Why are so many points-earning debit cards launching in the UK right now?
This has been sponsored by Currensea.
Back in March, I wrote a piece asking why Hilton, Marriott, IHG and United were all launching points-earning debit cards in the UK rather than credit cards. At the time, Currensea had two partners live and a third on the way.
Seven months on, Currensea has five partners: Hilton, Marriott, United, Lufthansa Group and American Airlines. A sixth, Global Hotel Alliance, launches early next year. (IHG went its own way, with Revolut.) And because some brands offer two versions, that’s eight cards, with a ninth in the works.
So the obvious question is why. Why so many, why so fast, and why Currensea?
The card Brits actually use
Think about your wallet for a second. As a reader of Points Well Made, there's probably a credit card in there. And then there's the debit card.
Debit cards make up 85% of all consumer card spending in the UK, against 77% across Europe as a whole. As a nation, we make over 70 million debit card payments a day, close to six times the number made on credit.
There's a reason so many of us lean on debit, and trust me when I say it isn't just habit. Plenty of people in the UK are wary of credit cards. Some have been burned by debt before, some were brought up on "if you can't afford it, don't buy it", some worry their Amex won’t be accepted where they shop, some are put off by scary-sounding APR figures, and some people just don't want another bill to pay off at the end of the month. We hear it from novice readers all the time: they'd love the points, but they're cautious about getting their first credit card.
Then there are the people who’d happily use a credit card but are protective of their credit score. Maybe you’re applying for a mortgage next year and don’t want a fresh hard search on your file. Maybe you’re young, or new to the UK, and your file is thinner than a Rizla. Or maybe, like plenty of points collectors, you’ve opened a few cards already and would rather lenders didn't see yet another application.
A debit card carries none of that baggage, as you're spending money you already have, there's no statement to clear at the end of the month, and there's no credit check to worry about passing.
The same goes for the brands. A credit card is a regulated consumer credit product, so every email, app banner or check-in desk mention that promotes one has to follow the rules that govern lending (which are a lot!). Whereas a debit card is a payment product, and the rules around promoting it are far less stringent. Even practically for us, if we do an advert for a credit provider we have to go through multiple stages of compliance to make sure everything is tickety-boo. Whereas a debit card, crack on, no checks needed.
So why Currensea, rather than anyone else? Because its card doesn’t ask you to change banks. Unlike Revolut which requires you to move money into a different account, Currensea links to your existing current account, meaning a Hilton member gets a Hilton card with no hassle. If you were to peek behind the scenes of Currensea HQ, each card is built onto the same platform every time: the brand funds its earn rates and perks, Currensea builds the app in the brand’s colours, and off it goes. This may explain why you felt bombarded in September, when Lufthansa and American Airlines managed to launch 23 days apart.
Bolting on to the loyalty you already have
In effect, Currensea is putting its hand up to every brand with a loyalty programme and saying: launch a card with us, quickly, and it’ll be one most of the general public, and therefore your members, are already comfortable using.
For a brand’s most loyal members, this changes how the card is bought. A credit card is an application, meaning there's an affordability assessment, a hard search, and a chance of being turned down, all of which gives even a die-hard United Airlines fan a reason to stop and think. A debit card is just another thing the brand sells. You tap through to buy it in the app the same way you’d add breakfast to a booking or pay for a room upgrade.
Once they have it, the loyalty loop takes care of itself. Every coffee and every weekly shop earns more points, or more progress towards the next tier. More status makes the next stay with that brand the obvious choice, and that stay goes on the same card.
It also fits what I wrote about over the summer: a card that earns status as well as points keeps you inside the programme between redemptions, not just during them.
The numbers suggest it's working. Currensea says 17% of spend on its co-brand cards goes directly with the partner brand, and over 75% of cardholders have used theirs abroad.
That’s the members they already have. The cards can also reach the ones they don’t.
Of Britons with household incomes over £150,000 who flew at least five times last year, 26% aren't in an airline loyalty scheme, and 29% aren't in a hotel one.
These are exactly the travellers airlines and hotels want most, and roughly a quarter of them have never handed over so much as an email address. But a debit card that rewards them is a way in. Take out the Marriott card and you're a Bonvoy member earning on your weekly shop, whether or not you've set foot in a Marriott this year.
Every new card tries something new
This is the bit that I've been harping on about for months, which makes all of this good news for us, rather than just good news for Currensea. Each new partner is bringing something new to the table, which pressures the established card brands to provide more:
Card | What it brings |
Hilton Honors | Status from day one and Elite Qualifying Nights from spending, without needing a credit card |
Marriott Bonvoy | Status and Elite Night Credits on debit, perks that used to mean holding the Marriott Bonvoy Amex |
Lufthansa Miles & More | Annual fee refunded for Senator (year one) and HON Circle (every year), plus a yearly swap of miles for status points |
American Airlines AAdvantage | A Loyalty Point for every mile earned on spending, with no cap, counting towards oneworld status |
The hotel cards took perks the Marriott Bonvoy Amex has offered for years and opened them up to people who don't want a credit card. The airline cards are where it gets properly new, as nothing like the ideas brought by Lufthansa or American Airlines had been on a UK card before.
When I wrote about the Lufthansa card in September, my point was that it was challenging the status quo as the UK credit card market had spent years rehashing the same welcome bonus, the same earn rate and some version of a Companion Voucher.
The model isn't staying in the UK either. Currensea's European operations are now live from the Netherlands, so expect the same to go across the Channel.
So what's next in the UK? GHA DISCOVERY
The sixth brand, and ninth card, is Global Hotel Alliance.
If you haven't heard of GHA, you may have stayed at one without realising. It's an alliance of over 50 smaller hotel brands sharing one loyalty programme, GHA DISCOVERY. Kempinski is probably the best known, alongside Anantara, NH, Corinthia and Pan Pacific. Rather than points, you earn DISCOVERY Dollars (D$), each worth US$1, which you can spend on future stays.
The GHA DISCOVERY Premium Debit Card will cost £175 a year and is due in early 2027.
Here's what GHA has confirmed so far:
Detail | What we know |
Annual fee | £175 |
Status | An immediate upgrade to elite status in GHA DISCOVERY (tier not yet confirmed) |
Everyday earn | D$ on everyday spending in the UK and abroad (rate not yet confirmed) |
GHA hotel earn | Up to D$6 per £100 spent at 1,000 GHA DISCOVERY hotels, on top of normal member earning |
Buying D$ | Available year-round at preferential rates |
Spending abroad | Competitive exchange rates and low transaction fees (exact fee not yet confirmed) |
Launch extra | An extra D$250 for the first 1,000 customers |
The standard welcome bonus and exact earn rates haven't been published yet, so I can't tell you yet whether the card pays for itself (like the Hilton Honors Plus debit card does right now). What I can tell you is that registering your interest now puts you on the list that hears first at launch, which is your best chance of being in the first 1,000.
Pre-registration closes this week, 31 October, and there's no obligation to apply.
You'll need a GHA DISCOVERY account, which is free, and you can set one up as part of registering. You can register your interest here.
What GHA can tell us about the future
Every brand on the list so far has been a giant: two of the world's biggest hotel groups and three of the biggest airline groups. GHA is a collection of smaller hotel companies, the kind of group a UK bank would struggle to get excited about building a credit card for. I doubt they'll be the last "niche" brand to launch one.
Which is the real answer to the question I started with. Currensea keeps launching cards because brands see a product that has lower barriers to entry, whether that be the speed and cost to launch one, or fewer reservations from the general public about having another debit card.
In an environment as rigid as payments, a challenger is no bad thing, for us, or for brands with a loyalty programme.
Sam
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