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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

Appalling service from a company that really does not care.

John Lewis partnership Credit Card Customer Advisors cannot understand simple written or spoken English. That can be evidenced by the number of replies that I've had from them that on subjects completely different from the issues raised with them. Their secure messaging service is a joke in that the replies to communications also have no relevance to the issues raised. Surely it is not unreasonable to expect them to answer the question put to them rather than some scripted reply? They must realise how frustrating it is for a customer when they ignore the question asked. The complaints system is not fit for purpose with standard responses issued rather than detailed responses based on the complaint details. The approach seems to be to shift as many complaints as possible to the Financial Services Ombudsman rather than deal with them themselves, hoping no doubt that along the way many customers will simply give up. There are many other good credit card providers out there so do please avoid John Lewis Financial Services in particular, but also any any other card administered by the HSBC group. Reviewed on: 21st February 2017

John Lewis Easy to Navigate website

Their website is easy to use and the login procedure is not long-winded with card readers or number generators. Good customer service telephone help when you need it. Reviewed on: 7th February 2017

My Channel Islands postcode is not accepted to create online servicing

I have a Partnership Card but since the changes early in October have not been allowed to set up an online account because my postcode is not accepted. I now just receive a paper statement which does have my postcode on it. I sent a letter of complaint in October and was promised a reply within 8 weeks but this is now February and this issue has not been resolved. Reviewed on: 5th February 2017

great reward that soon adds up

We have no regrets about switching our credit cards to John Lewis - we get vouchers back for our spending and it soon adds up. I love receiving the reward vouchers as I can put them towards the groceries at waitrose. Reviewed on: 29th January 2017

Rubbish system caused late payment fees

John Lewis sent me a letter saying that "while upgrading our computer systems..some customers experienced issues" which prompted me to check my account and discover the last 2 monthly payments had been rejected causing late payment fees. Contacting customer services, I was told this is because the reference no on my payment instructions from my bank has not been updated since I was sent a new card nearly 2 years ago. The payments have been going through fine until September last year and suddenly stopped. As a former business analyst, it is clear to me that their updated system has stopped accepting payments with reference numbers from previous cards and no-one has informed the customers. If you pay on their website, it's no problem but, if you have a payment instruction set up with your bank, it is rejected. I took the time and trouble to explain to the customer services rep that this is unacceptable because everyone has to change their reference numbers every time they have a new card and to do this for every card would be a major pain, especially if John Lewis didn't notify them that they had to do it. The rep ARGUED with me and said it was perfectly OK because a new card had to be validated! In my view their IT system is rubbish and so is their customer service which refuses to even flag up a problem so the IT people can fix it! My solution is relatively easy - get a card from a different provider. Reviewed on: 23rd January 2017

Statement errors and useless responses from customer service

Three months in to a promotional 0% interest period, transactions started being recorded on my statement as attracting the standard interest rate. The responses to my queries from customer services were much delayed and then didn't properly address my concerns. Took 8 weeks to get a response to a formal complaint and once again it did not address my concerns. I've taken up my complaint with the financial ombudsman service now. Reviewed on: 19th January 2017

Quite Beyond Belief!

On 14 October 2016 I cancelled a Partnership CREDIT card because of suspected fraud and requester a replacement. In due course a CONTACTLESS card arrived. I phoned to query this change and requested a replacement CREDIT card, emphasising that I DO NOT WANT A CONTACTLESS CARD. I was assured that this was no problem and a basic CREDIT card would be forwarded. INCREDIBLY , punctuated by 10 further phone calls, I HAVE TODAY RECEIVED THE 7th identical replacement CONTACTLESS CARD, Is there an intelligent human available in John Lewis Finance? ( I am an additional card holder on my wife's account) Reviewed on: 14th January 2017

customer service totally out of sync with the actual facts

card got blocked by a pin machine error. 3 months later we are so concerned about the inaccuracies of their responses, we have felt forced to stop using the cards Reviewed on: 12th January 2017

Website Still Not Working Correctly and Still Long Phone Waits

Looking on the website at the online Statements page it doesn't add up; in my case my statement balance shown online was £21.95 more than the sum of the transactions. After 20 minutes on hold I get to speak to somebody who tells me there was a £21.95 transaction which they can see but I can't. You still can't trust this website for basics and this is 3 months after they put live. Reviewed on: 8th January 2017

No excel download on the Partnership Card is ridiculous

I simply don't understand how an otherwise sensible company can do something so unhelpful. The shop is fine, but the card is now almost useless to me. Reviewed on: 6th January 2017

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