Collecting points, airmiles???

Hi there,
I am not too sure if I am in the right forum with my questions, if not please forgive me.

I am into collecting point and airmiles. I am trying to learn about those program in UK, but I am so confused.
Can someone explain what cards or stores, where and when  I can collect points.
So far I learned about Tesco club card, do they have a credit card as well and what is good for? What is Nectar for? Is it just a store card or a credit card? What are Pigback points for?  Boots, do I need to apply for their card?
We are starting our life in UK from scratch and everything counts.
If anyone has time to share this information it would be gratefully appreciated.
Thank you.

Some are better than others. I don't use Tesco but I understand that they're points system can be easily played by using special offers, buying and returning things, etc. I personally think Boots is the best value for money - you just go in, fill out the form, and get the card. Points count toward purchases in Boots (but you can't combine money and points - e.g. if you've got 5 points, you can buy something for five pounds or less - you can't get 5 pounds off a bigger purchase). Nectar is good 'cause it's taken in so many places - I use it in Sainsburys, BP, Homebase, and we get points for using TalkTalk for our broadband and for using EDF for our electricity.

As for credit cards, I only use an AmEx British Airways card, but I'm sure there are others. I use it for all of my groceries and petrol so it does add up.... Oh, and I've got a Shell points card as well that you can use for BA miles.

Thank you Anne for your information.

Lloyds TSB Bank has a duo credit card - Mastercard (I think!) and American Express that you can collect Airmiles on (Airmiles being the same program you can collect for through Tesco).... Tesco has been doubling up their points lately, but I hope the Airmiles program isn't going to change - finally got enough points to use it for the first time in a few months...

The Lloyds/Amex duo card earns about 1 airmile for every £5-10 spent, and the Amex British Airways card earns 1 BA miles for every £1 spent (or 1.5 miles for every £1 if you go with the premium plus, which carries a £150 fee).

However, for the most value for your spend, I would recommend an american express charge card which earns the membership rewards points (rate of 1 MR point every £1 spent).  The benefit going this route is those MR points are xferrable to partner reward schemes, so you would essentially have your pick of airlines: delta, continental, BA, virgin, singapore ETC.  Whereas both the Lloyds Duo and the Amex/BA cards only cater to one airline.

Also xferrable to hotel and car rental partners, nectar, charity, or various items from a catalog.

Amex charge cards start at an annual fee of £37.50 with the Green Card, plus an additional fee of £17.50 per extra person to add to the account (free for the first year on supplementary card holders).

www.americanexpress.co.uk

The only time on UKY where I can give sound advice... lol.

I love my http://www.boots.com/en/Advantage-Card/ points!! along with getting 4 points per full pound spent, you get the free magazine quarterly, and valuable coupons in the back of the magazine. Usually there are a couple of double your points coupons which are ever so handy if you are stocking up.

http://www.morrisons.co.uk/Store-finder/About-customer-services/Store-services/Petrol-stations/ do a miles card where you get points each time you get petrol and after 5000 points, you get £5 free.

http://www.tesco.com/clubcard/doublepoints/ are doing double points at the moment.

http://www.nectar.com/NectarHome.nectar are good as well as they are accepted in a lot of places ( sainsburys, bp petrol, etc) and the points can be used in a lot of places, (ebay, amazon, etc.)

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/store/ashton/ikea_familyis free and it gets us free coffee or tea in the cafe and something like 15% off items from the family section.

http://www.co-operative.coop/yourmembership/ do a fantastic card as well for free and you get to have profit sharing in the form of direct deposit or vouchers

I was shocked that Tim didn't have any club cards for the grocery stores, because around here, they're the only way to get dicounts. Then, when I saw Tesco does the airmiles, I suggested he sign up for one....and we don't bother with converting the points to airmiles because we felt it wasn't worth it. 

We did discover, however, that you can turn your Tesco club card points into hotel vouchers, which we thought wold be easier to earn/use.

We use Tesco points and also have the Lloyd's credit cards and we have benefited loads from the Airmiles points. We have got free flights and also have stayed in airport hotels for free...

This is a good one to have!