What counts as Tide card spend
The £75 portion of REFER200 needs £100 of Tide card transactions in your first 30 days. Here's what counts, what doesn't, and how to hit it without inflating costs.
Priya Raman writes the practical, task-focused guides on Business Account Referral: what counts as card spend, what to do in your first 30 days, and how to fix a promotion that has not paid out. She previously worked in bookkeeping for UK micro-businesses and tests every step of a process before publishing it.
Reviewed 12 October 2026 · About the team · How we review
What typically counts
- Contactless and chip-and-PIN purchases in shops.
- Online card payments with the Tide card (subscriptions, suppliers, ads).
- Apple Pay / Google Pay tokens of the Tide card.
- Recurring card-on-file charges from genuine merchants.
What typically doesn't count
- ATM cash withdrawals.
- Bank transfers and Faster Payments.
- Transfers between your own Tide accounts.
- Refunded transactions (net spend is what counts).
- Failed or reversed transactions.
Worked examples
- £60 supplier invoice + £45 software subscription = £105 qualifying. You meet the £100 condition.
- £120 Tide ATM withdrawal = £0 qualifying. ATM withdrawals don't count.
- £110 supplier payment that was later refunded £30 = £80 net qualifying. You'd need another £20 of card spend.
Practical ways to hit £100 quickly
- Pay one month of an existing software subscription on the Tide card.
- Use Tide for fuel, parking, or stationery for the first month.
- Switch a small recurring supplier to the Tide card temporarily.
Don't manufacture spend you wouldn't otherwise make — £100 of card use is small enough that real business activity will usually cover it. Use the offer calculatorto project your reward.
What to record before contacting Tide
Use the transaction description, posting date and final settled amount rather than a pending-card view when checking spending. Tide’s promotion terms and transaction classification are authoritative if there is any difference.
- The date your account opened and the date you applied.
- A screenshot of the referral or promotion field, if one was shown.
- Relevant transaction, deposit or account-timeline dates and amounts.
- The exact question you need Tide to answer, without assuming an outcome.
Keep the record for your own follow-up. Tide decides account approval, promotion eligibility and any reward validation. For related checks, see the cashback help hub and the current REFER200 status page.
Last updated 12 October 2026 · Offer last checked 12 October 2026
Frequently asked questions
Does Apple Pay or Google Pay count?+
Yes — they're a token of the underlying Tide card, so the transaction is processed as a Tide card payment.
Do refunds cancel my qualifying spend?+
Yes — net spend is what Tide measures. A refund reduces your qualifying total.
What if I make several small transactions instead of one big one?+
Number of transactions doesn't matter for REFER200 — only total qualifying spend within 30 days.
Independent introducer disclosure: this site is not Tide and is not operated by Tide. If you sign up using our link or the code REFER200, we may receive a referral reward. Tide controls account approval, eligibility and cashback validation. This is not financial advice. Always check the latest Tide terms before applying. Last checked 12 October 2026.