Review: the Tesco Bank Mastercard credit card

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

This is our review of the Tesco Bank Mastercard credit card.

It is part of our series of articles looking at the major UK loyalty credit cards and discussing whether of not they are worth applying for. These posts are linked to the relevant sections of the ‘Credit Card Offers‘ area of the menu bar. Our other UK airline and hotel credit card reviews can be found here.

This article was updated on 1st December 2021, and all of the information is correct as of that date. Ignore the original publication date shown.

Key link: Tesco Bank Mastercard application form

Key facts: No annual fee

The representative APR is 20.9% variable based on the ‘Purchases’ version of the card which I cover here.

About the Tesco credit card

The Tesco Bank Mastercard is issued by Tesco Bank, which is now wholly owned by Tesco following its acquisition of Royal Bank of Scotland’s stake a few years ago.

What is the Tesco credit card sign-up bonus?

There is currently no sign-up bonus on the card. Occasional promotions used to offer 1,000 bonus Tesco Clubcard points for signing up but we have not seen one of these since May 2018.

Any other benefits?

The core version of the Tesco Bank Mastercard offers 0% interest on purchases for up to the first 18 months.

This version of the card has a representative APR of 20.9% variable.

Alternative versions of the card are also available with different interest rate and balance transfer terms.

What do I earn per £1 spent on the card?

You earn 1 Clubcard point for every £8 spent on the card on a ‘per transaction’ basis.

It is important that you understand what ‘per transaction’ means. At the most extreme, if you bought 100 items at £7.99 in separate transactions, you would earn zero Clubcard points. A £15.99 transaction would only earn one point, whilst a £16.00 transaction would earn two points.

You earn 1 point per £4 spent in Tesco.

How does that convert to Avios or Virgin Points?

You will NOT be converting your Tesco Clubcard points to Avios. The partnership with Avios ended in January 2021.

You can still convert your Clubcard points to Virgin Points.

One Clubcard point is worth 2.5 Virgin points, so every £1 spent on the card gets you up to 0.312 Virgin Points. This rate is doubled for spending at Tesco.

You will receive a statement once a quarter containing your Clubcard vouchers, and you can convert these online to Virgin Points or redeem them for any of Tesco’s other Clubcard partner deals. You can even spend the vouchers in-store at Tesco at their face value, although this is a poor use of them.

I would usually say that earning 0.312 points per £1 is a good return from a free Visa or Mastercard. However, the Tesco card is competing against the most generous free Visa or Mastercard reward in the UK, which is the 0.75 Virgin Atlantic points per £1 offered on the free Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard.

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

The UK’s most generous free Visa or Mastercard at 0.75 points / £1 Read our full review

Any other quirks?

Your Tesco credit card doubles up as a standard Tesco Clubcard.

It is perfectly acceptable to hand over your Tesco credit card in a Tesco store and ask them to swipe it as a Clubcard. You can then pay for your shopping on a more lucrative credit card!

What is a Virgin Point worth?

We value Virgin Points in line with Avios, at 1p each. Where British Airways and Virgin Atlantic compete, mileage costs and taxes are close enough to justify this.

Virgin Points are relatively worthless in small quantities, however, if your aim is free flights due to Virgin’s lack of short haul options. Whilst you can redeem for many non-flight items, the value you get is low at around 0.5p per point.

One key benefit of Tesco Clubcard points is that you do not have to convert to Virgin Points, of course. Unlike the dedicated Virgin Atlantic credit cards, you have the option to convert to Virgin Points, but there is also the flexibility to use them for any other good Tesco deals that come along.

I used to use a large pile of vouchers to pay a regular Safestore bill and then moved on to using them for Uber. When those deals died I moved back to Avios – and have now moved across to Virgin Points – but it was good to have the choice.

Is this a good card to use when travelling?

As Tesco Bank adds a 3% foreign exchange fee, you might want to get a separate free credit card to use abroad.

Unfortunately there are no travel rewards cards without a foreign exchange fee. One option is to get a free card from Currensea. Currensea is a simple but clever idea. You pay abroad with your Currensea Mastercard debit card. Currensea translates the cost to Sterling with just a 0.5% fee (83% less than the Tesco card) and withdraws the money from your bank account. You can find out more by clicking here. Currensea is free so there is no risk in giving it a try.

Conclusion

With no sign-up bonus, there is no reason to get the Tesco Bank Mastercard for a quick points boost.

Assuming you convert your Clubcard vouchers to Virgin Points, the earning rate of 0.312 points per £1 is not attractive.

You could be earning 0.75 Virgin Flying Club points per £1 with the free Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard. Our review of the free Virgin Atlantic credit card is here.

Whilst there is some value in the greater flexibility offered by the Tesco Clubcard Mastercard, due to its wider range of redemption options, this is not enough to justify accepting 0.312 Virgin Points per £1 when you could be getting 0.75 per £1 on Virgin’s own card.

Even the occasional conversion bonuses of 10%-20% to Virgin Flying Club from Tesco do not go anywhere near justifying the gap.

The application form for the Tesco Bank Mastercard can be found here.

(Want to earn more miles and points from credit cards? Click here to visit our dedicated airline and hotel travel credit cards page or use the ‘Credit Card Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)

Disclaimer: Head for Points is a journalistic website. Nothing here should be construed as financial advice, and it is your own responsibility to ensure that any product is right for your circumstances. Recommendations are based primarily on the ability to earn miles and points and do not consider interest rates, service levels or any impact on your credit history. By recommending credit cards on this site, I am – technically – acting as a credit broker. Robert Burgess, trading as Head for Points, is regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a credit broker.

Category

Credit & Charge Card Reviews, Tesco Clubcard

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Save East Coast Rewards says:

29 Jan29 January 03:31

I’m still not sure what the point in ‘Currensea’ is! It’s appeared on most credit card reviews for a while now. It might appeal to some but I doubt it would the typical HfP reader as there’s no rewards for using it.

I know my Monzo account charges the MasterCard exchange rate and no extra fees on top so if I want to make a transaction and I’m not caring about points then that would also make more sense than Currensea
- Save East Coast Rewards says:
  
  29 Jan29 January 05:11
  
  Argh. Delete this, I see I asked this in another thread. I’m currently going through a pattern of being tired all the time. Sleeping most of the day and then waking up at odd times. I totally forgot I already posted this
- DT says:
  
  29 Jan29 January 06:26
  
  The only thing more consistent as the currensea ads is the first comment on every credit card review complaining about it.
  
  It doesn’t hurt you and it obviously benefits HfP that you read for free all day long, what’s the problem
  - Save East Coast Rewards says:
    
    29 Jan29 January 07:48
    
    As I said I was wondering if I was missing something as I couldn’t see any benefit of it but obviously people did see the benefit of it as it’s getting enough referral fees to make it worth keep mentioning it.
    
    It was a genuine question, I know Rob wouldn’t post something solely to make referral fees, it would have to offer something.
    
    As I mentioned in my follow up I accidentally posted this question twice so I asked Rob to delete this thread.
    
    I blame lockdown, I’ve not had much to do the last few weeks and I’ve ended up sleeping a lot and I forgot I had already asked the same question a few days ago. New contract next week, so hopefuly that’ll get me back to normal.
    
    In that thread Rob does say an advantage of currensea – apparently bendy isn’t entirely fee free these days and not everyone wants to apply for a current account without fees.
    - sprout says:
      
      29 Jan29 January 09:40
      
      Like you I couldn’t see any benefit to it as there are better options (Revolut, Monzo, Halifax etc) for me, so I just assumed it was plugged for the referral fees. However, when you click on the button at the top showing the list of affiliates Currensea isn’t amongst them so presumably these is no income from them ? In which case I don’t really understand why they are plugged so heavily – unless I’m missing something?
      - Callum says:
        
        29 Jan29 January 13:20
        
        The link provided is a referral link. I assume that page just hasn’t been updated yet as it’s quite new – but they do say to expect that any link can be an affiliate link.
      - Rob says:
        
        29 Jan29 January 15:30
        
        Apologies, I will add that in.
  - Callum says:
    
    29 Jan29 January 13:12
    
    On the rare occasions a substandard product is pushed on here, given the history of excellent recommendations they provide, it’s a bit jarring.
    
    While there is a very small subset of people who may benefit from Currensea, it’s clear there are better options available. Yes, knowledgeable people will just ignore it and choose the better options, but plenty of people don’t know better.
    
    I’m not going to start an argument as it’s hardly an egregious act (it’s the wrong choice for most – but it’s still a perfectly valid choice), but as long as Rob allows it, it’s perfectly legitimate for people to point out it’s not a good option in every article it’s mentioned in.
    - Rob says:
      
      29 Jan29 January 15:32
      
      What would you suggest for someone who wants a free product to reduce costs use abroad which isn’t complicated and won’t ding their credit report? I’m genuinely open to suggestions.
      
      The idea that Mr Average should open a separate current account just to get 0% FX is stupid. Similarly, getting a separate credit card for the sake of a few £k of spend per year is also not necessarily sensible, especially if you want to maximise your chances of getting other miles and points cards.
      
      Why don’t you order one, give it a go and report back?
      - Callum says:
        
        29 Jan29 January 16:57
        
        Why on Earth would I “give it a go” when I already have many better options? It’s an incredibly simple concept, I can’t imagine what I’d possibly learn from it…
        
        I did already acknowledge there’s a small market for this (though what on earth they’d be doing researching the topic on blogs if the prospect of opening a current account or credit card is “preposterous” I don’t know). I’m also staggered you’re claiming that opening a current account will “ding” your credit report and make it harder to get points cards – you can’t seriously believe that (or is this some kind of absurdly niche situation you’re describing where someone is seriously overextended on credit, have been making constant applications and are imminently applying for a mortgage?).
        
        If Mr Average doesn’t spend much abroad, won’t use credit, won’t spend 5 minutes opening a bank account yet still, for some reason, has a keen interest in saving money when spending abroad then yes, it’s perfectly fine. For anyone who is remotely financially literate, just use a free current account – everyone should have a second account with a different bank anyway, why not just make it with one that actually gives you a benefit…
      - Rob says:
        
        29 Jan29 January 18:24
        
        For £10 per year, which is what you’d save opening a 2nd bank account to spend £2,000 abroad vs Currensea’s 0.5%? I doubt most people can be bothered with that.
      - Callum says:
        
        29 Jan29 January 17:04
        
        (Just realised I misrepresented your credit report argument, but the point still stands – it’s realistically not going to stop you getting a reward card)
      - Guernsey Globetrotter says:
        
        29 Jan29 January 18:34
        
        Personally I think another unmentioned attraction of Currensea is that is likely reduces the amount of money management faffing whilst on holidays.
        Remembering to move dosh onto Revolut or Caxton platforms etc., while abroad, especially if you’ve spent more than you planned and drunk more than you planned, can be a PITA. Currensea would avoid all that, assuming a decent float is maintained in your usual current account… I for one would value that convenience but Lloyds International aren’t on openbanking yet !
      - Callum says:
        
        30 Jan30 January 11:06
        
        If you don’t have a second bank account then, quite frankly, you’re a financial idiot.
        
        Though given it doesn’t really take much longer than setting up a Currensea account, it’s a bit of a redundant argument anyway. And again, why on Earth would someone who can’t spare 5 minutes to open a bank account be reading financial review blog posts!?
Vicky says:

29 Jan29 January 05:40

Thanks for the review, it was really helpful and made my decision to close my Tesco card. Just applied for the virgin money and got excepted straightaway.
WillPS says:

29 Jan29 January 06:26

Surprised there’s no mention of Clubcard Plus with overseas spending. If you do a couple of weekly shops (or even just one big monthly shop) in store at Tesco it’s a no brainer regardless.

I’ve seen a lot of commentary here (possibly from Rob thinking about it) and there that Tesco are winding down their bank operations… it will be a sad day for me when my Premium card dies either way.

I don’t travel abroad except for work (fiancée does not fly) but I’ve had so many holidays paid for in Britain by Clubcard.
- Rob says:
  
  29 Jan29 January 09:55
  
  Despite saying that, I have just shoved some cash back into Tesco Bank. I had an account which was virtually empty because the interest rate was bad, but it turns out the interest rate is actually guaranteed until June. With other banks slashing their rates to 0.1%ish over the last 6 months, the Tesco account suddenly looks great.
  - Hilly says:
    
    29 Jan29 January 11:46
    
    Eh? Tesco current account stopped paying interest on credit balance months ago.
    - Rob says:
      
      29 Jan29 January 12:59
      
      Current accounts, yes. Not saving accounts.
      - Wally1976 says:
        
        29 Jan29 January 15:04
        
        What account is this Rob? Your comment led me to check our Tesco savings accounts and they pay 0.1%.
        
        To be honest I’m finding there’s hardly any point chasing savings rates any more. I stick our cash savings in Club Lloyds current accounts for 1.5% but barely seems worth the bother. Different for those with large cash balances I guess!
      - Rob says:
        
        29 Jan29 January 15:26
        
        I have an Internet Saver account which I opened when it was at 0.4% but never used – turns out the 0.4% is fixed until June.
        
        I agree it is dreadful now. The money that went in there came out of NSI where it was getting 0.01%!
        
        Taking your full £50k on Premium Bonds is a very sensible strategy now esp if you pay tax on savings.
- RussellH says:
  
  29 Jan29 January 10:20
  
  Just because your finacee does not fly is no reason not to travel to other countries! You can, often much more comfortably, go by train or ship and / or car.
  I have been travelling to and around the rest of Europe since I was 2½, on my own since I was 13, but never flew from the UK to another European city until I was in my late 40s.
Ryan says:

29 Jan29 January 07:32

It is worth noting that you do still receive 1 point for every £1 for spending in Tesco on your grocery shopping, and the same for fuel in a Tesco Filling Ststion (Excluding Esso over branded Tesco sites) and thus still gaining your Virgin 2.5 ratio.
- Rich says:
  
  30 Jan30 January 11:16
  
  Agreed, using the Tesco CC as a Clubcard when buying fuel (then paying using a better card if you want) you get a point per £ rather than the lower point per litre or whatever it is when using a bog standard Clubcard. This higher yield for fuel spend could be in the quirks section of the article.
Freddy says:

29 Jan29 January 07:46

Who in their right mind would get this card, it’s abysmal. If this was as good as it got I would have quit the points game a long time ago
- Ryan says:
  
  29 Jan29 January 08:16
  
  I think in fairness, there will have been thousands of readers here who do have the card, and as Rob has alluded to previously, up until the last week or so, it was still a fairly decent Avios partner.
  - Rob says:
    
    29 Jan29 January 09:41
    
    We will be dropping it from our ‘evergreen’ credit card articles as they are updated.
- Rob says:
  
  29 Jan29 January 09:51
  
  Until last Monday it was the best free Visa or MC for earning Avios, if you exclude HSBC Premier.
TPB says:

29 Jan29 January 07:49

“Unfortunately there are no travel rewards card without a foreign exchange fee.” – The Virgin Atlantic card is still free to use across Europe, no forex charges
- Rob says:
  
  29 Jan29 January 09:47
  
  This is still just temporary – look at their website, it is not part of their marketing pitch (although it is in the small print).
Genghis says:

29 Jan29 January 07:52

Use as a club card at Tesco petrol = 1 club card point vs 0.5 with a normal club card.
Mr(s) Entitled says:

29 Jan29 January 08:14

It is played down here, but there are much better value redemptions than Virgin with Tesco. It changes the math of what a clubcard point is worth.
- Sprout says:
  
  29 Jan29 January 08:43
  
  Indeed. One should also bear in mind that Virgin cap the points earning potential at the monthly credit limit and are notoriously stingy with the limits they give. My partner was only offered £3k per month which means a max of 27k points per year. So, given the lack of short haul flights with Virgin, the Tesco card is a better option to convert points for eating out, cinema tickets etc