Mastercard Ice loyalty scheme closure leaves customers’ reward points frozen

A loyalty scheme that let Mastercard users collect points from by shopping with ‘ethical’ retailers has now ceased trading leaving customers with no way to claim their outstanding rewards.

Set up less than two years ago, the Mastercard Ice scheme encouraged members to claim points for buying goods and services from a range of ‘environmentally-friendly’ high street shops and businesses, including John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Toby Carvery, Harvester, First Choice Holidays and All Bar One.

Mastercard Ice customers had already been contacting consumer websites with complaints that they had been unable to contact anyone or spend their points online prior to a closure message being posted on the Ice website and Facebook page.

In the statement posted on its website, Ice said “It is with the greatest regret that we have to inform you that Ice has now ceased trading. The directors will be seeking shareholder approval to put the company into voluntary liquidation.

We would also like to reassure customers that the directors are continuing to ensure that all customer personal data is dealt with securely in accordance with GDPR rules.

The Ice team would like to thank everyone who has supported Ice and our mission to mitigate climate change. We would also like to express our sadness that we have been unable to find a way to allow the Ice business to continue and for any inconvenience and disappointment this has caused to our customers.”

It has also been made clear that in accordance with Ice's published terms and conditions, any Ice points in circulation will now not be able to be redeemed.

Ice had appealed to many Mastercard customers due to the fact that in addition to the ability to collect points towards rewards, it could also be operated alongside other discount offers and loyalty schemes. Sadly, it seems that existing customers will have no way of redeeming their collected points for rewards with the closure of this scheme.

However, those looking for an alternative reward card to take the place of the collapsed Ice scheme still have quite a choice of providers to choose from – including those with Mastercard branding. Credit cards such as the Clubcard Credit Card with Low APR Mastercard from Tesco Bank and the American Express Rewards Low Rate Credit Card are ranking highly in Moneyfacts.co.uk’s current reward credit card table. Big brand names are still very much in the reward credit card market, with providers such as Sainsbury’s Bank, ASDA and M&S Bank all still offering a range of incentives and points schemes.