The credit cards that offer 0% interest and rewards!

Getting a 0% period on your spending is great, but these credit cards offer rewards on top.

A credit card offering 0% interest can come in very useful if you have a big spend on the horizon. Whether it’s paying for a train season ticket, home improvements or even a wedding, the ability to pay your debt off in manageable chunks, without getting whacked with interest on top, is an attractive proposition.

But what about cards that offer a little extra? What about the cards that don’t just give you time to pay off that debt, but offer a reward for your spending on top?

Today I’m going to look at five credit cards that do just that.

Tesco Clubcard Credit Card

I’ve had this card myself for three years, and it’s even better now than when I first signed up.

The Tesco Clubcard credit card offers a market-leading 16 months free from interest on your purchases, giving you ample time in which to clear your debt, four months longer than when I first took out the card.

But the reason it still has pride of place in my wallet is the reward scheme. No matter where you spend your money, you collect Clubcard points. For someone like me that does the vast majority of my food shopping at Tesco, this is a cracking bonus.

You get one point for every £4 you spend on the Clubcard credit card outside the supermarket, and five points for every £4 spent in Tesco (or on Tesco fuel).

Tesco Clubcard points are turned into vouchers which can be spent in store. Or you can convert them into Avios miles or even vouchers for days out or money off restaurants, in some cases at four times their face value.

150 points is equivalent to a £1.50 voucher, which will be sent to you in your Clubcard statement.

M&S Money MasterCard

The M&S credit card is just behind the Tesco card in terms of its interest-free offer, boasting 15 months before you face interest charges.

And the money you spend earns you M&S Reward points. You get one point for every £1 spent at M&S or £2 spent elsewhere. 100 points is equivalent to a £1 Reward Voucher. Every quarter you’ll be sent your Reward Vouchers which you can spend in store.

NatWest/RBS YourPoints World Purchase MasterCard

NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland offer the YourPoints World MasterCard. The cards offer 13 months of 0% interest on your purchases and balance transfers.

The cards are part of the YourPoints loyalty scheme. You earn one point for every £1 you spend, which can then be spent on everything from flights with easyJet, luxury days out or just money off at stores like Amazon and Marks & Spencer.

You’re given a bonus 2,500 points for taking out the card, and then the same again each year as a loyalty present.

2,000 points is the equivalent of a £10 voucher.

AA Visa Credit Card

The AA credit card is a decent option whether you want 0% interest on purchases or balance transfers. It offers 10 months free of interest on your spending and 12 months on any sums you transfer over from other cards.

The rewards with the card are really good too. You earn reward points on all of the money you spend, and double points if that money is spent on motoring goods, fuel or other AA products.

You can then exchange those points for money off AA products, high street vouchers, money off days out or even cashback. And the rate of cashback can work out at 4%!

1,000 points is worth a £20 discount on AA products, a £5 voucher or £5 cashback.

Sainsbury’s Nectar Credit Card

The Nectar Credit Card from Sainsbury’s doesn’t offer a particularly long 0% period on purchases, at six months. It may seem more appealing if you’re looking for a balance transfer card, as it offers 15 months free of interest.

However, what I like about the card is that if offers a longer term reward on your spending. All of the money you spend in Sainsbury’s on the card for the first two years after you take it out will earn double Nectar points.

You’ll also earn one Nectar point for every £5 spent on your card elsewhere.

Once of the big selling points of the Nectar loyalty scheme is that you can earn points towards it in far more places than just the supermarket. You can see all of the participating stores on the Nectar scheme website.

1,000 Nectar points is the equivalent of a £5 voucher.

Comparing loyalty schemes

There is no hard and fast way to say which loyalty scheme is the ‘best’. On paper, it would seem that Clubcard and M&S Rewards are better than Nectar, given 1,000 points with the former two would return a £10 voucher, compared to a £5 voucher with Nectar.

But that misses the point somewhat. It’s all very well having a larger voucher, but if you don’t have something you want to spend that money on, it’s irrelevant. There are more ways to use those vouchers with Nectar than M&S Rewards, so comparing on the single basis of exact return on your money is misleading.

You’ll need to work out for yourself which reward scheme best suits your wants and needs.

What do you think? Do you have a credit card tied to a reward scheme? Do you think you get a sufficient return on your money? Let me know via the comment box below.

More on credit cards:

Aqua launches new top credit card for borrowers with bad credit

The 30 best credit cards for summer

The best debit card to use abroad

Why use a prepaid card?