Tesco shoppers with a Clubcard are being urged to check their accounts as a huge batch of vouchers is close to timing out. A report by Martin Lewis' MoneySavingExpert team claims that "around £11 million-worth" of unspent vouchers will vanish within days.
The reminder to check your supermarket account comes as loyalty vouchers for the chain, with over 4,200 stores across the UK, are due to expire at 11.59pm on the last day of the month. After the bank holiday weekend (Monday, August 31), any unclaimed rewards will be permanently removed.
Boost voucher value with Reward Partners
Instead of quickly claiming what some shoppers have on the brink of expiring, people could be savvy and potentially double or triple the value of points that could be going to waste. If you simply want money off your next shop, vouchers work at face value in-store and online.
For example, a £5 voucher knocks £5 off your bill. But these bigger boosts come from swapping with Tesco Reward Partners instead, where the same voucher can be worth far more than its sticker price.
Some partners currently offer double value, meaning a £5 voucher becomes £10 to spend on certain treats and subscriptions such as days out and streaming. Others can go even further, with triple value available at a list of restaurant chains, turning £5 into £15 to put towards a meal.
Restaurant deals and extending vouchers
The restaurant trio-deal covers a run of familiar names, including ASK Italian, Bella Italia, Frankie and Benny's, Las Iguanas, Pizza Express, Prezzo Italian and Zizzi. If you were planning a family feed, this is where the maths can look most tempting compared with using vouchers as cash off their next Tesco bill.
If shoppers are not ready to use their vouchers yet, but are worried they might disappear after Monday night, there's a trick some people use. The trick can extend the time by as much as two more years. However, Tesco's rules state that it may prevent Reward Partner orders if it thinks someone is just trying to extend their vouchers.
The idea is to make a very small redemption via the Tesco Clubcard Rewards page (or donate to a partner charity), so only part of the voucher is used. Any leftover value is then credited back to your Clubcard balance, and when it's reissued as new vouchers later, those replacements carry a fresh two-year expiry window.
The key is to spend as little as possible while still triggering the re-credit, with low-cost options such as a small-value restaurant voucher sometimes suggested. You'll need to repeat it for each voucher separately, so it may be more hassle than it's worth for tiny amounts, but a bigger voucher could justify the effort.
Check expiry dates and stay alert to scams
Before you spend anything, it's worth hunting down exactly what you've got and when it runs out, because vouchers usually only last two years from the day they're issued. You can see what's sitting in your account by logging into the Tesco Clubcard website under your vouchers section, or by opening the Tesco app and tapping into the Clubcard area to view vouchers and expiry dates.
If you still have paper vouchers, the expiry date is printed on them, so it's worth checking drawers and wallets as well as the app. And with the deadline being widely shared, shoppers are being warned to be extra cautious about links, login pages and messages claiming your vouchers are "about to be cancelled". The MSE reminder comes with an important message as not everyone is out to help shoppers. With millions like you in the same situation, crooks may try to use the deadline panic to trick people into handing over personal details on fake sites or messages.
