The requirement in one sentence
To trigger the £75 reward, your Tide business debit card needs to be used for at least £100 of qualifying transactions that settle within 30 days of the account being opened. It is a running total across as many transactions as you like — there is no minimum transaction size and no requirement to hit £100 in a single payment.
Authorisation vs settlement — the part that matters most
When you tap a card, the payment is first authorised — the merchant's terminal gets a yes, and the amount is often shown as pending on your account within seconds. Settlement is the separate, later step where the payment actually clears and money moves. For most retail card payments settlement happens within a day or two. For certain transaction types — fuel pumps, hotel check-ins, some subscription trials, car rentals — the authorised amount can differ from the final settled amount, and settlement itself can lag by several days.
The campaign counts settled transactions. A £150 fuel pre-authorisation on day 29 that has not settled by day 30 does not help you, even though your account may have shown it as pending spend for over a week.
What counts as qualifying spend
- Card payments made in person, online or via contactless with the Tide business debit card.
- Ordinary trading expenses: stock, materials, fuel, software subscriptions, supplier invoices paid by card.
- Multiple small transactions added together — there is no minimum single-transaction size.
What does not count
- Bank transfers, standing orders and Direct Debits — the requirement is specifically card transactions.
- Transfers between your own Tide products, such as moving money into Instant Saver.
- ATM cash withdrawals.
- Tide's own fees and charges.
- Amounts later refunded, reversed or charged back — these are deducted from your running total, potentially taking you back under £100 after you thought you had cleared it.
Worked example — the safe pattern
A freelance designer opens their account on the 1st. On day 3 they pay a £29 software subscription by card (settles same day). On day 8 they buy a monitor stand online for £45 (settles day 10). On day 15 they pay for client-related travel, £40 by card (settles day 16). Running settled total by day 16: £114. They are qualified with more than two weeks of the window unused, entirely through routine purchases they would have made regardless.
Worked example — the pattern that fails
A contractor opens an account on the 1st and does most trading through bank transfers to suppliers, assuming any account activity counts. On day 27 they realise none of it was card spend and quickly put £120 of fuel through the card at a pump that pre-authorises for £1 above the pump price and settles the true amount three working days later — after day 30. The reward is missed not because they didn't spend enough, but because none of their spending pattern used the card until it was too late for settlement to complete in time.
How to build a safety margin
- Route routine card-payable costs — subscriptions, small supplier payments, fuel, materials — through the Tide card from day one rather than defaulting to transfer.
- Check your transaction list for settled status, not just the running balance, once you believe you have crossed £100.
- Treat day 20 as your real deadline, not day 30, so slow-settling transaction types have time to clear.
- Avoid transaction types known for slow or two-stage settlement — fuel pre-authorisations, hotels, car hire — if you are cutting it close.
- Keep at least one transaction in reserve after you believe you have qualified, in case a refund reduces your total.
Evidence to keep
Export or screenshot your transaction list showing both the transaction date and the settled date once you believe you have qualified. If a dispute arises later about whether a specific payment counted, having dated evidence of settlement — not just the pending amount — is what resolves it quickly with support.