I’m going to say it; the Cheddar cashback app is one of my top 5 favourite apps of all time.

If you’re not using Cheddar for cashback, you’re probably overpaying for the majority of your everyday purchases.

Now, I know a lot of people think cashback is a scam because it seems too good to be true.

I hear you. I used to think the same years ago. But, once you start using the Cheddar app, you quickly realise how much money you’ve been losing out on and how easy cashback is. 

The small amounts really can add up to hundreds or even thousands every year when you’re regularly shopping with the retailers that you love. 

In this article, I’m going to take you through everything you need to know about using the Cheddar app to earn money back on your shopping and how to get a £5 welcome bonus. You’ll be receiving a little cashback for purchases you were going to make anyway so I know you’re going to love it.

What Is Cheddar?

Cheddar is an app that offers cashback on your purchases as well as tools to manage your spending. There are three main parts to the app:

1. Gift card cashback

You can use Cheddar to purchase gift cards (for yourself!) to be redeemed in-store or online when shopping with your favourite retailers. Rather than using cash or your bank card, you’ll pay by scanning the gift card you got through the app, and earned cashback for.

I always pay for my groceries and other purchases with a gift card because it’s basically giving me a few percent discount on my shopping. For example, if I spend £200 a month at Tesco but I buy a Tesco gift card at 4% cashback, I’d get £8 for my shopping that month. That’s £8 that’s better off in my pocket – and you can see how quickly the cashback earnings add up when you do this for multiple purchases.

Cheddar has also just launched the ability to gift your gift cards to friends and family. This is as simple as tapping ‘Gift this card’ after purchasing one – or selecting any older one from your gift card wallet, and sending it to someone. It’s worth noting that the recipient doesn’t have to use Cheddar, but it’s a great opportunity to spread the word and send them your referral bonus so you can both earn £5 each.

2. Automatic cashback – just spend on a debit/credit card

Just link your UK bank accounts to Cheddar, and it’ll automatically track your spending for you to provide insights on where you could be saving money – more on that later! But in addition to this, you’ll receive cashback automatically when you spend at a handful of brands, from Just Eat to ATG, for your takeaway treats and festive theatre tickets.

Once you spend money, this will be automatically tracked and cashback is added to your Cheddar account – you don’t have to do anything (other than spend as normal with your bank card). Though you do have to wait until any potential returns window has ended to fully access this – you’ll see the remaining number of days before your cashback is available listed against each transaction once it’s tracked in the app.  

Cheddar’s authorised & regulated by the FCA – so it’s safe to link your bank accounts, and your bank stays in complete control of what is okay to be shared. None of your data will ever be shared with any 3rd party too – it’s only used to help you save money wherever possible.

Cashback rates are sometimes boosted for specific customers, such as new customers, or those that are most loyal to using a specific brand very often. You can find cashback rates (unique to you) by clicking into a specific retailer within the app.

3. Spend Tracker and Saving Performance

Allowing Cheddar and your banking apps to work together unlocks a new superpower to make your financial life so much easier.

In addition to earning rewards through the app when you spend with these available brands – your transaction data is also computed to provide you with unique personal finance management insights. Your transactions get categorised automatically, to help you keep track of your spending month-on-month.

Most banks tend to charge a fee for access to tools like this, so it’s incredible to be included for free on Cheddar so you have awareness of where your money is actually going. I’m pretty sure you’ll be surprised when you review this and see how much you spend at the supermarket every month, on travel, takeaways and more. It’s pretty eye-opening!

The best bit? When you miss out on cashback from spending at a brand you could have bought a gift card for, the app will present this to you as a ‘missed opportunity’ to help you remember next time. Again, it’s pretty eye-opening seeing the savings you missed by not grabbing a gift card on Cheddar.

This is always kept alongside savings that you successfully made – to help give you an indication of your “Savings Performance” in the app (cashback earned vs cashback missed).

Finally, Cheddar can also be used to get paid instantly by requesting money from anyone with a UK bank account. You just show them a quick QR code that they scan with their phone’s camera to pay you back – or send them a payment link to use just as easily. These tools are completely free, and all major UK banks are supported too. 

How to actually use Cheddar

1. Download the Cheddar app and create your account for free by entering some basic personal information. Use the referral code CHLOEDC to receive £5 free when you buy a gift card within 14 days of joining as a thank you. 
2. Link all of your UK bank accounts to the app. You can do this by visiting the Wallet section of the app and then clicking the + in the top right hand corner. It takes a few taps to complete this step, bank-by-bank, but you might only have 1 account to add, and you’re guided through the whole process.
3. Browse the app for your favourite retailers either by using the search function, or by browsing through the categories that Cheddar has available. Before you purchase a gift card be sure to check whether the card can be used in-store or online, and check that this matches how you’re going to be processing your order. Then purchase your gift cards of choice. 
4. Use your gift card when you shop in-store or online. Pay at the till in-store or when processing your order online. 
5. Receive cashback instantly when you purchase gift cards through the Cheddar app. Transactions for ‘automatic’ cashback may take 30-90 days to become available to redeem, but most people earn the big bucks immediately through the gift card process anyway.

Which banks can you use with Cheddar? 

You’ll find almost all UK banks are suitable for use with Cheddar, including Barclays, HSBC, Nationwide, Santander, NatWest, Halifax, Virgin, Royal Bank of Scotland, TSB, Monzo, Revolut, Chase and more. You can even add American Express to enhances your savings performance and spend tracking insights, though this can’t be used to pay for gift cards.

You can see if your bank account is supported for use with Cheddar by clicking Wallet and then +. You’ll then be prompted to add your account details and will provide 90 days read-only access to your bank account to Cheddar. After 90 days you’ll have to renew this authorisation by clicking Renew next to your bank account provider in the Home section of the app. 

Which retailers are on Cheddar? 

The retailers on Cheddar are subject to change, just like any other cashback site, with some disappearing and coming back on a regular basis, so you’ll want to check back from time to time. 

For prepaid card cashback, some of the best retailers I love to use on Cheddar are Tesco, ASDA, M&S, Morrisons, Boots, Costa Coffee, JD Sports, Nike, ASOS and B&M.

My top tips for using Cheddar: 

• Register all of your UK bank accounts. If you have more than one account make sure that you add all of them. Even those less used accounts can help you earn a little extra money over the year. The small amounts of money really do add up. 
• Use gift cards to pay for your grocery shop. Many of us are grocery shopping at least once a week, or even more frequently, which gives us a lot of opportunities to make some glorious cashback. With different supermarkets being available on Cheddar you can purchase a gift card to make a little money back. Be sure to combine your use of a gift card with things such as Clubcard Prices or similar loyalty card discounts from supermarkets to help you maximise your savings.
• Purchase your loved ones gift cards for Birthday and Christmas gifts. If you want to give your friends or family gift cards, to choose what they would like themselves, then you can earn yourself a little money back in the process. Cheddar has actually just added the ability to send gift cards to others in time for Christmas – they don’t even need to have the app! It only requires a phone to receive one. This works out cheaper than sending the same amount in cash, and means they’re more likely to put the funds to good use.
• Stock up when cashback rates are increased. While I would not recommend you hold onto gift cards for long periods of time, in case retailers go out of business, it can be even more financially rewarding to purchase a supermarket gift card that will last you for a few weeks when the cashback rates are increased. 
• Check other cashback apps. If you’re short on time I recommend selecting one cashback app that you like and sticking to using that. Cheddar’s nice to use mostly for its ability to inform you of what you could be saving based on your spending behaviour, as well as the seamless experience of paying for & accessing gift cards in the app.
• Read the terms and conditions thoroughly. On Cheddar, you’ll find a vast amount of information that is of great use. Be sure to pay special attention to the Important Notices and check the description for a detailed explanation as to how you can redeem gift cards with specific retailers. This is especially helpful if the retailer has a lengthy checkout process as it can be hard to find where to redeem gift cards at times. I wanted to use a Boots Gift Card in-store to combine with the Recycle At Boots scheme but sadly the gift card could only be used online!
• Consider if you’re likely to be returning items. If you’re going to be making a purchase of multiple items, perhaps to try on dresses for a special event, or to try different sizes to find the best fit for you, any returns will usually be refunded right back onto a gift card. Often retailers will use the gift card that you originally used, but sometimes they will issue you a credit on your account or even a discount code. Make sure to keep track of any remaining balances on gift cards or discounts that you have available to use. 
• Refer your friends to earn a little extra money for yourself. You can find your unique invite code in the Person Icon section of the Cheddar app. Share this with your loved ones and you’ll both receive a £5 bonus when they purchase their 1st gift card within 14 days of creating their account. In this section you can also see the number of people you have referred, and those that have completed the sign-up offer and earned you both a bonus. 
• Turn notifications on. This way you can be notified about boosted cashback rates and special offers from Cheddar. The offers change regularly on Cheddar, so this is a great way to stay informed. 
• Remember that cashback is a bonus. Never make purchases only on the basis of cashback that you’re expecting to receive and always look at cashback as a bonus for purchases you would already be making to avoid overspending. 

FAQs

Is Cheddar app legit? Is the app secure? 

Absolutely, yes. Cheddar itself is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and each transaction they process has the same security level as your bank. All of your data is encrypted and you can find out more on their FAQ page.  

Is Cheddar app free to use?

Yes, the Cheddar app is free to use. You do not need to provide any card details to create an account and you can redeem your cashback as soon as you have at least £5 in your balance. There are no fees for withdrawing your earned cashback or for purchasing gift cards to earn cashback. 

How much cashback can you earn with Cheddar? 

The cashback that you can earn is really only limited by the number of purchases you need to make in day-to-day life. There are a wide variety of different categories you can earn cashback on including groceries, shopping, food & drink, fashion, health & beauty, travel & holiday and more. 

I suggest that you sign up to all of the different UK cashback apps and websites, as they’re free to join, and then shop around before you make any purchases. Following this method helps me to maximise the money that I make. 

I would never recommend buying items you don’t need just for making some cashback, but there are a wide array of ways to make some extra money on those everyday purchases that you’re making anyway. 

With the average cashback rates being 2-3% on grocery retailers, you could get yourself an entirely free week of food shopping every single year – just by using gift cards to pay instead of your usual payment method. This is a lovely saving and helps show that the small amounts really add up throughout the course of a year to a pretty considerable amount of money. 

You could save your cashback up for the year in a savings account, redeeming whenever you hit the minimum cash-out level, and then spend this in the lead-up to Christmas to help with the increased food costs that many of us experience at this time of year. 

How do I withdraw money from Cheddar? 

As soon as you have £5 of available cashback, you can withdraw this to any bank account of choice. You can check your default account by visiting the Wallet section in the app and then when you click into your bank account you’ll see a section that says Used for receiving payments. Your default account will have yes next to this. 

Why are my purchases not tracking on Cheddar? 

Eligible transactions can take up to 3 days to appear in the Cheddar app. This is due to the time it takes for your bank to process the transactions and the actual time will vary depending on who you bank with.

If 3 days has already passed, and your cashback has not shown up, then start by checking that your bank account access has not expired. You’ll need to renew this every 90 days and it only takes a few seconds.

When you’ve checked this, and are sure it was a transaction that was valid to earn cashback on, then you can submit a request direct with Cheddar and ask them to investigate for you. You can also click the Person Icon in the app, on the bottom toolbar on the right, and then click Help and Contact support, for further help.

Cheddar referral code

New members to the Cheddar app can use code CHLOEDC when you download Cheddar to receive a cashback bonus on their first gift card purchase within 14 days of signing up. This is typically £5, but is subject to change.