Cashback Credit Card Discussion Area

mr.steve_2

Question:
I am considering applying for a Blue Amex card. In Martin’s summary of this card, he points out that the main disadvantage is that it’s not as widely accepted as your Visa’s or your Switch’s etc. but I do practically all my shopping at Tesco’s, including petrol, phone credit and the likes, and they accept Amex.
My concern is, although I could easily pay the card off in full each month, would the 2% cashback gain outweigh the interest on repayments or would I be better off using a card with a 0% period and a lower % cashback i.e. Mint?
(This is assuming that I’m spending around £400 per month and using the card in conjunction with Martin’s free-cash plan.)

crumpetman

I'm sure you can do the maths yourself but £400 will get you £8 in cashback on the 2% amex and £2 on the 0.5% mint.

If you put £400 a month into an ING savings account at 4.5% (instead of paying your credit card bill) you'd get a bit under a pound an interest for that month.

So, you for the amex!

mr.steve_2

I'm sure you can do the maths yourself but £400 will get you £8 in cashback on the 2% amex and £2 on the 0.5% mint.

If you put £400 a month into an ING savings account at 4.5% (instead of paying your credit card bill) you'd get a bit under a pound an interest for that month.

So, you for the amex!

Thanks. Yes, the cashback calculations speak for themselves - I'm just unfamliar with the repayment system of this card, so when you say put the £400 into my ING to gain interest, I assume you mean take it back out when it's time to pay the bill!?

crumpetman

Yes. Whatever your monthly bill is, as it's on a 0% card you just pay the minimum and put the rest into a savings account. When the 0% finishes you either shift it to a new 0% card or take the money out of your savings account to pay it off.

The minimum monthly payment would start at around £10 go up each month as you accumulate more debt.

isasmurf

Amex doesn't start charging interest until after the payment date, so as long as you pay the bill off in full every month the interest payments won't affect you.

If you don't pay the bill off in full then the Amex Blue probably isn't the card for you as the interest payments will easily outweigh the cashback (as it will on any card that isn't 0%).

As for it's not widely accepted, perhaps its just the restaurants/shops I frequent, but I have not had any trouble in places accepting it, other then in discount shops.

mr.steve_2

Amex doesn't start charging interest until after the payment date, so as long as you pay the bill off in full every month the interest payments won't affect you.

Aha, that is music to my ears. Thankyou.

System

>:( I have been receiving 1% cashback on my Halifax credit card so was a bit miffed to find a note in with the June statement stating that the cashback was being reduced to 0.25% (up to a max of £190 per year) from the date of my July statement !!

I'm getting married next month & was just about to spend 'large' on my card (paying the balance off in full at the end of the month) so thought I would clarify when the rate was actually changing - as 'from your July statement' led me to believe that any spending between now & then was on the existing rate.

I called the Customer Services number as shown on the notice & was told that any spending up to 1 July would still get 1% cashback but they suggested I call Halifax Card Services to confirm. 15 minutes later I was advised that the changes were with immediate effect and they agreed that their notice was misleading.

I am now looking for an alternate cashback card !!

payless

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1073961781,76291,

or see link at top of this page

Personally I use the Accuard 0.8% cashback

M_Thomson

>:(  I have been receiving 1% cashback on my Halifax credit card so was a bit miffed to find a note in with the June statement stating that the cashback was being reduced to 0.25% (up to a max of £190 per year) from the date of my July statement !!


I called the Customer Services number as shown on the notice & was told that any spending up to 1 July would still get 1% cashback but they suggested I call Halifax Card Services to confirm.  15 minutes later I was advised that the changes were with immediate effect  and they agreed that their notice was misleading.

I am now looking for an alternate cashback card !!        

You have only been getting 0.5% cashback not 1%. It hasn't been 1% for around a year now.

hansi

Martin, I notice in your article today that you do not mention the Abbey Platinum Card which pays 0.5% on purcases up t £500 monthly and 1% on any amount after that. Effectively this means if you spend £501 every month, you get 1% cashback regularly.