Write a review

John Lewis: Partnership Card reviews

Name: Partnership Card
Rating: 1.33 (876 reviews)

View other John Lewis products

1.33

Based on 876 reviews, last reviewed 25th Sep 2025

100% decrease in 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

No new 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

88%

Latest highest rating:

5

had a partnership card for years now. had a partnership card for years now. love the rewards vouchers on spends and the points you are awarded for using their credit card which i normally ... Read more Reviewed on: 12th June 2025

Latest lowest rating:

1

If your phone is stolen, you cannot verify anything. I had my phone and card stolen, to cancel your card you need your phone... to do anything, you need your phone. So then decided to used the chat servi... Read more Reviewed on: 25th September 2025

Read all reviews See your review

About this product

Read our John Lewis Finance Partnership Card reviews to help you to find out about the pros and cons of taking out the Partnership credit card. What kind of features does the John Lewis Partnership card have? What do people think of John Lewis' customer service? Does the card have great benefits?

Find out more about the Partnership card by reading our reviews from the Smart Money People community - people like you. You can also write your own John Lewis Partnership Card review to share your own experiences.

Smart Money People is the UK's leading financial services review and insight hub. Together, we can make financial services work better for everyone.

John Lewis Partnership Card reviews (876)

Review of the John Lewis, Partnership Card:

JLP and Newday in cahoots.

Told I'm ineligible - despite >50 years loyal JLP customer, 5 figure credit limit and score excellent - I have after communications with JLP managers concluded that this oust has been orchestrated by JLP. From sources including JLP and Newday websites,, I speculate: JL stores are in financial difficulty, currently supported by Waitrose itself on the brink. It’s not that JLP doesn't want higher spending loyal customers, it sure does; but what it wants is custom that doesn’t sap profits.    With the HBSC JL Partnership card, each £1 spent qualifies for a point, whose number depends upon whether spent at JL and/or W or elsewhere. The more elsewhere the less JLP gets the more it costs JLP. I think it used to be one point for every £1 spent in JLP, two for every £1 elsewhere. Nowadays for some eligible purchases at JL and W 5 points for every £4 spent; and for other eligible purchases at JL and W 1 point for every £4; 1 point for every £4 spent elsewhere. Fewer vouchers for spending elsewhere is not a deterrent. For example, if a card-holder with £5,000 credit limit spends £4000 a month elsewhere then JLP issues vouchers. Vouchers can only be used in JL or W but it doesn't follow the purchase price has to exceed the vouchers value. A cardholder could amass a substantial sum in vouchers without having spent a penny at JL or W. When using vouchers to buy in JL or W not have to buy anything involving any extra payment for the difference between the vouchers and price. JLP would make a loss. JLP says that over the last five years £230m has been issued in vouchers. How much of approximately £126,000 a day average has gone to customers that haven't paid JLP anything. By enlisting Newday to either render higher credit limit existing Partnership cardholders ineligible or where the applicant is eligible a substantially lower limit JLP is reducing the value of vouchers issued. JLP is probably getting a share of any interest paid by new card-holders and paying a lower commission on receivables (transaction sales). JLP I suspect envisages that where an existing Partnership cardholder is rejected that person would obtain a desired credit limit from another card provider and continue to buy from JL/W whenever. Whether enough existing Partnership cardholders would want to continue loyal to JLP is a separate issue. A JLP partner qualifying for discount told me that for most goods and services there are cheaper deals elsewhere. Not a deposit-taker Newday hasn't any revenue beyond credit cards. It borrows to re-lend, loan note interest between 2% and 6+% a year - with interest rates rising costs will go up: for how much longer its business is sustainable is anyone's guess. To finance JLP's transaction, Newday has taken out a loan of £650M. Any cardholder paying the whole balance monthly is getting an interest-free loan from the date of purchase to balance payment date - if you time it carefully then up to 45 days - so for that reason alone an existing JL Partnership cardholder is ineligible. Newday plans to float shares on the stock market next year so boosting the number of cardholders is to impress shareholders. A £5000 credit limit to one card holder (unlikely to pay interest) is akin to £500 limit to 10 card holders (likely to pay some interest). The net proceeds of a stock market float (rumoured capitalisation £2.5Bn) would provide a injection of interest-free cash. The sad part is that JLP could increase its profit margin and number of loyal customers without having to resort to destroying long-term customer relationships with JLP. Instead of the vouchers issued regardless of where a JL Partnership cardholder spends, the vouchers should be linked to the myJohnLewis and myWaitrose cards. Show or scan a my-card before paying and have the voucher value credited to the my-card - and since printing on paper is costly to administer, to issue every JL and W customer a my-card which can be produced by the customer at the check-out for credit and debit with the points/voucher value. Reviewed on: 5th September 2022

Abysmal new credit card

Where do I start! The app is terrible, not easy to navigate and originally unable to find what the statement or payment dates were. But, I was able to change the payment date, even though I didn’t know what it was! More importantly, I ve found out after a couple of phone calls is that the credit period after the statement date has been reduced from 25 days to 15. Nothing at all about this in the introductory email! I’m still using it a bit, but not much. Reviewed on: 21st December 2022

Read small print

Changed to new JL card and took the balance transfer @0% for 6 months. When statement arrived I was charged interest even though purchase balance had been paid in full. When I called JL I was told that if you take a balance transfer offer all purchases are charged interest from the day you purchase to the day you pay in full. Apparently it’s in the small print. I have never known anything like this and have now had to repay the balance transfer. I am now looking at another card provider as JL Card is not the same since they moved it away from HSBC! Reviewed on: 21st December 2022

Poor app and general management

We have been customers of the John Lewis credit card for the last 18 years. The experience of moving over to the new card platform was a bit annoying; not the end of the world, but a few times I wondered why I was bothering. After getting new cards (late) we have tried to set ourselves up for managing our joint cards from our mobiles. Big mistake - the platform doesn't allow the second cardholder to register for online card management. Worse than that, I can't even log in to the account using the main cardholder's login on the other phone. We tried to contact the provider (New Day?) via chat in the app; we were told that we could log in the secondary cardholder, but still we haven't managed to. All told, it's a bit rubbish. Not very bad, just a bit rubbish and a long way from what the state of the art of for online management. There's not much more to recommend the card; John Lewis vouchers are nice enough, but maybe no longer enough of a draw to bother with this card any longer. Reviewed on: 20th December 2022

It takes a genius to generate so much irritation and anger over the mere change of a credit card provider.

Admittedly I did feel a tad smug when my application for a new John Lewis partnership card was approved - but why not as I've been a faithful customer for decades. Friends and family were moaning about their problems. But now I understand. The new monthly statements are a disgrace, and I tried to log on to check my balance and ensure the direct debit was correctly set up. But apparently my date of birth has changed, and before I knew it the AI algorithm had frozen then cancelled my card. Luckily I have several alternative cards but I'll not be using JL Finance again. Reviewed on: 20th December 2022

Confusing will not renew

Seemed to get several card bills,when asked about who to pay the woman/girl on the phone seemed as confused as me sshe said although it shows the old card number pay the newday account. Just received an arrears invoice from John lewis(HSBC)with interest charged say I should have paid the original JL credit cardvery annoyed and out of pockect,never been in arrears in over 35 years Reviewed on: 20th December 2022

Monthly Statement

What I find distinctly odd is that the monthly statement only clearly shows the minimum monthly payment due. What I want to see first and foremost is the full extent of my monthly indebtedness and not having to faff working it out. If NewDay think that by boldly posting the minimum monthly payment could in anyway encourage me from discharging my full monthly bill they are mistaken. Oh for HSCB whose statements read thus:- Previous balance Payments received Spend JL and Waitrose Other transactions Interest Default fees Your new balance Minimum payment to reach your account by . . . This is what I want. Not an encouragement to pay a paltry sum an incur a massive interest fee. Reviewed on: 19th December 2022

appalling ne john lewis cars

after having had a jl credit card for many years, applied and received the new newday card. DREADFUL! where do I start? there is nothing good about it, john lewis have lost me as a credit card customer ( cancelled) and consequently I have less incentive to shop at jl. Sadly I would not be at all surprised to see jl go under in the next year: no customer service, this new card shows contempt for loyal customers. What on earth is the jl management playing at, or are they just incompetent? Reviewed on: 19th December 2022

Pathetic new app

The app is slow to update. The balance it reports is always different from the balance quoted when I call them. Refunds are particularly slow. Each time I've complained about the latter, the refund has suddenly appeared the next day. Funny that... Why does the app keep telling me I need to make a minimum payment when I make multiple payments throughout the month? Because it's a stupid robotic system? I have ordered an HSBC card and, when it arrives, I shall say farewell to the JL one. John Lewis is no longer the company it was. Reviewed on: 18th December 2022

JL continues to Alienate old Customers with its new credit card

After many years of satisfaction with the previous card I am furious that JL has moved us all to this appalling new card provider. Today my account has been flagged with an overdue payment when I paid nearly £1k in that billing period. Reviewed on: 17th December 2022

Another loyal JL credit card customer bites the dust

I've been shopping at John Lewis for years and have happily used their credit card. All this changed when New Law took over the management of the card. In the first month, I was unable to set up a safe bacs payment to New Law because my bank was concerned about the payment details made available. Therefore I had to pay using my debit card. Then during the second month, a strange payment appeared on my card was made which led to the card having to be frozen. I was then without a credit card for a number of weeks. When I attempted to pay my statement balance using the app, I received an email to say that the £2000+ I had paid was 'unsuccessful'. However, this money had left my bank!. I was worried sick, but looking back, was relieved I didn't try to make the payment again. Then, later the same day, I received another email saying 'payment successful', although I'd done nothing. Feeling upset for having been subjected to needless stress, I rang customer services about this to be told that it was not known why I had received an incorrect email as the payment had gone through . Feeling aggrieved about my whole experience of the way New Law operates, I lodged a complaint. That was back in the middle of November but I've heard nothing, maybe unsurprisingly. Reviewed on: 17th December 2022

Do you have a different John Lewis product?

Share your experiences with products to help others make smarter financial decisions and learn more about different products available. Write a review

Are you a business? Get insights, reply to reviews, invite customers and understand their needs

Alternative products

Credit Card
from Yonder 4.94 from 463 reviews
Everyday Credit Card
from Creation 2.98 from 19 reviews
Balance Transfer Credit Card
from Halifax 4.53 from 56 reviews

Want to see more from John Lewis?

Travel Insurance
from John Lewis 4.75 from 3 reviews
Breakdown Insurance
from John Lewis 4.00 from 1 reviews
Home insurance
from John Lewis 2.17 from 72 reviews

View all products

Join Smart Money People

Keep up to date on ratings of your favourite businesses. Find out about our awards and write new reviews with ease

Create an account

News, guides and insight from our team

View resource hub