Credit Cards - What do you use & what do you get?

randomshenans

randomshenans

randomshenans

Soldato
Joined
11 Sep 2009
Posts
14,064
Location
France, Alsace
Don't think I've seen one of these, and although no doubt it'll end up with some moron windmilling in with some crap, but either way.

Recently I've changed my card, as I am over here and still used a crappy Nationwide VISA, which each month would have to transfer money to pay off, in GBP, from EUR (which started in CHF :confused: ) so lost out on exchange rates, transfer costs, and to top it off, I got bugger all for spending money!

Now, talking to my mates, they ALL had cards that gave them something back, which I was like, I should get something! I have to spend, and often I'll have to expense work trips to claim back, which frequently hit like 5k, so why not get something back?

I opted for an American Express FR platinum card, purely because of their support over here being international (this sounds retarded, but seriously, try dealing with a french company, ever, you'll kill yourself. I'm still waiting for a 480EUR refund from my BB provider 2 months ago, as I have to send a letter...), the fact I can use the AMEX points towards my BA miles (and I couldn't get a BA card in france) and you get decent stuff back. I don't have a limit, just need to pay it off. Don't have any APR, just pay it off.

What do you have? And what do you get? Anyone actually use their reward points they get?

I use my avios all the time for flights and hotels. Saves a tonne with the family, especially on the trips back to the UK.
 
Amex gives me membership reward points which I can spend on pretty much anything (either buying gear from Amex or using the points as a credit against my balance). You also get all the airport business lounge memberships etc that nobody ever uses. :p

In terms of support, I'd argue it's worth the £125 p/a for ownership of the card just because they're so helpful. The real downside with any Amex card is always going to be it not being accepted universally, especially when you leave cities. I've noticed a few smaller places are beginning to accept it more now, but it's still nowhere near as easy as a Visa or Mastercard.

Also, mine being a charge card means it has to be cleared every month. That isn't to everybody's tastes, but I like it specifically for that reason. :)
 
Barclaycard - £0 balance, BT card, always sending me offers of 0% balance transfers for long time periods

MBNA - £2300 balance, BT card, 0% ends in January so will move existing debt to Barclaycard before January

Tesco - £550 balance, purchase card 0% for another 10 months, used for petrol mainly pay most of it off every month, benefits are clubcard points and that's about it. Good though becuase I get points per £1 clubcard points and use card in BP/Sainsburys petrol stations so get Nectar points too
 
0% balance transfer. Trying too pay them off, long slow process and I'm an idiot. As I paid them off a couple of years ago, then did the same.
 
I currently use an Amex cashback card that gives me 0.5% in cashback for the first £x,xxx.xx then onto 1% thereafter for the year, and bonus cashback gets thrown around here and there. You get the money back into your account annually, as credit on your card anniversary date, alternatively you can opt for store vouchers at Waterstones, Curry's and some other places, which give you 5/10% bonuses on top of your overall cashback balance.

Having said that I've just taken out an M&S card which gives me 15 months interest free on purchases. I need to work out the interest rates to figure out which is better.
 
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NatWest World Mastercard, originally grabbed it as it had 0% BT but I've cleared that debt so now just use it for day to day spending to build up points in the Natwest your points scheme.
 
Halifax Clarity for European travel, AMEX Platinum Cashback for cashback (1.5% after intro offer).
 
back in the day I was all over the 0% (0 fee) balance transfer deals and had about 12 on the go.

Now unless you are spending thousands to tens of thousands then rewards and cashback aren't worth anything.

I now use my banks visa card for everyday purchases and pay off in full every month.

For holidays I have a Nationwide visa which doesn't charge for transactions abroad.

I refuse to get any card which has a fee for some sort of benefits which seem ok until you read the small print and find they're a bit rubbish....
 
I'm really trying to pay mine off, got about 1500 on it at the moment and want to get rid of that. So I went for a barclaycard platinum, 23 months 0% balance transfers (just transferred it over from tesco bank) but nothing on purchases. Has given me the incentive to leave it in the drawer and pay a chunk off by DD each month.
 
OP: you might find this useful if you are collecting Avios:

http://www.headforpoints.com/best-uk-avios-airline-hotel-credit-cards/

It's a great blog in general and is full of information on how best to collect and spend airmiles and hotel points - though it is mainly UK based.

Personally I use the Tesco Creditcard and convert all the vouchers to Avios as my partner and I intend to spend them on a first class return trip to Hawaii in a couple of years (need about 300K avios!).

To get the best use out of it we shop and fill up the car at Tesco and put all monthly spending through the card too and pay it off in full at the end of the month. This does require good discipline though!

Now unless you are spending thousands to tens of thousands then rewards and cashback aren't worth anything.
Click to expand...

Sorry but I absolutely disagree! If you are going to spend money anyway, why not get something back? It won't cost you any more than using a card with no rewards as there are plenty of rewards/cashback cards with no fees.
 
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Sainsburys Low Rate Credit Card, don't get much apart from a low rate (7.8%) and cashback on purchases.

Might have a look round and see if there's something better these days.
 
I used to have a Goldfish platinum card as the concierge service promised the earth. It failed to deliver so I canned that and I doubt I'll get a card with a fee.

I used to have an Amex card but then I did some work with them and saw their back end systems for rewards so I'll pass on that. Mrs still has her corporate Amex and that takes a hammering as she books a lot of partner travel and accommodation and that racks up about 100,000 points a year. Since I would only add a tiny fraction to that it's not worth looking at.

I've just got a Barclaycard now and an MBNA that I never use. The Barclaycard gets used a little bit if I want to buy something reasonable expensive but want to preserve my cash flow.
 
BA Amex Platinum

get avios plus a companion voucher if you spend 10k in a year. with business expenses on top this is easy to do.
 
Halifax Clarity for 0 charge overseas use at best exchange rate.
Santander 123 for fuel and rail travel with 3% cashback
Amex preferred rewards charge card for reward points.
 
M&S MasterCard 0% on purchases for next 15months.
Tesco Visa 0% on purchases for the next month. Balance will be zeroed next month, not much on it.

The M&S card is to replace the Tesco one as its coming to the end of its 0% period. Cards are used most to cover car repairs when they cost more than my savings, but there is a also a PS4 order on the M&S card, though I expect to have saved enough to pay that off as soon as the card is charged for it.
 
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