Barclaycard adds its Freedom Rewards to more credit cards

You can now earn Freedom Rewards points on three different Barclaycards. Here's what they offer.

Barclaycard has revamped some of its credit card range. As a result, there are now three very different cards which offer Freedom Rewards points when you spend on them.

What is Freedom Rewards?

Freedom Rewards is Barclaycard’s rewards programme. Rewards points can be earned by spending on Barclaycard credit cards and then spent at over 70 retailers and venues.

Where to earn points

Right now, you can earn double Freedom points on every £1 of supermarket, petrol station and Transport for London spending, plus triple points for every £1 spent at selected partners including BHS, Bella Italia, Café Rouge, Currys PC World, Goldsmiths and Strada.

You earn one point for every £1 spent everywhere else.

These values apply to all three Freedom Rewards cards.

Where to spend points

The partner retailers and venues including Amazon, Argos, Boots, Odeon and Starbucks. The minimum amount of points you can spend is 1,750, which buys a £5 Freedom Rewards voucher

How it compares

Here’s how much Freedom Rewards points are worth compared to Clubcard, Nectar and M&S points.

If you want to earn points fast

If the scheme sounds appealing, the Freedom Rewards card is currently offering 10,500 points (worth £30) if you spend £300 in the first three months you have the card.

However, if you prefer Nectar, then the Sainsbury's Bank Nectar card pays 10 points per £1 spent on up to £1,000 spending in Sainsbury's shops each month.

Or if you have a big purchase coming up and you can repay your balance in full, then the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold charge card pays 2,000 Membership Rewards points if you spend £2,000 in the first three months. Those 20,000 points can be exchanged for a £100 gift card from the likes of M&S, Boots and Amazon. Note that this is a charge card so you HAVE to pay off your balance in full each month, which you should do anyway with any of these three cards to avoid interest charges wiping out the value of the points you've earned. And the card normally has an annual fee of £125, but this is currently being waived for the first year. But make sure you cancel the card if you don't want to pay it in the second year.

If you want to spread your spending and still earn points

The Freedom Rewards Purchase card offers 14 months with no interest to pay on purchases, plus the double and triple points offers listed above. So if you have a big purchase coming up you could spread the cost and still make something from it.

However, this card isn’t the most competitive of the 0% purchase cards out there. The Tesco Clubcard for Purchases offers a whopping 18 months interest free, plus Clubcard points on your spending.

Or if you’re a fan of M&S, the M&S Bank credit card offers 15 months with no interest to pay and M&S points on your spending.

If you want to do a balance transfer and earn points

The Freedom Rewards 27-Month Balance Transfer card is one of a number of cards offering the second-longest interest-free period on balance transfers at the moment at 27 months. They’re only beaten by the Barclaycard Platinum 28-Month, but it has a higher balance transfer fee of 3.5% of the debt you’re shifting.

By contrast, the Freedom Rewards charges 2.49%, the cheapest rate for 27 months. Or you might want to consider the Bank of Scotland Platinum 24-Month, Lloyds Bank Platinum 24-Month and TSB Platinum 24-Month, which all offer 24 months with no interest to pay for a fee of just 1.5%.

However, the Freedom Rewards may appeal if you want to use it for everyday spending to earn points, as well as using it for a balance transfer.

This can be slightly risky, however, particularly if you are only just making the monthly repayments. You should also try to avoid being tempted into spending more by the six-month 0% interest period on purchases. The Tesco Clubcard for Balance Transfers might be a better bet in terms of rewards. It offers 27 months interest-free on transfers for a 3.5% fee but you earn Clubcard points on any spending.

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