Anyone with a NatWest credit card will have been bombarded with information about registering for YourPoints which NatWest claim will be a better deal than the AirMiles we were getting previously.  

I could not get the NatWest website to let me register, and ended up phoning 0845 072 7629 to do so.

One of their big selling points is that you can use YourPoints on easyJet, but there is no sign of that on the easyJet website, and probably never will be.  Talking to NatWest today, it seems that you will have to phone the above 0845 number and book by phone.  I was told that this will cost "only" 4p a minute maximum.

So, has anyone got a landline alternative for 0845 072 7629? :(

What is the address for YourPoints? Is there a website? Is it provided by another company?

The website is www.natwest.com/yourpoints

When I phoned, I was talked through the registration, and I had to enter the name on my card all in uppercase, preceded by"MR "  My mother's maiden name had to be cut to the first 7 letters, plus "*", again all in uppercase.  I am now waiting for a PIN by email from NatWest, which was supposed to follow automatically.

Good luck,

The moment Natwest abolished AIRMILES - was the moment I abolished my NATWEST credit card account.

I dont need them 8-), the only reason I was keeping / using my Natwest card was because of the AIRMILES

and the small reward of AIRMILES which we used for days out with the kids... (Legoland etc etc)  ;)


The end of AIRMILES meant the end for my card   ::) ::)



YourPoints !? DONT MAKE ME LAUGH.......  >:( >:( >:(

Re the comments from IAVOID0870 - Have you taken out another credit card that gives you Airmiles?  If so which one, and what is the pay out rate?

Snowball wrote on Sep 13^th, 2007 at 4:56pm:

Re the comments from IAVOID0870 - Have you taken out another credit card that gives you Airmiles?  If so which one, and what is the pay out rate?

NAH, I looked into the "replacement" offer from Lloyds and quickly realised that they were onto a scam, as they offered two cards - IIRC one was American Express (which has restricted acceptance) which offered one mile per £10 (Previously, Natwest  I think it was one mile per £20, so this at first glance, looked good)

The second card was I believe was a normal MASTERCARD but offered one mile per £50 spent  :o  

I dont think so....  BYE BYE !

I just use my TESCO credit card now and collect just TESCO points, which I am very happy with  ;D

Have located a freephone number which gets you through to the same place as 0845 072 7629 ie
0800 158 3957.
I was able to register OK and a pin number was sent by e-mail immediately.
I have accessed the site a few times to check and had no problems.

Cheers for now,

Keith.

Hi Keith
Well done!
Many thanks for that.
Regards,
Snowball

This is in response to IAVOID0870's earlier post regarding alternative credit cards.

I had a look at the Tesco card at the weekend, and have applied for one.  If my arithmetic is correct you get one Airmile for every £16.67 you spend, by converting your clubcard points to Airmiles, which I do anyway at the moment.  So, that's better than I was getting previously with the Mastercard.

Thanks for that.

Snowball

IAVOID0870 wrote on Sep 13^th, 2007 at 11:22pm:

NAH, I looked into the "replacement" offer from Lloyds and quickly realised that they were onto a scam, as they offered two cards - IIRC one was American Express (which has restricted acceptance) which offered one mile per £10 (Previously, Natwest  I think it was one mile per £20, so this at first glance, looked good) The second card was I believe was a normal MASTERCARD but offered one mile per £50 spent  :o   I dont think so....  BYE BYE ! I just use my TESCO credit card now and collect just TESCO points, which I am very happy with  ;D

I started using an MBNA Conran card that gave me 1% cashback about a year before the end of NatWest AirMiles and then when Conran ended the MBNA deal I got an Egg Money Mastercard that gives 1% cashback instead.  Since then Shell have moved their Shell Visa card from RBS to Citibank and turned in to a Mastercard and now offer a generous 3% cashback on Shell petrol purchases and 1% cashback everywhere else.  So this may become my main card in place of the Egg Money.  When I am abr
oad I use Nationwide Visa as that saves the 2.75% foreign exchange rate levy that all the other card issuers are in to charging.

Coming back to Lloyds TSB I applied for the new Air Miles duo card in the end because they were offering 500 Air Miles so long as you spend just £20 on the AirMiles Amex card. I spent that at a Tesco Express - most major retailers take Amex these days and it is only small restaurants and small individual shops that won't and will only take Visa and Mastercard on the whole.

But I have 10,000 Air Miles already which I am saving to use on a Club class flight to the West Coast of the USA where I have friends as my 6ft 3in finds economy too much to bear on an 11 hour flight.

However Air Miles have consistently sought to devalue existing miles issued by slowly adding extra fees like passenger departure tax etc that were covered by Air Miles so I don't really reckon its worth collecting that many more and I will probably stick to the 1% cashback credit cards from now on.  You can get 3% or 4% cashback for the first 3 months from some card issuers but they are only come on promotions to sign people up.  The highest cashback rate that is sustainable long term is 1% because the card issuers generally only get 2% from the retailers and obviously have to live on something.

The issue with YourPoints is that there is no guarantee the scheme will ever work out and that you will ever collect enough miles to go anywhere before they withdraw it.  Having said that I am concerned that AirMiles cutting their ties with NatWest has been very damaging for them and that they have lost a lot of collectors as a result who were annoyed that they weren't automatically issued with the replacement Lloyds TSB cards with the same credit limit.  If Shell can do it by just moving their whole arrangement from RBS to Citi and auto issuing the new card then why couldn't Air Miles manage this?

As an alternative to NatWest 'Your Points'  MBNA issue a card 'BMI'  The points collected can be used for flights on something like 23 Airlines [most of them members of the Star Alliance Group]
They give one and a half points per £1.00 spend as opposed to the one point per £1.00 on the new Nat West Your Points scheme. As the total points required for flights seem to be very similar my working out is that by using the 'BMI' card one can obtain the flights quicker with the same total spend.
Unless anybody has compared the two schemes more accurately than I have and has reached a different conclusion.
Let us know please.

Keith.

kthtl wrote on Sep 20^th, 2007 at 12:46pm:

As an alternative to NatWest 'Your Points'  MBNA issue a card 'BMI'  The points collected can be used for flights on something like 23 Airlines [most of them members of the Star Alliance Group] They give one and a half points per £1.00 spend as opposed to the one point per £1.00 on the new Nat West Your Points scheme. As the total points required for flights seem to be very similar my working out is that by using the 'BMI' card one can obtain the flights quicker with the same total spend. Unless anybody has compared the two schemes more accurately than I have and has reached a different conclusion. Let us know please.

After MBNA withdrew the Conran card the best alternative they said they had available was their Amex Rewards card but I have looked at the rewards on that and they are only equivalent to 0.5% cashback as well as the choice of goods being highly restricted.  So the card has gone in the draw and I now use Egg Money.

Do you have a link for the BMI card?  My mum often needs to fly on BMI from Heathrow to Palma so it could well be worth considering in her case.

http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/reward-schemes/diamond-club/diamond-club-partners/bmi-credit-card.aspx


A bit of a mouthful but there you go.

Keith.

The registration for YourPoints seems very cumbersome.  I finally got registered having tried for over 3 months (as I thought) to get the website to work.  The site kept saying that registration was not possible at that time and asking me to ring an 0845 number.  On ringing that number you are told that you are already registered and there is nothing else to do.  However, it turned out that this information was incorrect.

As mentioned by Snowball you must type your name and your mother's maiden name in UPPER CASE.  If you do that, you are then given another number to ring: 0800 158 3957.  When you ring that number you are then told to register again using UPPER CASE.

All this is very strange since there is nothing on the website to tell you to use UPPER CASE.  So you end up ringing the 0845 number, being re-assured that you are registered and you are not!  In my case I realised I most likely was not registered when no mention of YourPoints appeared on my credit card statement for a long time.  I was waiting for it to appear but it never did!

I'm actually amazed that NatWest have made such a mess of this one.  Because of this mess-up I've been using my Lloyds TSB Air Miles Duo cards quite happily for all my purchases.

BTW, with the Gold card I have which involves an annual fee anyway there is no extra fee for joining YourPoints.  I have no idea, however what each point is worth - maybe that's the next project.

I have tried in vain to get through to my account on line with the new Ypur Points scheme, since registering last January.
Yesterday I got a reply from them, staing that their best advice was to ring their 0870 number  . They have steted elsewhere that one can access one's accouint on line anytime, so as to get an up-to date view of the points available to spend. They are forcing us to use the telephone against our will. At this rate, I ,too, shall be moving elsewhere. A shame, when the original sheme worked so well ! Jow.                                                                                                                

Jow wrote on Feb 24^th, 2008 at 3:23pm:

I have tried in vain to get through to my account on line with the new Ypur Points scheme, since registering last January.

Try the 0800 158 3957 number shown above. There are also some other suggestions which you may find useful.

There were two unverified entries saying that this is a suitable alternative, so please let us know how you get on.

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