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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

Total and utter shambles........

Just to add my input......experience resonates with that of the other reviewers. My recent experience has totally undermined brand values I associate with John Lewis. The fact that their system upgrade has gone so badly wrong is not my issue; late payment charge, interest on (supposedly) uncleared balance, adverse flag on credit record and inability to talk to a John Lewis representative is. Contact platform ('phone or letter only) beggars belief in a digital economy. I presume that someone somewhere made a case for the migration on cost reduction - well it's really backfired. The ombudsman should look at this. Reviewed on: 30th October 2016

IT DEPARTMENT NEEDS SACKING

The implementation of the new website for the Partnership Card has been a complete and utter disaster for John Lewis. Having to re-register was a farce and the way information is displayed makes it difficult to see what the current spend is without having to get your calculator out. Don't try to ring customer services because you won't get though and the secure messages are not answered either. Reviewed on: 28th October 2016

terrible website - unable to contact

applied for Partnership card on the promise from an ad of £10 vouvhers when I used it. No vouchers & no way other than premium rate number to contact them! Why no email address or online contact form? Also was asked to register my card even tho it was already registered! Shambles! Stick to selling things! Reviewed on: 28th October 2016

Faulty website, shocking communication and deceitful statements

John Lewis has always been rather underhand with their Partnership card online credit card statements, as they refused to show how much of last month’s balance had been paid off, so it was easy to fail to pay it off by mistake, incurring charges. They’ve re-vamped the statements and made it worse! They actually deduct last month’s payment from this month’s spending, which gives a nonsense ‘total’ that will almost certainly lead to people misunderstanding what their actual, balance is and failing to pay it off by mistake. They’ve also now revamped their website, and it’s not working, and apparently hasn’t been since they launched it 3 weeks ago! Reviewed on: 28th October 2016

nightmare

after 10 days of lengthy phone calls I've finally been able to pay them . I tried via bank transfer, I went to their website. They have credited my account for my efforts but the time I have spent works out less than the minimum wage. Hopefully they won't charge me for late payment. Of course, I can't apply for a card elsewhere until this is cleared. Reviewed on: 28th October 2016

Utter shambles

Called for a new card two week ago; after 45 mins on hold this morning, I was told that the card had not been issued, although my previous one had been deactivated. Have to wait another 7 days for the new card. Would I recommend John Lewis? Only to people I don't like. Reviewed on: 28th October 2016

From bad to worse

Well the saga continues. My payment was sent electronically on 6 Oct arrived in my account on 20 Oct and I was charged £12 late fee, £21 + interest. Numerous lengthy attempts to phone, didn't speak to anyone. Sent emails until email went down. But I have had reply to one email to say they are investigating and I should hear back within 8 weeks! Sent recorded letter, nothing yet. Received letter in post advising me that I had defaulted on my credit agreement by not making a payment! Then on 24 they refunded my late fee plus £2 interest. Have lost sleep over this, refuse to use my Partnership Card anymore. Finally got through straight away when I tried in the small hours of the morning. Assured that interest payment would be reimbursed. Hasn't happened yet but in the meantime have paid off my balance so John Lewis can say goodbye to my custom fiorever. I refuse to be treated like this, abysmal carry on and heads should roll over this chaos. Reviewed on: 28th October 2016

From good to bad

No notification or warning that the online site was being upgraded, or that you would have to re-register to be able to access your account/pay your bill etc - when there are so many scams out there to try and get your details I find this disgusting that customers were not pre-warned about this. As if that wasn't bad enough, the 'improved' site is useless. It shows there are no transactions despite there having been several. Very disappointed that a company like John Lewis have let this happen. Reviewed on: 27th October 2016

NEW SITE SHAMBLES

Absolute disgarace. JLP should sack HSBC for the shambles and inanbilty to get even simple help. On top of that, unable to dowmload transactions into my finance package - a great advantage that the original website offered. Not a professional offering at all. Reviewed on: 27th October 2016

Terrible mess

My partnership card was declined yesterday and this morning in Waitrose. I have spent almost an hour on the phone to customer services but nobody answered. Went online and tried to re register but that doesn't work either. What a shambles - put enough trained staff on the phone lines and give a bit more info online as to what we are supposed to do now that account access and use of cards is seemingly blocked. Reviewed on: 27th October 2016

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