Ideal credit cards?

[AndrewD]

Hi,

I'm looking for some short term borrowing as it's coming up to Christmas and I'd prefer to pay with a credit card as I plan to do all my shopping online. I know that credit cards come with free internet insurance but I don't really know much else.

I plan to clear the balance on the card each month as well. So which ones on the internet would be most suitable for me?

Thanks!

 

[Maccapacca]

Anyone with zero % on purchases, I think any Visa credit card provides purchase protection, don't know about the rest.

MSE has a section on best credit cards to suit you own circumstances which is updated quite often for latest deals.

 

[SoSolid]

Awaits TW Fox.

 

[Big Chris]

If you do your food shopping at Tesco then their card is ideal. 0% on purchases for at least 12 months I think, and you get Tesco points for every £4 you spend anywhere (plus your standard points if you shop in-store) which means free food/stuff when the vouchers come in

 

[platypus]

^Same reason I have a Sainsbury's credit card.

 

[OllyM]

^Same reason I have a Sainsbury's credit card.

The Sainsbury's credit card is dire - you get 1 Nectar point for every £5 you spend. 1 Nectar point = 0.5p, so for every £10 you spend you get 1p back, or 0.1% cashback.
If you really like Nectar points the American Express Nectar credit card gives you 1 Nectar point per £1 spent, so 0.5% cashback equivalent plus they give you more points if you spend over £500 a month.

Get a proper cashback credit card and you will do a lot better!
The Capital One World Mastercard pays 5% for the first 99 days, then tiered from 0.5 to 1.25% increasing according to your annual spend
The newly relaunched (today!) American Express Platinum Cashback card pays 1.25% back on everything with double cashback for the first 3 months and a bonus once a year if you spend enough. The only downside is the £25 annual fee.

 

[OllyM]

Hi,

I'm looking for some short term borrowing as it's coming up to Christmas and I'd prefer to pay with a credit card as I plan to do all my shopping online. I know that credit cards come with free internet insurance but I don't really know much else.

I plan to clear the balance on the card each month as well. So which ones on the internet would be most suitable for me?

Thanks!

Have you ever had a credit card (or any other borrowing like a personal loan) before? If not you will be very restricted as your credit file will probably be pretty empty.

 

[ScoTTyBEEE]

The Sainsbury's credit card is dire - you get 1 Nectar point for every £5 you spend. 1 Nectar point = 0.5p, so for every £10 you spend you get 1p back, or 0.1% cashback.
If you really like Nectar points the American Express Nectar credit card gives you 1 Nectar point per £1 spent, so 0.5% cashback equivalent plus they give you more points if you spend over £500 a month.

Get a proper cashback credit card and you will do a lot better!
The Capital One World Mastercard pays 5% for the first 99 days, then tiered from 0.5 to 1.25% increasing according to your annual spend
The newly relaunched (today!) American Express Platinum Cashback card pays 1.25% back on everything with double cashback for the first 3 months and a bonus once a year if you spend enough. The only downside is the £25 annual fee.

Wow that Sainsburys card is a bad deal. I use a play.com card which gives me 1% cashback (as play vouchers), or 2% if I use it on play.com (which I never do due to having vouchers). This is a pretty good deal if you pay it off every month and like your DVD's/games

 

[OllyM]

Wow that Sainsburys card is a bad deal. I use a play.com card which gives me 1% cashback (as play vouchers), or 2% if I use it on play.com (which I never do due to having vouchers). This is a pretty good deal if you pay it off every month and like your DVD's/games

Indeed, that isn't a bad deal either. The Sainsbury's card just annoys me as it is such a joke - spend £10,000 on it and you'd earn £10! Spend £10,000 on the new Amex cashback card and you'd earn £100 after deducting the annual fee (but not including the bonus you get for the first 3 months).

 

[platypus]

The Sainsbury's credit card is dire - you get 1 Nectar point for every £5 you spend. 1 Nectar point = 0.5p, so for every £10 you spend you get 1p back, or 0.1% cashback.
If you really like Nectar points the American Express Nectar credit card gives you 1 Nectar point per £1 spent, so 0.5% cashback equivalent plus they give you more points if you spend over £500 a month.

Not so for me. I'm on a special offer, for 12 months I get 4 nectar points/pound spent, at which point I'll move to another credit card.

 

[jordan282]

LTSB credit card

 

[OllyM]

Not so for me. I'm on a special offer, for 12 months I get 4 nectar points/pound spent, at which point I'll move to another credit card.

When you spend money at Sainsbury's maybe, but not anywhere else. The credit card is giving you 2 points (1% cashback equivalent), your Nectar card gives you the other 2 which you'd get anyway if you paid with another card.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Anyone with zero % on purchases

This is of no benefit at all to the OP. He has stated he plans to clear his balance in full every month - therefore even if he had a card which charged 10,000% APR on purchases he would never pay a penny of interest - you get up to 56 days interest free (ie, the period between purchase date and payment due date) on a credit card anyway.

Instead, he should ignore most 0% cards as the main benefit of these has been tailored to meet the needs of people requiring 0%.

Find a card with a set of benefits that interest you and ignore the APR. Some cards offer free insurance on items purchased, some cards offer very competitive deals on overseas spending and some cards will offer circa 1% cashback on all purchases.

Pick the one which has the benefits which suit you the most.

Remember that all credit cards provide protection under the Consumer Credit Act against being defrauded or retailers going bust or whatever.