New ways to earn more Nectar points fast

You can send your Nectar points balance soaring via these two new promotions.

A couple of new ways to quickly accumulate lots of Nectar points have just launched.

It’s doubtless a response to Tesco’s recent move to introduce Clubcard Boost, which converts £5-worth of Clubcard vouchers into £20-worth of rewards. By contrast, £5-worth of Nectar points is worth £5 of discount, except in a few cases.

While this means Nectar points aren’t as valuable as Clubcard points in many cases, if you can build a decent stash you can earn big money off flights, holidays, treats and shopping. However, Nectar has plenty of rewards partners that Clubcard doesn’t – such as easyJet, Expedia and Vue cinemas – and vice versa.

Here are the new ways you can boost your Nectar haul.

Megapoints events

Starting this month, you can earn double or triple Nectar points at certain times at certain retailers. The following promotions are running throughout October:

• Double points at DHL
• Double points at Ford
• Triple points at Hertz
• Double points at Oxfam

Meanwhile, there are several promotions from Friday to Sunday (4th to 6th October) this weekend:

• Double points at eBay
• Triple points at Expedia
• Double points at Homebase
• Double points at Nectar eShops
• Double points at Sainsbury’s

Put your spending on the American Express Nectar card

The American Express Nectar credit card has been around for a while, but it has just got a lot better from a points perspective. Now if you spend £2,000 in the first three points you’ll receive 20,000 Nectar points, equivalent to a £100 discount at most Nectar partners, more at the others.

You’ll also earn up to four points for every £1 you spend at Nectar partners and two points for every £1 you spend elsewhere.

There is a £25 annual fee to pay, so you need to factor that in and decide if the points you’ll earn make that worthwhile. And, of course, you should always pay your balance off in full each month, otherwise you’ll be hit with interest charges of at least 19.9%.

Make sure you use your Nectar card wherever you can as well as your Nectar credit card to double your points.

Other ways to earn more Nectar points

If you don’t want to use a fee-charging credit card, there’s the Sainsbury’s Bank Nectar cards. These offers 10 points for every £1 you spend in Sainsbury’s, up to a maximum of £1,000 a month, for the first three months. After that, you earn four points for every £1 you spend on Sainsbury’s shopping and one point for every £5 you spend elsewhere.

There are two cards to choose from: the Sainsbury’s Bank Nectar Low Rate card, which has a representative APR of 7.8%, and the Sainsbury’s Bank Nectar card, which has a far higher representative APR of 17.9%.

Or if you have a big purchase coming up, you could use the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold charge card. Spend £2,000 in the first three months you have the card and you’ll earn 20,000 American Express Membership Rewards points. These can be exchanged on a one-for-one basis for Nectar points, giving you at least £100 to spend with Nectar partners.

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, although 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.

You can also earn lots of points by signing up for your energy from British Gas, medical insurance from PruHealth, your mobile phone from Mobile by Sainsbury’s and various Sainsbury’s Bank products. Just make sure you shop around so you’re not paying more than you need to just to earn Nectar points.

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