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John Lewis: Partnership Card reviews

Name: Partnership Card
Rating: 1.33 (876 reviews)

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1.33

Based on 876 reviews, last reviewed 25th Sep 2025

100% decrease in 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

20% decrease in 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

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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.

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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

Shame on you. Loyal customer, perfect pay history, credit limit slashed

High earner, long standing customer, regularly spending 10k or more per month on the card and paying off in full. Processed the new application with code provided and got credit limit slashed by 90% to a fraction of typical monthly spend. Pressed cancel and applied online for Amex card. Accepted in seconds with a credit limit more than double the previous JLP limit, plus loads of extra benefits and services besides. Bye, bye JLP & Waitrose. There’s plenty of alternatives out there. Your loss their gain. Shame on you for teaming up with such a low quality company. It’s clear from all these reviews they are not interested in better credit-rated customers who spend a lot of money and pay off their balance, but only those who pay interest, even encouraging payment of the minimum amount which financially costs those customers the most. That will come home to roost when they realise the amount of money spent is a fraction of the amount that HSBC processed (and John Lewis see their sales tumble too) whilst lower credit quality loans are the first to default in a recession- which is looming fast. Reviewed on: 3rd October 2022

This is specifically about the new JL credit card - not JL in general. And it's pants.

It's a mess. If you want to keep your rewards going, you have to switch to this card provided by 'New Day'. As many others have remarked, the website is set up to encourage you only to pay a minimum amount, and thus pay interest. Which, of course, is how credit card companies earn their money, but this is pretty blatant. The website is also inaccurate, and frequently impossible to login. I paid the full amount of my first statement balance; three days later I got an email telling me I had to pay £5 within 6 days. No explanation. I wish I had not taken out this new card, and I will stop using it. I'm really surprised and disappointed at John Lewis getting into bed with such an outfit. Reviewed on: 3rd October 2022

Ageism is illegal

Ageism is illegal around the modern world. But it seems NewDay and John Lewis will take their chances with the law and the Financial Ombudsman. I've written for clarification of my interpretation of the NewDay approach to "responsible lending". At 60+ and now retired since first having the JLP card for many years I'm now surplus to requirements. I have a 999 credit rating and a good pension. I've been refused the replacement card by NewDay. Whereas my son who's in his first low paid job with no real credit history was successful and had his credit limit tripled without even asking. Actually to a level he could never pay back. NewDay are irresponsible lenders and either by design or stupidity have discriminated against aged JLP customers, who will take it personally and not return. In my written exchanges with John Lewis and NewDay, they have both avoided a response with any reference to Ageism. I've made a formal complaint to the Financial Ombudsman as it is illegal to knowingly or indirectly act in a way that financially discriminates. The outcry on t'internet is palpable. This is John Lewis's "Ratners" moment and they appear to have a new slogan... Never Knowingly Going Under. I feel for the "partners". I would bet that JLP will not recover their current staggering seasonal debt by this Christmas and January sales as normal for the sector. Watch this space. I'd guess Dame Sharon White will be needing to take dramatic action early 2023. Clearly the crucial strategy of customer retention doesn't appeal. Reviewed on: 3rd October 2022

free credit period chopped!

The previous HSBC run card wasn't perfect but at least I could get minimum 25 days' free credit. New day only gives 15 days between statement and payment which is a significant reduction in utility and value. Reviewed on: 3rd October 2022

Designed to make you pay the minimum and incur debt

The design of this new app clearly encourages users of the JL card to incur debt as it has minimum payment right in the middle and this doesn’t clear even when you have paid off the debt in full for that month. It would also appear that the usual £99 taken to check viability when buying petrol from Tesco is not removed quickly as in the past. Inevitably this may have to be paid for one month before being returned the following month. This is totally unacceptable. I have been a loyal and long standing customer of John Lewis but now I am seeking another card provider. What a pity for me and others caught in this changeover that no-one requested. Maybe that's what they want. I guess there is no profit in those of us who pay up every month. JL will need to consider this move very carefully if they are not to lose many more customers. Reviewed on: 3rd October 2022

Utter Shammbels

Have been trying for over a week to register the new John Lewis Partnership Credit Card (NewDay), whenever I attempt to register, I get the message 'system currently unavailable. please try again'. After 10+ attempts, I have better things to do with my time and I won't be trying again. M&S here I come. Reviewed on: 3rd October 2022

I'm off!

Over 20 years with my old JL card and used for all my spending. New Day halved my credit limit plus it won't register for contactless payment on my Google Wallet. M&S card application on its way. JL losing its way badly. Reviewed on: 2nd October 2022

confusing

i had a text telling me that i had a payment due, no record of what it was for. I had to log on and pay and then had no receipt. this was only 2 weeks after i had cleared the last account. Reviewed on: 2nd October 2022

Bitterly disappointed

We were accepted with the same credit limit for the Newday card and I can only sympathise with the loyal customers who are angered by being refused for no good reason. However, we now feel that being rejected would have been preferable. We’ve been stressed and embarrassed by having cards that only work sometimes. We’ve spent ages on the ‘phone to Newday and have been alarmed to receive fraud alerts when we’ve tried to make purchases and been declined. We’ve issued a complaint to Newday. I’ve shopped in JL and Waitrose practically since the last ice age. I opened the JL card as soon as it came out. I echo what everyone else has said about loyalty, anger and disappointment. There’s something else I’ve come to realise- I rely on my credit card, like my bank account, it provides security and confidence as I go about life. That has gone out of the window. We’re researching other credit card choices. Reviewed on: 2nd October 2022

Big Mistake by JL

Issuing a card went OK although limit was less than on JL's HSBC backed card. Used for about 3 weeks and then got a text to say balance to be paid in 10 days, a much shorter time than most cards. Also, they had ignored my request for a specific statement date despite asking me for one. On going into my account, I noticed that paper statements were not an option and they only stayed online for 6 months. Had monthly statements from previous card which suits me. Decided to ring them to get statement date changed and get clarification on a few things. None of the options were suitable and there were layers and layers of them. There seemed no way to actually speak to anyone. So, I decided to push the option to cancel my card, thinking that would trigger a response from a human. It didn’t! After telling me all the things I had to do if cancelling my card, it announced it had cancelled it! JL have gone from a flexible card with good customer service to one with a lesser time to pay, no flexibility and as good as no customer service. They will regret this move. Reviewed on: 2nd October 2022

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