John Lewis will relaunch its Partnership Card later this year in partnership with NewDay, a leading UK provider of consumer credit.
The Partnership Card, launched in 2004, is one of the UK’s most popular retail rewards credit cards. Customers are rewarded with 1.25% back on every pound spent at John Lewis and Waitrose, which they receive as points towards John Lewis and Waitrose gift vouchers.1 Over the last five years, £230m2 has been issued to customers in vouchers.
From 9 May we will no longer be accepting applications for the Partnership Card with our current credit provider HSBC UK. We will reopen applications in the summer when we relaunch our card with NewDay.
There are no immediate changes for existing customers who can continue to spend on their cards, collect points and be rewarded with vouchers as normal.
We’ll write to Partnership Card customers this summer to share more detail and explain the change. The new Partnership Card will have the same rewards which customers know and love.
Amir Goshtai, Director of John Lewis Financial Services said: “Our Partnership Card has been our flagship product for many years and is loved by so many of our customers. That’s why we’re investing in relaunching it with new digital services to help customers in the moments that matter.
“We’re delighted to be partnering with NewDay, who are known for their highly flexible and innovative products.
“Together we’ll continue to offer the gift voucher rewards our Partnership Card customers love and develop new products and services for existing and new customers. There’s no immediate change for current customers, who can continue to use their card and collect points as normal, and we’ll write to them this summer about the change.”
John Hourican, CEO of NewDay, commented: “We’re excited to be partnering with John Lewis on the relaunch of their Partnership Card. NewDay has a track record of over 20 years of underwriting, and our proprietary credit decisioning capabilities allow us to responsibly say ‘yes’ to more customers, which will enable even more John Lewis customers to enjoy the much-loved Partnership Card rewards.”
The Partnership Card relaunch forms part of wider plans to provide a broader range of financial products and services to customers.
Last August, we launched our first investment products with Nutmeg, the UK’s largest digital wealth manager, and we now have over £16m in assets under management.
Overall, this year we’re investing more than £50m3 to grow our financial services business. We’re recruiting to increase the size of the John Lewis Finance team by a third; creating new products and services; and promoting our existing products, which span insurance, Partnership Card, point of sale credit, travel money and investments.
1 Partnership Card customers earn 5 points for every £4 they spend with John Lewis or Waitrose online and in store. They earn 1 point for every £4 they spend at other shops, restaurants and online retailers that accept Mastercard. For every 500 points customers receive a £5 John Lewis and Waitrose vouchers
2 £229m have been given to customers in gift vouchers February 2017- February 2022
3 £53m being invested in 2022/23
The John Lewis Partnership owns and operates two of Britain's best-loved retail brands - John Lewis and Waitrose. Started as a radical idea nearly a century ago, the Partnership is the largest employee-owned business in the UK and amongst the largest in the world, with over 80,000 employees who are all Partners in the business. Profits made are reinvested into the business - for customers and Partners. John Lewis operates 42 shops plus one outlet across the UK as well as johnlewis.com. Waitrose has 332 shops in England, Scotland, Wales and the Channel Islands, including 59 convenience branches, and another 27 shops at Welcome Break locations. The retailer's omnichannel business includes the online grocery service, Waitrose.com, as well as specialist online shops including waitrosecellar.com for wine and waitroseflorist.com for plants and flowers.
NewDay is one of the UK’s largest providers of consumer credit with the simple purpose of helping people move forward with credit. We are proud to serve close to five million customers across the UK through our portfolio of brands designed to meet a range of different consumer credit needs. This includes five of our own brands, alongside a stable of retail and e-tail partnerships with leading brands.