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John Lewis: Partnership Card reviews

Name: Partnership Card
Rating: 1.86 (894 reviews)

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1.86

Based on 894 reviews, last reviewed 30th Apr 2026

No new 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

700% increase in 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

88%

Latest highest rating:

4

High interest although you gain points using your cr... High interest although you gain points using your credit card whilst shopping in John Lewis Reviewed on: 17th April 2026

Latest lowest rating:

1

Zero TRUST, and HONESTY Customer service is shocking. A distinct lack of ANY rewards for points earned. You call to say you have recieved zero vouchers depite clocking up ove... Read more Reviewed on: 30th April 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?

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John Lewis Partnership Card reviews (894)

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

Loyal and reliable customer rejected for new card.

I have held a Partnership Card for several years and have always cleared the monthly credit balance on time. No issues; yet now my application (invited by John Lewis) for the New Day card has been declined. A very poor way to treat customers! Reviewed on: 1st September 2022

cannot access old partnership card

Applied for the new partnership card & got a higher credit limit, great, but as of 12:10pm 1/9/22 the old partnership card account is inaccessable, try logging on & it asks to send a text with a one time code, but both the app & web based site just buffer & don't work so i can't enter the code, therefore i cannot see my balance Reviewed on: 1st September 2022

Rejected without explanation

Apparently 40 years of shopping with John Lewis a good pension and an excellent credit record are not enough for my partnership card to be renewed. Applied for a different card and was given a significantly increased credit limit without asking. I also replaced an existing new day card with the same result. Just need to find somewhere else to shop. Reviewed on: 31st August 2022

refused new credit card

I worked for Waitrose for 17 years, have had the existing card since inception and pay off every month without fail. Staggering treatment of loyal customers. Reviewed on: 31st August 2022

Another very credit worthy customer cast away by John Lewis - what price loyalty?

Retired and with very secure income and faultless credit rating. Now dumped by John Lewis. As others have said truly a Ratner moment in JL PR history. Reviewed on: 31st August 2022

In store sit-in - protest the new card

With so many people appearing to be annoyed by the rejection of partnership card or having credit reduced to a useless level, thinking about having a sit in - in store. Get enough people in each store showing how many loyal customers they’re alienating Reviewed on: 30th August 2022

Reasons for ineligible or derisory credit limit?

Told ineligible for the newday JL Partnership card - despite >40 years loyal JL/W customer, credit score excellent, £12,000 credit limit and superb payment record - I have commented on Trustpilot and Linked-in and direct to upper echelons of JL. I was upset and livid to begin with. Composure regained - withdrawn my application - I have been thinking about why ineligible and why paltry credit limits. Newday is akin to a parasite, not a lender in its own right, it has to borrow to lend. It pays interest between 2% and 6%+ on its borrowings - source: loan notes listed on London Stock Exchange - so cannot afford to subsidise cardholders that do not pay interest. Newday is a puppet, its strings pulled by funds advised by Cinven and CVC Capital Partners. With plans to float on the stock market, newday wants to increase the number of cardholders to boost its standing in the minds of investors. One cardholder with for example £5000 credit limit and paying the whole of the balance monthly (no profit for newday) equates to 10 cardholders each £500 limit, mostly incurring interest (profit for newday). Newday has taken out a loan circa £650M to pay JLP for receivables (source: newday results presentation August 2022) - a loan carrying interest will ultimately have to be paid for by cardholders. The presentation highlights perceived benefit of the JLP account. "Higher customer transaction volume and loyalty. Diversifies customer base towards prime. Delivers growth and attractive profit profile." Newaday’s 28.9% cost to income ratio maintained only if existing and new cardholders pay at least the same amount of interest. Ineligibility is I would think also orchestrated by JLP. A JL manager assures me JLP would have been satisfied with its due diligence. JLP is in financial difficulty. Its overheads and operating costs are unsustainable: top-heavy with overpaid managers and ceo, not attracting enough retired part-time workers for saving on National insurance it is suffering wage inflation, most generic products and services on offer are a soft touch for competitors. With profit margins shrinking, JLP strategy is for JL Financial Services to become an important profit centre in its own right. As agent for insurers, JLP gets commission. Likely a cut of the interest paid by cardholders. I would think JLP wants to reduce the cost of the vouchers cardholders get when using the card whether or not in JL and/or W. A form of cash-back, the idea of the vouchers was that cardholders would mainly buy from JL and/or W, not as I suspect most do to mostly buy elsewhere. The points differential is not enough to deter. As JL Financial Services knows how much cardholders spend, what they buy when and where, I suspect JLP has analysed every existing credit limit and told newday to get rid of what JL regard as unprofitable cardholders via ineligibility or derisory credit limits. Although it appears that JLP has alienated its core customers, from JLP's perspective it could be argued partly our own fault for not regarding JL and W as our sole suppliers. I am proper loyal to W in particular but I gather my attitude is unusual. If f i were to buy elsewhere something that JL or W sells then what I spend elsewhere wouldn't be helping JLP so rather than shop around I only shop at Waitrose. I doubt JLP rates newday for customer service, more likely for ruthlessness. JLP is I suspect using newday to do its dirty work. In its presentation newday says "Moved to the latest version of Customer Management bureau data and tightened growth strategies for existing customers" and "Tightening of affordability criteria and initial credit limits for new customers". On balance if what i reckon is correct or something along those lines then that doesn't say much for JLP's ethics but then again JLP is not what it was. Reviewed on: 30th August 2022

Declined!

Reading the hundreds of reviews below I'm slightly reassured to learn that I'm not alone in being declined by NewDay for a JL Partnership Card: I was beginning to take it personally. Have had one for years, spend thousands each year, pay off the balance in full every month and never incur charges. I called NewDay and was told I could apply again when the card opens to the general public. Given the algorithm their system must use, I doubt this would be successful and will have to look elsewhere. The call-handler (not his fault) did ask if I wanted to open a complaint, which I did over the phone. What does John Lewis think about the situation, and how will it mollify its outraged - and previously loyal - customers? Reviewed on: 30th August 2022

JL partnership card

Like many others reviews I've read here, after 12+ years regularly spending on my partnership card (a large amount of which has been at JL and waitrose!) and paying off bills on time, my application for the new partnership card (as invited by JL) has been declined without explanation. the helpline suggested I write to NewDay. I won't be doing that. PLease, John Lewis, look into what is happening and try and sort something out - you are in danger of losing some very loyal customers. Reviewed on: 29th August 2022

John Lewis doesn't deserve loyal customers any more.

I have been a customer of John Lewis/Waitrose for many years and always pay my card off in full each month. I applied for a new card, foolishly thinking it would just be a case of paying my account by direct debit. Wrong!. The new providers want direct access to my bank account (which I am not prepared to give them) and seem to want to conduct their business via apps. and mobile telephones. We live in rural Scotland and mobile telephone reception is limited so contact on this basis is impossible. I have been offered a card and a credit limit (even though I have been retired for many years) but won't be taking up the offer. What has gone wrong with J.L. ?. Too many smart IT people at the top and a greedy desire to farm everything out to presumably save money and cut jobs. I would suggest that the J.L/Waitrose shopping profile comprises loyal, older, middle class people so I fear they will lose a lot of custom. I use Waitrose now as the staff are superb and it grieves me to think that my weekly shop will be done elsewhere from October 31st. A bad move - sheep being lead by management goats !. Anne T. Reviewed on: 29th August 2022

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