1,000 free Virgin Flying Club miles (and a 30% bonus) when you convert Tesco Clubcard points to Virgin miles

Yesterday Virgin Atlantic announced a new promotion in partnership with Tesco Clubcard. If you convert your Clubcard points to Virgin miles between 30th January and 31st March 2015, you will receive 30% more Flying Club miles than usual. Also, if you sign up for Auto Opt In (so that your Clubcard points automatically transfer to Virgin Flying Club miles), you will receive 1,000 bonus Virgin miles.

Usually, 1 Clubcard point can be converted into 2.5 Virgin miles, so you can convert £2.50 of Clubcard vouchers (250 Clubcard points) into 625 Virgin miles. With the 30% bonus, 250 Clubcard points converts to 813 Flying Club miles.

I also recently wrote that about a promotion Avios are running in conjunction with Tesco Clubcard. At the moment, if you convert your Clubcard points to Avios points you gain entries into a competition to win Avios points. However, unlike the Virgin promotion, there is no 30% conversion bonus and no 1,000 free points for signing up to Auto Opt In.

Quite frankly, the Avios/Clubcard ‘competition promotion’ is pretty weak. I would advise against using it!

The Virgin/Clubcard offer is much better. At the moment, I have £20 of Clubcard vouchers (2,000 Clubcard points) from last quarter. I am going to sign up to Auto Opt In and convert my points to Virgin miles. I will get:

250 Clubcard points = 813 Virgin miles

x 8

2,000 Clubcard points = 6,504 Virgin miles

+ 1,000 Virgin miles Auto Opt In bonus

= 7,504 Virgin miles

You can sign up to Auto Opt In or manually exchange your Clubcard points to Virgin miles here. Once your 1,000 bonus miles have posted you can always opt-out.

A few things to note:

• you will only receive the 1,000 miles Auto Opt In bonus once
• if you are not a member of Tesco Clubcard you can join for free here.
• if you are not a member of the Virgin Flying Club you can join for free here.

For lots of ways to earn free Clubcard points click here.

For lots of ways to earn free Virgin Flying Club miles click here.

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Why the alteration of the myWaitrose free tea and coffee offer makes perfect sense

This week myWaitrose announced an alteration to their free tea and coffee offer:

‘From 9 February we will be asking myWaitrose members who wish to enjoy their free tea or coffee in one of our Cafés to also purchase a treat – such as a sandwich, cake, biscuit or piece of fruit. This change will enable us to continue to offer our customers the enjoyable service they expect. 

If you’re not visiting the café, you can still pick up a free tea or coffee from the self-service machine when you are shopping with us. Remember to present your myWaitrose card.’

(full terms and conditions of the myWaitrose scheme are available here)

The alteration makes perfect sense. In recent years, Waitrose cafes have become just-a-little-too-crowded because of too many myWaitrose members picking up free teas and coffees. Now, myWaitrose members will have to make a purchase from the cafe to be eligible for their free drink. This will reduce numbers, and should make a trip to the cafe a much more pleasant experience.

Crucially, myWaitrose members who want to pop in to their local store and pick up a daily free tea or coffee from the self-service machine will still be able to do so.

To read a full review of the myWaitrose loyalty program click here.

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Win 6 pairs of first class return train tickets with East Coast #mapmycity and Bid for a Seat

East Coast are running two separate competitions on their Facebook site: win 5 pairs of first class return train tickets with #mapmycity and win a pair of first class return train tickets with Bid for a Seat.

#mapmycity

To enter the #mapmycity competition you need to vote for the top nightlife destination in 15 different cities in the UK. You can submit a vote for each city, but for each city that you haven’t been to you just click on ‘skip this’.

The competition expires at 23:59 on Sunday 1st February. The five winners will be drawn randomly using a random number generator.

Bid for a Seat

Last week I wrote about the East Coast Bid for a Seat competition. It turns out the competition is weekly – entries are open from Friday 9am on Friday until 11.59pm on Sunday.

To enter, all you need to do is select a journey and bid for seat. The lowest unique bid across all the entries will win. Last week, I bid £0.79, but didn’t win. This week I am going to go for £0.98, so don’t make the same bid as me!

Note: the Bid for a Seat terms and conditions state that ‘in order to enter, entrants must ‘like’ the Facebook Page; www.facebook.com/eastcoastuk‘. Make sure you do this so your entry is valid!

To enter similar competitions click here.

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1,000 free points for signing up to Hilton HHonors

Hilton have teamed up with EVA Air to offer 1,000 free points when you sign up to Hilton HHonors. Full information about the offer is available here. All you need to do is click on the black ‘enroll now’  button and sign up for an account with Hilton HHonors. The 1,000 points will post to your account instantly. Easy!

Remember: if you are struggling to keep track of all of your loyalty accounts then you should use Award Wallet. Award Wallet keeps all of your reward balances in one account with one password.

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Free Caffe Nero drink by signing up for Penny for London

Penny for London is a scheme which allows you to donate 1p to disadvantaged young Londoners each time you use your contactless debit/credit card at a participating retailer. If you register your contactless card with Penny for London then you will receive an email containing a voucher with a code for a free regular espresso, caffè latte, cappuccino, americano, standard hot chocolate or tea from Caffe Nero. VISA are also donating £1 for each card registration.

Penny for London is an innovative new way to donate to charity: at the moment, you can donate 1p each time you use your contactless card on the tube or bus (ie with TFL), at Caffe Nero or at Leon. I would assume that more participating retailers will be added soon.

You can set a limit to the amount you donate each month – suggested monthly limits on the website are £0.49, £0.99, £2 or £3.

Of course, you don’t actually have to live in London to register your card – so sign up, and next time you come to London for business or pleasure you will find yourself making 1p donations to support disadvantaged youngsters in the capital.

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100 airline miles or 200 hotel points with Thanks Again and BWI (residents of USA/Canada/Mexico)

You can get 100 airline miles or 200 hotel points just by signing up for a free account with Thanks Again and Baltimore Washington International.

You can sign up here, more information about the offer is here and the terms and conditions are here. Unfortunately, this offer is only open to those with an address in USA, Mexico or Canada.

If you choose the 100 airline miles bonus, you can select from one of the following programmes:

• Alaska Mileage Plan
• American AAdvantaage miles
• Club Premier
• Frontier Early Returns
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Southwest Rapid Rewards
• United MileagePlus

If you choose the 200 hotel points bonus, you can select from one of the following programmes:

• Hilton HHonors
• Voila Hotel Rewards

The offer expires on 31/12/2015.

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Reminder: 9,000 and 25,000 bonus Avios offers for British Airways Amex cards end in two weeks!

In two weeks time the 9,000 Avios and 25,000 Avios bonus offers for the British Airways AMEX credit cards will end. British Airways currently offer 2 credit cards: the BA AMEX and the BA Premium Plus AMEX.

British Airways AMEX

• receive 9,000 bonus Avios points when you spend £1,000 in first 3 months (if I refer you for this card you will actually receive 10,000 Avios points – if you would like a referral please email me at boostyourpoints at gmail.com). This offer expires on 11th February 2015.
• receive 1 Avios per £1 spent
• spend £20,000 or more in a year to get a complimentary companion voucher
• no annual fee
• 15.9% APR

British Airways Premium Plus AMEX

• receive 25,000 bonus Avios points when you spend £3,000 in first 3 months. This offer expires on 11th February 2015.
• receive 1.5 Avios per £1 spent
• receive 3 Avios for every £1 spent with BA
• spend £10,000 or more in a year to get a complimentary companion voucher
• £150 annual fee
• 56.4% APR

If you want to take advantage of these large sign up offers before they disappear then you need to apply for your card before 11th February 2015.

For more ways to earn free Avios points click here.

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Free Hungry House takeaway or free magazine subscription for new TopCashBack members

TopCashBack are running two more (!) new member promotions this week. Sign up to TopCashBack here and you can choose to either get £7.50 cashback on a takeaway from Hungry House or £9.99 cashback when you take out a magazine subscription from Bespoke Offers.

Hungry House Takeaway Offer

Once you have signed up with TopCashBack you need to ‘click through’ to Hungry House from the offer page.

Spend a minimum of £7.50 on any of the takeaways from Hungry House and £7.50 cashback will be posted to your TopCashBack account within 14 days. You will then be able to withdraw the money to your bank account. A nice and easy way to get a free (or very cheap) takeaway this Friday night!

The terms and conditions state that the offer is fully funded by TopCashBack – presumably Hungry House are absolutely delighted!

The offer expires at 23:59 on Sunday 1st February, so take advantage of it this weekend or you may miss out. It is also limited to 5,000 new members (I would guess that this limit is unlikely to be reached!).

Magazine Subscription from Bespoke Offers

Once you have signed up with TopCashBack you need to ‘click through’ to Bespoke Offers from the offer page.

Spend a minimum of £9.99 on a magazine subscription from Bespoke Offers and £9.99 cashback will be posted to your TopCashBack account within 14 days. You will then be able to withdraw the money to your bank account.

Marie Claire, Grazia and InStyle subscriptions are all available from Bespoke Offers for exactly £9.99, so you will effectively be able to get one of them for free (after cashback). Alternatively you could choose to buy a more expensive subscription and receive £9.99 cashback on your purchase.

The offer expires at 23:59 on Saturday 31st January, so you need to act fast. It is also limited to 2,500 new members (although it is unlikely this limit will be reached!).

For more ways to earn free cashback through TopCashBack click here.

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12 ways to earn more Tesco Clubcard points

If you are looking for ways to boost your Clubcard points balance then you are in the right place. Follow the hints and tips in this article and you can easily earn thousands of extra Clubcard points each year.

1. Give your insurance renewal dates to Tesco Bank

Hand over your house insurance, pet insurance, car insurance and mortgage renewal dates with Tesco Bank and you will be rewarded with 100 free Clubcard points (offer expires 5th May 2015).

2. Use Tesco Views each month

Fill in a 2-minute survey with Tesco Views each month to earn 25 Clubcard points. If you do this each month you will get 300 Clubcard points every year.

3. Convert cashback from TopCashBack into Tesco Clubcard points

TopCashBack is a website which helps you earn cashback on your online shopping. It also offers you the chance to earn free cashback by signing up to trials with particular companies. You can convert £1 of cashback from TopCashBack into 100 Clubcard points, up to a maximum of £50 (5,000 points) each year. I have listed lots of free ways to earn cashback through TopCashBack here.

4. Recycle printer cartridges

Tesco offers up to 100 Clubcard points for each used ink cartridge that you recycle.  You can recycle up to 100 cartridges per household, per year.

5. Use your own bags to pack your shopping

Tesco gives you 1 Clubcard point for each of your own bags you use to pack your shopping. This is obviously a relatively trivial amount, but it adds up – using 5 of your own bags every week for a year will earn you 256 Clubcard points.

6. Complete online surveys with Shoppers Thoughts

Shopper Thoughts is free to join and offers Clubcard points for completing surveys both online and in-store through the mobile app. You can earn up to 150 Clubcard points per survey.

7. Take part in the E.ON Rewards Scheme

If you are an electricity customer or dual gas and electricity customer with E.ON then you are eligible to take part in the E.ON Rewards Scheme. You can earn up to 1,500 E.ON Rewards points a year, which can then be converted into 1,500 Clubcard points. My full review is here.

8. Buy gift cards at Tesco

When you spend £50 on branded gift cards at Tesco you earn 150 bonus Clubcard points.

9. Get a Clubcard keyring fob

Then you won’t ever miss out on any Clubcard points because you can’t be bothered to get your Clubcard out of your wallet (or can’t find it!). Order a new fob here.

10. Open a Tesco current account

Your Tesco debit card will earn you 1 Clubcard point for each £4 spent at Tesco (in addition to the points you would usually earn) and 1 Clubcard point for each £8 spent elsewhere.

11. Get a Clubcard credit card

With a Clubcard credit card you earn 1 Clubcard point when you spend £4 anywhere.

12. Buy your petrol at Tesco

Buying your fuel at Tesco earns you 1 Clubcard point for each £2 spent.

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A free chance to win money every day with Free Postcode Lottery

Free Postcode Lottery is a fun website which gives you a free chance to win money every day. You don’t have to buy a lottery ticket – you simply enter your postcode and if it is drawn you win the cash prize.

Here is how it works: a cash prize is drawn each day. You have to visit Free Postcode Lottery each day to see if you have won. If you don’t collect your prize it is rolled over to the next day and somebody else will win!

In other words, advertising revenue generated by people visiting the site pays for the prizes. 

The prize pot starts at £70, and goes up by £70 each day (so is rolled over) if someone doesn’t collect their prize. The prize usually doesn’t reach much more than £490 before someone checks the website and wins!

To read about more competitions click here.

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