Credit Card Reward Schemes Discussion Area

[MSE Dan]

This thread is specifically to discuss the content of the updated guide:

Credit Card Reward Schemes: Get flights, points, cashback & more

To discuss or ask a question about the article: click reply

[Somebody]

Why isn't the Citi Shell card on the list?

In my view it's the best card after the Amex Platinum 1st year as you get 1% cash back on everything (credit to your account) the month after (as long as you've fuelled up at Shell petrol stations, on which you get 3% cash back. That's £1.50 on £50 of fuel).

This does tie your refuels to Shell but I'm all for it as I've also got the Shell Drivers card which gives me fuel money off vouchers every quarter as well.

[MSE Dan]

Hi Somebody,

Thanks for your suggestions. Citi Shell card isn't currently available to new customers though; only those cards are included in the comparison, as it is impossible to keep up to date on what all old cashback/rewards cards pay. Hopefully this from the article will explain

• Only includes currently available card incarnations.
  This research was published in June 2009, and included all major rewards cards open to new customers at that point. Yet it's possible you may have an older, now unavailable card which pays better rewards, so always check.
  
  If you spot a card that you think merits inclusion, please email rewardschecker@moneysavingexpert.com.
  

Cheers

Dan

[Somebody]

Apologies. I didn't realise that it was no longer available. I only got mine last September.

[Muay]

I was wondering which of these 2 cards was actually the best one :rolleyes:

• With BMI Amex you get a 'huge introductory bonus of 20,000 miles when you spend £250 in the first 90 days'

• With Lloyds Airmile Amex you get 'a 1,500 Airmiles voucher when you sign up by 31 July 2009 and spend £10 on it by 30 Sept. 2009, and book at least one hotel night via Airmiles too.'

Ok then, you get 1 return flight to zone 2 in both cases or 2 return flights to zone 1 when you join.
With Lloyds you would fly with BA and all taxes are included.
With BMI you would fly with any company in the StarAlliance List but you'd have to pay the taxes (if i'm correct).

Thinking about the future now... Let's say I've already used my 'free' flights and I'm earning new miles now.

BMI (1 mile each £1.5 spent):
ZONE 1 (return) -> 9,000 miles = £6,000
ZONE 2 (return) -> 20,000 miles = £13,333

Lloyds Airmiles (1 mile each £10 spent):
ZONE 1 (return) -> 750 miles = 7,500
ZONE 2 (return) -> 1,500 miles = £15,000

So in this case BMI looks better then Lloyds Airmiles since I would need to spend less miles to get a new free flight.
Am I correct in this? Or am I missing anything?

Any comments will be really appreciated

[MSE Dan]

Yep i'd definitely agree with that Muay, on the long term value - that's the order the article puts them in too.

The intro freebie is more of a judgment call, due to the taxes issue, however the BMI one does enable you to go business class, which might be tempting for some

[Savvysaver]

This 'major new research' needs alot more work as it is incomplete and misleading with regard to 'free' flights. For a start, fees and charges can make a free flight more expensive than a low cost flight anyway, e.g. a 'free' European flight with BA miles typically costs about £80 in fees and charges. (The major exception is Airmiles which are now all inclusive).

Also, the only sensible way to work out the benefits is to calculate "how much would I need to spend to get a flight?" Taking London to New York as an example, the top of the table Miles & More Amex you would have to spend £30,000 to get the necessary 60,000 points & then pay fees as well.

With my Tesco Clubcard credit card spending in Tesco's I get 80 airmiles per £200 spent (I have retained the old rate - new customers 60 per £200). NY is 5,000 miles including all fees, i.e. a spend of £12,500, less than half M&M and no fees.

[MSE Dan]

Hi Savvysaver,

The valuations of points are an average, which smoothes out the fluctuations in how good an individual reward actually is. For instance, buying Airmiles with Tesco points was one of the reward redemptions used to value Tesco, but not the only one. We have a full article on boosting the return you get with the big points schemes: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/sho...-scheme-tricks

Also with flights, for Airmiles cards, the flight value included taxes, but with the other ones it isn't. The point here is that, if you fly certain ways or routes, some cards will work out better than others for you, but it varies per person. We have listed the cards with the best return on average.

Dan

[stphnstevey]

Why has Shell Credit Card not featured?

[Terry D]

Originally Posted by Somebody

Apologies. I didn't realise that it was no longer available. I only got mine last September.

Got ours in October and so far received £124 in cash back on petrol on a credit limit of £2k. We both run our own car so no problem in using up the credit every month. Pity it's no longer available.

[MSE Dan]

Hi stphnstevey

Thanks for your suggestions. Citi Shell card isn't currently available to new customers though; only those cards are included in the comparison, as it is impossible to keep up to date on what all old cashback/rewards cards pay. Hopefully this from the article will explain

• Only includes currently available card incarnations.
  This research was published in June 2009, and included all major rewards cards open to new customers at that point. Yet it's possible you may have an older, now unavailable card which pays better rewards, so always check.
  
  If you spot a card that you think merits inclusion, please email rewardschecker@moneysavingexpert.com.

Cheers

Dan

[sonrobert]

There is a way of getting further benefits by using two different cashback credit cards in tandem. First ensure that the statement dates of each card are about two weeks apart. If the statement date of card 1 is, say, 15th of the month then use it for purchases made between 15th and 31st of the month. Similarly, if the statement date of card 2 is 1st of the month then use it for purchases made from 1st to 15th of the month. This ensures that you substantially increase the period of credit you obtain before having to pay for the purchases you have made.

[reclaimer]

Having had no success using my bmi miles to book a flight ( always 'no seats available') I considered spending them on the alternatives offered by bmi diamond club and discovered that my 40,000 miles were worth just £25 in M&S vouchers!
However had I wanted to buy bmi miles to 'top-up' I would have to pay £12 per 1000

[koru]

I have also found BMI miles to be of little use. The routes they offer are very limited. It does not seem to offer all the Star Alliance routes.

[Bruce_]

Now that Skycard has been axed, I'm looking for an alternative. I want a non-Amex card, that will give cash-lite, not flights or car discounts. The reward card from HBOS seems best. Maybe a creditcard company will offer an incentive to ex-skycard customers.

[mememememe]

Is the Play.com credit card from MBNA worth it? As far as I can make out it gives the equivalent of 1% cashback to spend at play.com. Is there any chance of me getting the card considering I'm just about to start university and have virtually no credit history and is there anything about the card that I should be aware of? Thanks

[Absinthe Fairy]

Originally Posted by mememememe

Is the Play.com credit card from MBNA worth it? As far as I can make out it gives the equivalent of 1% cashback to spend at play.com. Is there any chance of me getting the card considering I'm just about to start university and have virtually no credit history and is there anything about the card that I should be aware of? Thanks

I have the card and it's definitely worth it IMO, so long as you're happy to buy stuff from Play. I find getting the vouchers really easy although there is a thread on here by people who have had problems.

As to whether you'd get the card as a student - no idea, sorry! I suppose you can but try - though I'd recommend sorting a student bank account first (as they may need to do a credit check for an overdraft) before trying to sort any credit cards out.

Also, presuming you still live at home with your parents and have lived at the same place for a while, apply before you go off to uni halls or whatever as living at the same address for a while does help with credit applications.

[mememememe]

Originally Posted by Absinthe Fairy

I have the card and it's definitely worth it IMO, so long as you're happy to buy stuff from Play. I find getting the vouchers really easy although there is a thread on here by people who have had problems.

As to whether you'd get the card as a student - no idea, sorry! I suppose you can but try - though I'd recommend sorting a student bank account first (as they may need to do a credit check for an overdraft) before trying to sort any credit cards out.

Also, presuming you still live at home with your parents and have lived at the same place for a while, apply before you go off to uni halls or whatever as living at the same address for a while does help with credit applications.

Thanks for the reply Hmm I think I've found that thread - I suppose I could change to a different credit card if needbe, good to hear you're happy with it though! I got my student bank account (Halifax) last Tuesday and still am living with my parents until uni so I'll apply for the play.com card soon. Would be great if someone knows whether I'd likely be accepted/rejected as a student thanks.

[Somebody]

Originally Posted by MSE Dan

Hi stphnstevey

Thanks for your suggestions. Citi Shell card isn't currently available to new customers though; only those cards are included in the comparison, as it is impossible to keep up to date on what all old cashback/rewards cards pay.

Received notification that the Shell rewards will be reduced as of 1 October:

1% on Shell fuel purchases;
0.25% on other purchases.

[Stuart_W]

In the article, The Co-operative Members' Credit card would seem to be a mentionable "straight payer" - you get 0.5% cashback on all purchases (and 1% cashback in co-op stores) but co-operative dividend is a cash payment (direct to bank account or vouchers that can not just be spent but also cashed in store) - it is not necessary to use the cashback at the co-op, or indeed ever shop at the co-op. There is also no upper-ceiling on the cashback, like the Bank of Ireland card mentioned.

http://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/se...ds?WT.svl=copy