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John Lewis: Partnership Card reviews

Name: Partnership Card
Rating: 1.31 (890 reviews)

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1.31

Based on 890 reviews, last reviewed 27th Mar 2026

No new 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

20% increase in 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

88%

Latest highest rating:

4

The JLP card offers cashback based upon spending and... The JLP card offers cashback based upon spending and it is possible to generate £100+ cashback per year. Managing the account is straightforward via t... Read more Reviewed on: 22nd January 2026

Latest lowest rating:

1

I used my card to pay for petrol at my local Sainsbu... I used my card to pay for petrol at my local Sainsbury's. Later that day I received a message saying there was a suspicion of fraud. A simple glance a... Read more Reviewed on: 27th March 2026

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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 (890)

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

You Aren't Missing Anything

I managed to get a new JL/NewDay card - issued at a 20% reduction in credit limit. Using it, however, is beyond frustrating. Every single online transaction is being processed with an additional One Time Password text check. Every single transaction, including retailers that I am using several times per week and have added to the so called ' Trusted Retailers' white list for the account. I attempted to raise the issue with support and was disconnected. Frankly it is just not a John Lewis experience and I expect more. This card will be cut up and closed. I do all my shopping online and as it is, this is unusable. Reviewed on: 14th September 2022

New card refusal - too old

Been refused the new card, don’t know why, painful process to try and find out why with no success. New Day gave me £40 for the pain I went through to try and complain. My guess is refused due to pension insufficient (no account of savings, past payment credibility, credit score, etc though), all adds up to being too old to qualify. Reviewed on: 14th September 2022

John Lewis bank chaos

Made a routine payment on our JL partnership card in time and with enough funds, but unknown to us this remained uncleared and in fact we found just now o. Receiving the next bill telling us we were in default (!).and on asking our bank found it had been repaid 2 days later by NewDays bank without any notification. No information from John Lewis about any new payment arrangements and we assumed we just paid our bill as before. We've been passed around phone numbers like a parcel and no one seems to want to deal with it. New day are the partnership cards new credit providers and evidently their bank cannot field routine payments handed over from previous bankers HSBC. What a shambles. Reviewed on: 14th September 2022

Own goal

Relieved to find I am not alone in being told I'm not eligible to transfer to the new partnership card. Reading the reviews I can see I fall into the same bracket of being a long standing loyal customer, good income, over 60, pays on time, and high credit limit. I can only conclude New Day are only interested in interest payments and John Lewis willing to take the risk of losing their core loyal customer base - I am now no longer one of them. Reviewed on: 14th September 2022

Shame on you John Lewis - beyond disappointed

Same as everyone else, had credit cards for 35 years, never had a debt, no mortgage, children left home, decent income. Declined. I hope there is at least one person at John Lewis with a shred of decency who feels ashamed about this. Reviewed on: 13th September 2022

Partnership.card renewal with new provider

Very disappointed with the new credit card provider. They were not able to.sort.out a problem with their system at their end. Reviewed on: 13th September 2022

Get an M&S Credit Card instead

Like other long standing JLP Partnership Card customers I have been upset with the replacement card offer from New Day on behalf of JLP. Biggest issue for me is the estimated credit limit is half of what I spend per month on the existing card and the interest free credit period is reducing fron 55 to 46 days. So I've applied for a received a M&S card (managed by HSBC). They have a good promotional offer on just now, no doubt timed to attract those like me who feel let down by JLP. Reviewed on: 13th September 2022

Credit card renewal - a massive own goal with loyal customers

Just joined the mass of people who are 100% home owners, always pay on time, reliable income, zero debt and have been a JLP/Waitrose customer for years. Credit card renewal refused without any reason provided. This is incredibly poor, and our immediate reaction is to cease all purchases from JLP and Waitrose as a result. Somehow JLP has managed to turn advocates into detractors, what a master stroke when economic times require customer retention Reviewed on: 13th September 2022

Loyal customers are no longer considered to be profitable enough

Like many others I was rejected for my new card despite an excellent credit score. Reading the reviews it seems that those that pay off their card in full are generally being rejected or given such low credit limits that it makes no sense to go ahead with the card. If you are a loyal good payer, you should look somewhere else. Amex is a good option at the moment. Reviewed on: 12th September 2022

Another long standing customer told to get lost...

Looks like we are in good company in being rejected by JLP for the new card they "invited" us to apply for. Own house outright, no debts, good joint income, >1k spend on card for over 10yrs always paid off in full, sounds like every other recent review. Plus I already called their "specialist support team" who seemed keen to get me off the phone ASAP, told me there was nothing they could do, and outright lied to me multiple times. JLP said of the previous card provider, HSBC, "our strategic business goals and theirs have changed" - presumably JLP said they planned to **** off their financially secure customers with a recession on the way and instead court those who don't have money and need to borrow more at high APRs, and HSBC said something like "are you guys complete idiots?" [spoiler: "Yes"]. Time to spend all those "saved for something nice" vouchers, they won't be worth much when JLP goes bust. Reviewed on: 12th September 2022

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