benefit unique to the M&S Reward Plus Credit Card, as it is offered on other cards, such as Shopping Plus and Transfer Plus. They also offer a point for every pound spent in M&S stores and, similar to the card reviewed in this article, they also require £5 to give you a point at other establishments.

Thus, applying the same logic to the offers of the two cards, you can identify that the offer drops significantly. Using the same criteria as the situation mentioned in the M&S Reward Plus Credit Card, the user will earn only £18, split between the initial £5 and £13 referring to their purchases at M&S stores.

This is because the two mentioned options have different objectives than the M&S Reward Plus Credit Card. While Transfer Plus offers the possibility to honor debts by transferring the balance over a 28 month period, Shopping Plus guarantees its user 0% interest on new purchases.

The M&S Reward Plus Credit Card, however, offers interest-free spending for six months.

We will, however, not only make the direct comparison between the cards. In the following we will see how the offers perform in comparison with other supermarket loyalty cards.

Asda, for example, offers a credit card to its customers that makes it so that 1% of all spending at Asda stores is received as cashback by its users. For spending at other outlets, however, the percentage drops to 0.2%.

Sainsbury’s, for its part, also offers a credit card based on the loyalty system. With it, customers can get two Nectar Points for every pound spent in its stores. This effectively represents a 1% return. The card also offers no interest on new spending for a period of 26 months. For spending in other establishments, users can receive the amount of one point for every £ spent.

Following the line of Sainsbury’s loyalty cards, the Club Card Credit Card offers one point for every £4 spent in Sainsbury’s stores. At other outlets, the card offers one point every £8.

With the Partnership Card credit card from Waitrose, users can get one point for every £1 spent, just as with other loyalty cards. However, this plan offers double the points for the first 90 days. At other stores, its users can earn one point for every £2 spent.

Conclusion

The initial credit card offer, which lasts for 12 months, is one of the most generous benefits currently available on the market. However, when the period comes to an end, the benefit is slightly less.

As a credit card that gives benefits based on a loyalty program, this is a better option for customers who constantly visit M&S stores. If you shop at other stores, you may want to consider the other options available in the market.