Caporegime
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That's what I hear but I get conflicted info...well there is only 1 way to find out!
82k Avois points....150k until my business class to Tokyo
Credit Cards - What do you use & what do you get?
- Thread starter randomshenans
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That's what I hear but I get conflicted info...well there is only 1 way to find out!
82k Avois points....150k until my business class to Tokyo
So in your view, the long term perks of any of the cards are actually irrelevant its just about the sign up bonuses. Typically, what do the reward points on the Amex gold work out to? Avios is easy to figure out because I just have to attempt to book a flight on avios and i can see what the value of the points is. But I have no way of determining what the value of Amex reward points is without actually having the card. You earn 1 point per £1 spend on the amex gold. What does 1 point buy you? 1 avios? 10,000 points for one free night in any hilton hotel etc?
Just tying to quantify the difference in value between the platinum cash back card and the amex rewards cards.
Caporegime
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Amex and BA excutive points are transfer partners, typically 1 Amex point is 1 Avois points but SOMETIMES you get a bonus like 1.25 x so I would keep all your points in Amex and wait until you either need to book a flight and transfer it over or wait for a bonus transfer rate before doing it.
Well, in that case why not just keep the Amex BA card where I earn 1.5 points per £1 spend or 2 points per £1 spend on ba.com? Then I wouldn't need to wait for a bonus season on amex rewards to convert at what is still less than just earning outright using a different card. Can't see the point of the amex gold in that situation at all.
Currently doing this for the Gold.
Last year I just chased a companion voucher for BA. 3-4 business trips to California, plus the Amex spend Avios was enough for "free" business class flights to St Lucia.
Gold also gives you the flexibility to transfer to different airline miles, pay for hotels, etc. Or even IKEA vouches, amazon purchases, etc.
General rule is Avios is the best bang for buck.
Caporegime
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Amex Points have more transfer partners. So more flexibility. BA Platnium earns more Avois points but it is only Avois points. Great if your goal is for those air miles only.
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The card to get, wish we get the same as the States...is the Amex Platinium. YOu get all kinds of stuff like credits for travel (fees), Uber Credits, 5x points etc for $550.
So same money, more perks, much more perks.
Plus the card is metal.
So same money, more perks, much more perks.
Plus the card is metal.
I just ran a quick and dirty excel.
If you were to take the Amex BA Plat & Amex Gold over a 24 month period, cancelling after achieving the introductory offers, you would have about 54% more "value" than just by sticking with something like the BA plat over the course of the 24 months. This doesn't take into account the cash value of the avios points, or the card fees along the way.
But assuming you were to directly relate the avios points (based on purchasing avios from BA website) for cash versus how much cashback you'd earn on Amex's cashback card this is what it would look like:
Average Spend Per Month: £3,000
Total Avios Earned from Amex BA card over 24 months: 129,000
Total Avios Earned from Amex Gold rewards over 24m : 76,000
Cost of Avios Earned if bought in cash (61.86/£) : £3,314
Cash back earned over 24 months using cashback card: £878
So it would seem that the BA plat / Amex gold is definitely the way to go however one big problem potentially is that cash is king whereas the amex points / ba points could be devalued at any point in time.
One other question, does this constant cancelling and signing up for credit cards every few months not wreck your credit rating?
If you were to take the Amex BA Plat & Amex Gold over a 24 month period, cancelling after achieving the introductory offers, you would have about 54% more "value" than just by sticking with something like the BA plat over the course of the 24 months. This doesn't take into account the cash value of the avios points, or the card fees along the way.
But assuming you were to directly relate the avios points (based on purchasing avios from BA website) for cash versus how much cashback you'd earn on Amex's cashback card this is what it would look like:
Average Spend Per Month: £3,000
Total Avios Earned from Amex BA card over 24 months: 129,000
Total Avios Earned from Amex Gold rewards over 24m : 76,000
Cost of Avios Earned if bought in cash (61.86/£) : £3,314
Cash back earned over 24 months using cashback card: £878
So it would seem that the BA plat / Amex gold is definitely the way to go however one big problem potentially is that cash is king whereas the amex points / ba points could be devalued at any point in time.
One other question, does this constant cancelling and signing up for credit cards every few months not wreck your credit rating?
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Caporegime
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Never cancel your oldest card, then it should be fine.
You mean if I hold for example a Santander 123 credit card since 2014 I should keep that one alive even though I don't use it and then it doesn't matter how many amex cards I sign up for and cancel in short time periods?
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Yes, never ever cancel cards you had for a while.
In terms of applying for a new card, it does do a hard search on your history and in theory these are “bad” but unless you apply for tons of card in one go, it doesn’t do any harm applying for a new card once in a while.
Also, it’s a good idea actually to have a few cards. For example if you have 5 cards, total credit between them say £30,000, and you use £3000 monthly so you are utilising only 10% of your credit.
This is much more preferable than having 1 card with £3,000 and hitting 90-100% limit every month. The bank will see the former as someone who has the means but with restrain and the latter as someone who just like to spend a lot, even though you both clear the balance every month and both never miss a payment.
Every 6 months or go, charge something small on them, in case they close it down for inactivity.
Amex platinum everyday
- 1pc cashback after a certain spend.
- Great customer service
Amazon mastercard
- points for. Spending at amazon where Amex isn' t taken
Mbna with 30.months 0pc BT
- standard thing I usually have and put a big purchase on like camera lens
Ditched my tesco card as amazon is now more useful
Dormant MandS card that just gives me a 'long term' mark on my credit file.
Pay no interest on any card.
Use my debit card on small Purchases as I get. 5p back. Which is better than 1pc on anything less than 5.00
- 1pc cashback after a certain spend.
- Great customer service
Amazon mastercard
- points for. Spending at amazon where Amex isn' t taken
Mbna with 30.months 0pc BT
- standard thing I usually have and put a big purchase on like camera lens
Ditched my tesco card as amazon is now more useful
Dormant MandS card that just gives me a 'long term' mark on my credit file.
Pay no interest on any card.
Use my debit card on small Purchases as I get. 5p back. Which is better than 1pc on anything less than 5.00
Sorry but having £30k but not using it does not make you any more credit worthy then someone who has £3k of credit limits but uses them, if both people have the same credit footprint/income, expenditure, debt etc. It will in fact have a detrimental affect on your ability to get further credit if you do need it and want it from another source as all credit limits of all cards held are factored in to indebtedness calculations.
Why do you also think that keeping your oldest card is a good thing?? It doesn't change the fact you are applying for new cards, or change your number of searches against you.
Yes, as long as you plan to pay off in full each month its worth it to get something out of it. Unless you use other cards you already get an additional benefit from, and then you need to weigh up the pro's of each.
It is good and something I do.
It can also be benifical to have excess credit.
I think I technically have 20k+ of credit. But my utilisation is less than 10pc.
If I only had 3k credit I w I uld be utilising 50pc+ most of the time.
Credit utilisation is a factor.
Theres not one answer though and different lenders look at things differently.
But overall I agree, keep your oldest card.
Why do people say keep your oldest card, what is the logic behind this?
I ask as i tend to keep two credit cards at all times, but usually close down any in excess of this when i change them out. Primary is an Amex Platinum card held since around 2009/2010 which i guess is a while, secondary tends to change more often due to deals closing down/terms changing and will always be a 0% forex mastercard/visa issued card.
My utilisation is also low, which we are saying is a good thing, over the two cards i have approx £40k of credit, and our monthly churn over the pair tends to stick within <10% of this PCM. My score appears as excellent with clearscore/noddle, so closing the secondary card relatively often doesn't seem too negative from this angle.
I ask as i tend to keep two credit cards at all times, but usually close down any in excess of this when i change them out. Primary is an Amex Platinum card held since around 2009/2010 which i guess is a while, secondary tends to change more often due to deals closing down/terms changing and will always be a 0% forex mastercard/visa issued card.
My utilisation is also low, which we are saying is a good thing, over the two cards i have approx £40k of credit, and our monthly churn over the pair tends to stick within <10% of this PCM. My score appears as excellent with clearscore/noddle, so closing the secondary card relatively often doesn't seem too negative from this angle.
Caporegime
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It keeps a transaction history.
As money saving expert points out
As money saving expert points out
Caporegime
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Like others have said, generally speaking it is best to have a lower utilisation rate, as you are not constantly maxing out your credit, then you are not seen as someone constantly living beyond your means (even though you are repaying it). Of course each lender differs but generally speaking, this is the advice I’ve read all over and to me it makes the most sense. Sure there is a risk of you go out and spend the rest of the £30k but then if your history is only 10% utilisation rate then you have that on your favour. Lenders wants to know you are going to repay the debt and low utilisation rate is normally preferable, also preferable to have a card on your credit line being long standing, it shows you are reliable, loyal etc. Same with the opposite, people who has never had a loan and credit card and never been in debt will find it hard to get a credit card as they will have no credit history. An old card is basically a living proof of a credit history with 1 continuous line of credit.
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